PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Capital Punishment: Crimes of Violence (11 October 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to reintroduce the death penalty to tackle violent crime.

Asked by:
Sir John Hayes (Conservative)

The government opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and has no plans to reintroduce it. We are also actively advocating for the global abolition of the death penalty. This includes meeting with foreign delegations, who have the death penalty, to set out our alternative sentencing framework. There is no evidence that capital punishment acts as a deterrent to violent crime. Furthermore, the reintroduction of the death penalty would bring with it the very real risk that some innocent people would die.

Answered by:
Edward Argar (Conservative)
19 October 2018