Opponents of the death penalty are fighting the approaching execution in Texas of a 38-year-old man convicted of slaying a San Antonio woman when he was 17 years old. While they are arguing against executions for murders committed by juveniles, their main aim is to abolish the death penalty altogether, observers say.

Death row inmate Joseph Cannon, facing death by lethal injection next week, claims to "have a different outlook on life than I did then." But change in outlook has not carried much weight in death penalty cases, experts report. Cannon would be the first person in five years to be executed for a crime committed as a youth.

• Nationally, 70 men are on death row now for crimes they committed as teenagers.

• Of those, 28 -- or 40 percent -- are incarcerated in Texas.

• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1988 that it is not unconstitutional to give a death sentence to anyone 16 or older.

• From 1992 to 1995, about 40 states passed laws that made it easier to prosecute youths in the same manner as adults.

A coalition of "human rights" and youth advocacy organizations is launching a public campaign, rallying international opposition and pressuring politicians to change or repeal laws that allow the death penalty for crimes by juveniles. Calling itself the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, it is made up of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Urban League and some 140 other organizations.

But it faces stiff public opposition to its agenda, particularly at a time when youth crimes are becoming more violent.