The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced a significant expansion of federal execution protocols, formally reintroducing firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation as it moves to resume executions after years of legal and logistical delays. The move reverses a moratorium imposed under the Biden administration and fulfils a commitment made by President Donald Trump to resume capital punishment in his second term.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche directed the Bureau of Prisons to modify its execution protocol 'to include additional, constitutional manners of execution that are currently provided for by the law of certain states,' according to Reuters. The policy change is driven in part by ongoing difficulties in sourcing lethal injection drugs, with pharmaceutical companies having increasingly restricted access, citing ethical and reputational concerns.
