The US Department of Justice wants to expand the death penalty at the federal level and also make it possible to carry it out by firing squad, electrocution or asphyxiation with a gas. President Donald Trump promised to work on this earlier during his second term.
A new report from the ministry also includes proposals to speed up procedures and expand the number of crimes for which the death penalty can be imposed.
In the United States, the death penalty is usually carried out at the state level, but for some crimes the federal government can also impose it. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states and has been temporarily suspended in another three states.
The firing squad can already be used in five states, but in recent years it has only been used in one state. Nine states allow electrocution, but that has not happened since 2020. Two states have recently used gas asphyxiation as a method, but the United Nations has labeled it ‘cruel and inhumane’.
In Trump’s first term, thirteen prisoners were executed in federal-level cases, all in the final months of his term. Former President Joe Biden commuted most death sentences to life sentences. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Biden has thus failed to protect the American people.
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