WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution as the Trump administration moves to ramp up and expedite capital punishment cases, officials said Friday.
The Justice Department is also reauthorizing the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during Trump's first administration — more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had previously removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering.
The announcement of these moves marks a crucial effort to resume federal executions after a moratorium under Biden. Currently, only three defendants remain on federal death row following Biden's conversion of 37 sentences to life in prison, while Trump has sought the death penalty for 44 defendants.
“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists and child murderers,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Firing squads are not traditionally included in federal execution methods, but five states—Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah—currently allow them. The pentobarbital protocol used during Trump's first term replaced a three-drug mixture that had been in use since the 2000s.
The Federal Government expressed that the Biden administration’s withdrawal of pentobarbital was misguided and failed to consider evidence showing its efficacy in preventing pain during executions. The debate around execution protocols continues as high-profile cases, including those of Dylann Roof, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, remain unresolved on death row.
The Justice Department is also reauthorizing the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during Trump's first administration — more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had previously removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering.
The announcement of these moves marks a crucial effort to resume federal executions after a moratorium under Biden. Currently, only three defendants remain on federal death row following Biden's conversion of 37 sentences to life in prison, while Trump has sought the death penalty for 44 defendants.
“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists and child murderers,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Firing squads are not traditionally included in federal execution methods, but five states—Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah—currently allow them. The pentobarbital protocol used during Trump's first term replaced a three-drug mixture that had been in use since the 2000s.
The Federal Government expressed that the Biden administration’s withdrawal of pentobarbital was misguided and failed to consider evidence showing its efficacy in preventing pain during executions. The debate around execution protocols continues as high-profile cases, including those of Dylann Roof, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, remain unresolved on death row.
