0
0
The Trump Justice Department announced on Friday, April 24, that it intends to expand the use of the federal death penalty in capital cases, proposing additional execution methods including firing squads, electrocution, and gas, alongside lethal injection.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche described the move as a shift toward stronger law enforcement and victim advocacy. He said, “The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers.”
Blanche added that under President Donald Trump, “the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”
The policy marks a sharp reversal from the previous administration’s approach. Before leaving office in January 2025, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row. Since returning to the White House, Trump has prioritized expanding the use of capital punishment, calling for it in “the vilest crimes.”
Although capital punishment is largely governed at the state level, the federal government retains authority to seek the death penalty for certain offenses. Currently, five U.S. states authorize firing squads, with South Carolina being the only state to have used the method in recent years. Nine states permit electrocution, though it has not been carried out since 2020. More recently, some states have adopted nitrogen hypoxia, a method involving death by nitrogen gas, despite criticism from United Nations experts who have described it as “cruel and inhumane.”
The three federal death row inmates whose sentences were not commuted by the previous administration include individuals convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the 2015 massacre of nine Black churchgoers in South Carolina, and the 2018 attack on 11 Jewish worshippers at a synagogue.
As of now, the death penalty has been abolished in 23 U.S. states, while three others maintain active moratoriums.
