US Expands Federal Death Penalty Methods to Include Firing Squads and Gas Chambers

The Trump Justice Department announced Friday it will expand federal execution methods beyond lethal injection to include firing squads, electrocution, and gas chambers, reversing the Biden administration's moratorium on federal executions that began in January 2021. The policy document argues these methods comply with the Eighth Amendment and calls for expanding federal death row facilities, while Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche pledged to reverse Biden's December 2024 commutations of 37 death row inmates to life imprisonment. Trump previously oversaw 13 federal executions in his first term's final months after ending a 17-year hiatus, and has advocated for capital punishment since 1989. The expansion comes despite concerns about botched executions—a 2024 firing squad autopsy showed no bullets struck the victim's heart—and the exoneration of at least 202 death row inmates since 1973, while 141 countries worldwide have abolished the death penalty.

Trump's Long-Standing Advocacy for Capital Punishment

• ▪In 1989, Donald Trump took out full-page advertisements calling to bring back the death penalty after the brutal rape of a jogger in Central Park

Controversy and Criticism of the Death Penalty

• ▪In 2024, South Carolina authorized at least three people to die by gunfire, the first such executions in 15 years
• ▪The autopsy of one man killed by firing squad in 2024 suggests none of the bullets struck his heart, prolonging his death
• ▪The Death Penalty Information Center estimates that at least 202 people in the US have been exonerated since 1973 after receiving death sentences

Shifting US Policy Between Trump and Biden Administrations

• ▪Donald Trump oversaw a total of 13 federal executions in the final months of his first term
• ▪In 2020, the first Trump administration executed the first federal prisoner in nearly 17 years, ending an informal moratorium on the practice
• ▪The Biden administration announced a moratorium on federal executions when Joe Biden took office in January 2021
• ▪In December 2024, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on the federal government's death row to life imprisonment

Perspective of Death penalty abolition advocates

• ▪The exoneration of at least 202 death row inmates since 1973 highlights the risk of executing innocent people under expanded capital punishment policies
• ▪The autopsy findings from the 2024 firing squad execution demonstrate the potential for prolonged suffering during executions by gunfire

Perspective of Death penalty supporters

• ▪Donald Trump's advocacy for the death penalty since 1989 reflects a consistent belief that capital punishment serves justice for serious crimes

Perspective of Joe Biden and death penalty moratorium supporters

• ▪The Biden administration's moratorium on federal executions from January 2021 onward reflected a campaign promise to end the practice
• ▪Joe Biden's December 2024 commutations of 37 death row inmates represented an effort to prevent executions before leaving office