The Justice Department is reinstating the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital, a method employed during 13 executions in the Trump administration, the highest number under any modern U.S. president. The Biden administration had previously removed pentobarbital from federal execution protocols due to concerns about causing unnecessary pain and suffering.
“The previous administration neglected its responsibility to safeguard the American public by not pursuing and executing the most dangerous criminals, such as terrorists, child murderers, and those who kill law enforcement officers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated.
He added, “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is reinforcing the law and supporting victims once more.”
Historically, the federal government has not included firing squads in its execution protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Currently, five states—Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah—authorize execution by firing squad.
In 2020, under then-Attorney General William Barr, the Justice Department issued a rule allowing federal executions to be carried out by lethal injection or “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed,” as published in the Federal Register.
Some states permit alternative execution methods, such as electrocution, nitrogen gas inhalation, or death by firing squad.
The Trump administration, in a report released Friday, said the Biden administration âgot the standard and the science wrong.”
The Biden administration’s findings, among other things, âfailed to address the overwhelming evidenceâ that an injected with pentobarbital quickly âquickly loses consciousnessârendering him unable to experience pain,” the report said.
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