The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced On Friday, Parliament announced that it would resume the use of the death penalty at the federal level, seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. The Justice Department also said it would use firing squads, electrocution or nitrogen asphyxiation if the drug used for the lethal injection was not available.
The announcement follows this Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty Report published April 24th. The report particularly criticizes the moratorium on federal executions, ordered by Attorney General Merrick Garland in July 2021, should remain in place until the death penalty can be carried out “fairly and humanely.” Garland was concerned about the federal lethal injection protocol, which uses only one drug, pentobarbital, and the possibility that it causes “unnecessary pain and suffering.” In response to the moratorium and Garland’s concerns, President Biden commuted the sentencing of 37 inmates on federal death row, leaving only three inmates remaining.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said“The previous administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to prosecute and impose the ultimate punishment on the most dangerous criminals…Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”
The new report alleges that Garland used an arbitrary standard that was inconsistent with the Eighth Amendment and that scientific research on the use of pentobarbital in executions does not support his concerns. In terminating the moratorium, the DOJ declares that the use of pentobarbital meets the three-part test for compliance with the Eighth Amendment as set forth in Bucklew vs. Precythe (2019).
All 27 European Union (EU) countries have banned the death penalty, and the EU has also done so placed strict regulations on the export of drugs that can be used for lethal injections to the United States. This also applies to many American drug manufacturers they hesitate providing drugs for lethal injection, prompting states to look for other methods, as the DOJ is now proposing, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
In the announcement, the DOJ also said it had directed the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to relocate, expand or build a new federal death row to accommodate the increasing number of executions. The DOJ also plans to consider a rule that would allow states to “streamline” federal habeas review of capital cases and the process for seeking death sentences. The DOJ also plans to implement rules that will prohibit detainees in the capital from filing clemency petitions “until court decisions in the inmate’s direct appeal and initial collateral attack are final.”
The federal government has never used a firing squad execution protocol, after to the DPIC. Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah.
