{"id":208814,"date":"2026-04-25T09:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T09:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-justice-department-to-allow-firing-squads-as-federal-death-penalty-method-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T09:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T09:32:27","slug":"us-justice-department-to-allow-firing-squads-as-federal-death-penalty-method-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-justice-department-to-allow-firing-squads-as-federal-death-penalty-method-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"US justice department to allow firing squads as federal death penalty method – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump\u2019s DoJ says it is taking steps to \u2018strengthen the federal death penalty\u2019 in opposition to Biden-era policies
The US justice department announced on Friday that it is taking steps to \u201cstrengthen the federal death penalty\u201d, including bringing back firing squads and readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump administration<\/a>.
\u201cToday, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences \u2013 clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals,\u201d the justice department said in a news release<\/a>.
In the statement, the department said that the actions taken include \u201creadopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration\u201d, which \u201crelies on pentobarbital as the lethal agent\u201d, and \u201cexpanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad\u201d.
The justice department also said that it was \u201cstreamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases\u201d.
In addition, the justice department said that it has \u201crescinded\u201d the Biden-era moratorium on federal executions and has \u201cauthorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants\u201d. The statement added that Todd Blanche, the acting US attorney general, had \u201calready authorized seeking death sentence against nine of these defendants\u201d.
Shortly after taking office last January, Donald Trump signed<\/a> an executive order committing to pursue federal death sentences and directing the attorney general to ensure that states have sufficient supplies of lethal injection drugs for executions.
The justice department said on Friday that since then, \u201cthe Department has taken sustained action to implement that directive and reverse the Biden Justice Department\u2019s efforts to erode the death penalty.\u201d
Federal executions had been on<\/a> hold since 2021, when the then-attorney general, Merrick Garland, imposed a moratorium<\/a> on federal executions under the Joe Biden presidency, pending \u201ca review of the Justice Department\u2019s policies and procedures\u201d.
During Trump\u2019s first term, the government also resumed federal executions after \u200ba nearly 20-year pause<\/a>.
On Friday, the justice department also said in the statement that it planned in the coming weeks to also \u201cconsider a rule that will empower states to streamline federal habeas review of capital cases\u201d, to \u201cpublish a proposed rule prohibiting capital inmates from submitting clemency petitions\u201d and more.
At the state level, five states \u2013 Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina<\/a> and Utah \u2013 allow executions by firing squad in certain circumstances, according to the Associated Press<\/a>.
Executions in the US rose last year to their highest level in 16 years<\/a>. Meanwhile, public support for the death penalty in the US appears to be declining. A Gallup poll published in October<\/a> found that support for capital punishment in the US for people convicted of murder has been steadily declining over the past three decades, from 80% in 1994 to 52% in 2025.
The Death Penalty Information Center also said<\/a> last year that \u201cthe evidence shows that the death penalty in 2025 is increasingly unpopular with the American people even as elected officials schedule executions in search of diminishing political benefits.\u201d
A statement from Matt Wells, the deputy director of the human rights group Reprieve, said Friday\u2019s report illustrated \u201cthe federal government\u2019s determination to execute, at all costs\u201d.
Wells\u2019s statement said: \u201cThey don\u2019t care how they do it \u2013 this report opens the door to a whole range of appalling methods.\u201d<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump\u2019s DoJ says it is taking steps to \u2018strengthen the federal death penalty\u2019 in opposition to Biden-era policiesThe US justice department announced on Friday that it is taking steps to \u201cstrengthen the federal death penalty\u201d, including bringing back firing squads and readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump administration.\u201cToday, the Department of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-208814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}