Death Penalty

Re “Europeans Baffled by U.S. Support of Death Penalty,” April 6: The harsh reality is that the only reason most of the European countries don’t have the death penalty is that each country’s political system is much less of a popular democracy than is the U.S. In almost every European country, if there was a free popular vote on the death penalty it would be restored, even in the U.K. The Europeans are content with systems of democracy that elect representatives who are supposedly better able to judge what is right.

PETER JONES

Manhattan Beach