The Justice Department announced Friday it is continuing to clear the way for expediting federal death-penalty cases, including by expanding the manners of execution to include death by firing squad.
Under President Joe Biden, the Justice Department reversed much of the work done under President Donald Trump’s first administration related to expanding the death penalty in federal cases, which the Justice Department has been peeling back.
“Among the actions taken are readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration,” the Justice Department said in a release Friday, “expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad, and streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases.”
Five states allow for death by firing squad for those convicted of the death penalty who have exhausted the appeal process. In March, a South Carolina man convicted of a double murder became the fourth person to be put to death by a firing squad since the 1970s.
A death sentence is often followed by years and years of appeals and other legal processes before an execution is carried out. In state cases, people sentenced to death can sometimes elect how they want to die, with lethal injection often the default method.
“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,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Friday. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”
The Department is also looking to “streamline the process for seeking death sentences” and cut down the number of years between conviction and execution, the announcement states.
This story was updated with additional information.
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