The outgoing administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to accelerate authorization for multiple policy revisions before he exits the White House in January, including the use of electrocutions and firing squads in federal executions.
The approved revision to the "Manner of Federal Executions" policies gives the U.S. Justice Department a broader variety of alternatives for executing inmates on death row to avoid delays if the state in which the prisoner was sentenced does not provide other options.
The amended rule allows federal prosecutors to carry out executions by lethal injection or employ other methods "prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was implemented." Some U.S. states authorize other processes of execution, including inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad.
Based on the proposed policy revision, the administration claims that execution by firing squad or electrocution "does not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment," The Independent reported.
Five federal inmates on death row are set to be executed between now and Jan. 20. Four of the convicts are already confirmed for lethal injection. Lisa Montgomery will be the first woman to be executed in seven decades, along with Brandon Bernard, the youngest, in that same timeframe. With the five scheduled executions, the number will increment to 13 in only a six-month timeframe.
An official from the Justice Department said that the U.S. government "will never execute a prisoner by firing squad or electrocution unless the relevant state has itself given the authorization for the method of execution," Aljazeera quoted the official as saying.
The policy was included among 36 rule amendments that Trump and Attorney General William Barr are attempting to push through before the incumbent president steps down from office. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is also pushing the policy forward. ProPublica first reported the proposed revisions.
It is unlikely that the policy could be authorized as president-elect Joe Biden is not in favor of the death penalty and has suggested he might get rid of capital punishment for convicted inmates and cancel federal executions, which Barr aggressively sought after Biden was sworn in last year.
The Justice Department has sentenced to death more inmates this year than during the last 50 years, despite dwindling public support from both Republicans and Democrats for its use. Federal executions were revived for the first time in 17 years in July, after a divided Supreme Court decision that allowed for their re-imposition.
