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DOJ reinstates firing squads, pentobarbital for federal executions
The department said the changes will help carry out executions sooner and keep the federal death penalty available when lethal-injection drugs are scarce.
- On Friday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the Department of Justice will reintroduce firing squads, electrocution, and gas as federal execution methods, while reauthorizing single-drug pentobarbital injections.
- President Donald Trump's day-one executive order prompted this shift; the administration accused former President Joe Biden of failing in his duty by imposing a moratorium on federal executions.
- Prosecutors are currently seeking the death penalty against 44 defendants, citing state precedents like South Carolina, which carried out firing-squad executions in 2025 to justify the protocol expansion.
- Senator Dick Durbin denounced the move as a "stain on our nation's history," while the American Civil Liberties Union warned the department "embraces forms of execution that have been widely denounced for their cruelty."
- Department officials directed the Bureau of Prisons to streamline appeals processes and consider constructing additional facilities; these measures aim to deter "barbaric crimes" and provide closure to victims' families.
410 Articles
410 Articles
The Trump administration is planning to bring back firing squad, the electric chair and the gas chamber for federal executions, Reuters reports. The stated reason: difficulties in obtaining the poisons currently used for lethal injections. This is stated in the Justice Department document that prepares the restoration of federal executions, in accordance with Trump's previous promise. The reality is that it may be several years before the first …
US Expands Execution Methods To Include Firing Squads and Gas
What does “justice” look like—and who gets to define it?That debate is back in the spotlight after the US Department of Justice unveiled a plan to expand execution methods beyond lethal injection. To include firing squads, gas asphyxiation, and electrocution.Officials argue it’s about practicality and deterrence. Critics say it’s something else entirely.In a detailed memo, the department called the move a way to “strengthen” the death penalty—en…
According to a report released by the US presidential administration on Friday, the country's Justice Department is calling for the possibility of firing squads at the federal level in the future.
What’s the controversial firing squad execution that the Trump admin is bringing back?
The US Justice Department (DOJ) has announced plans to bring back the firing squad as a method of execution. It announced it would 'expand the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as firing squad'
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