Justice Department brings back firing squad for federal death penalty cases
(Gray News) – The Justice Department announced it is including death by firing squad as an execution method for federal death penalty cases.
The department said in a statement Friday that it is continuing its efforts to clear the way for executions to be carried out soon after sentenced inmates exhaust their appeals.
The department said it has readopted a lethal injection protocol implemented during President Donald Trump’s first administration. It also expanded its protocol to include several methods of execution, including the firing squad.
The department said it is “streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases.”
“These steps are critical to deterring the most barbaric crimes, delivering justice for victims, and providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones,” the statement said.
According to CNN, five states allow death by firing squad in capital cases. A man convicted of double murder in South Carolina was executed by firing squad in March. It was the first such execution in the U.S. since 2010 and the fourth since the 1970s.
The department has been working to expand the death penalty since Trump took office. According to the statement, Trump advised the department to “prioritize seeking death sentences in appropriate cases, promptly carrying out those sentences, and strengthening the death penalty.”
The department also said in the statement it will seek to instate a rule that would shorten the time between sentencing and execution in state capital cases and another that would prohibit capital inmates from seeking clemency.
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