Sir, No one, including any government, has the right to take anyone’s life, regardless of the crime (“New Tory deputy backs death penalty”, Feb 9; “Loose Cannon”, leading article, Feb 10). Independent research shows that it is not a deterrent, so it will neither reduce nor stop violent crime. Despite this, as our most recent annual death penalty report shows, in 2021 at least 579 executions were known to have been carried out in 18 countries, with at least 28,670 people under sentence of death around the world, excluding executions carried out in China, North Korea and Vietnam.
The risk of killing an innocent person is too great: the death sentence is irreversible and inexcusable, which is a key reason why it
