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– A kind of grotesque proof that you remain president for a few more weeks and that you must use the power you have to end people’s lives, thunders Amnesty Norway.
On Friday last week, the Trump administration ordered federal prison authorities (the Bureau of Prisons) to carry out three federal death sentences during the transition period. Justice Minister William Barr has already ordered the execution of two death sentences before incoming president Joe Biden takes office as the new president of the United States on January 20.
The five planned executions are called “lame duck executions”, as they will take place in the transition period between the presidential election and the inauguration. The term “lame duck” is used for outgoing leaders with seemingly limited power.
This will be the first time in nearly 132 years that an outgoing president has carried out so-called “lame duck” executions at the federal level, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
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The Trump administration has already carried out eight federal executions so far this year. The previous federal execution ran through Thursday of last week. It comes after a 17-year stint on federal executions.
– I don’t know how to describe the circus that Trump has started with these federal executions. There have been no federal executions in 17 years. And the fact that there were no federal death sentences in the 132-year “lame duck” period, something I was not aware of, makes it even worse, says Amnesty Norway Secretary General John Peder Egenæs , to Nettavisen.
– A political game with human life.
The last time the federal state carried out an execution for a federal crime in the transition period between a presidential election and the inauguration of a new president was in 1889.
President Grover Cleveland later approved three federal executions during the “lame duck” period between the presidential election on November 6, 1888, and the inauguration of President Benjamin Harris on March 4, 1889. The last execution was carried out on March 25, 1889. January 1889.
– It’s a kind of political game with human life. This is nothing more than a Trump and Barr spectacle. What is the purpose of executing these people in the middle of this transition period? He is an outgoing president. Then it should leave decisions about life and death, which are not absolutely necessary, to the next president, says Egenæs.
-It becomes for me a kind of grotesque proof that you are still president for a few more weeks, and that you must use the power you have to take people’s lives, he says.
– A grotesque goodbye salute
To date, Donald Trump is the president who has carried out the most federal executions since 1948, when Harry Truman was sitting in the White House. The eight federal executions that have taken place so far under Trump’s supervision took place in 2020.
– In the federal context, you have to call it a wave of executions, says Egenæs.
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If the five more federal executions go according to plan before Trump’s presidency ends on January 20, he will be the president who carries out the most federal executions since the Cleveland administration executed 16 people. in 1896, according to the DPIC. President Cleveland had two inconsistent presidencies.
– Perhaps one could imagine that the federal executions he carried out before the elections could attract his constituency, which is “tough on crime.” But now, after the elections, there is no such intention. It will be completely beyond. It is completely incomprehensible. It will be something of a grotesque goodbye for the American people and Joe Biden, says Egenæs.
Biden wants to abolish the death penalty
President-in-Office Biden has previously stated that he opposes the death penalty. This weekend, Biden signaled once again that he will try to abolish the death penalty at the federal level.
The incoming president opposes the death penalty, both now and in the future, and as president will work to abolish it, Biden-Harris campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said in a statement Saturday, according to Axios.
Egenæs says it is unusual for an incoming president to be so outspoken in his opposition to the death penalty.
“The fact that the Biden campaign is saying something about this, and is considering attempts to get it off the law books, is gratifying and a huge step forward in the fight against the death penalty in America,” he says.
The fact that a presidential candidate or an incoming president opposes the death penalty has not happened since Michael Dukais was a presidential candidate. He was an active opponent of the death penalty, says Egenæs.
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Dukakis lost much support when he showed his opposition to the death penalty during the presidential campaign in 1988. He lost the election to George Bush Sr.
– You say something about the mood around the death penalty in America is about to change. There has been a cautious evolution of opposition to the death penalty. Obama would not have signaled that he was against the death penalty, but he could have whispered it in the back room, Egenæs says.
Seven statewide executions in 2020
In the United States, there are now 28 states that still practice the death penalty. This year, the states have carried out a total of seven executions, with one execution scheduled for December 4.
The federal capital punishment falls within the federal criminal justice system and can be convicted of crimes such as treason, espionage, murder, extensive drug offenses, and attempted murder of witnesses and jurors in certain cases. However, most death sentences are imposed at the state level.
The federal death penalty applies to all 50 states, but is used relatively infrequently. Currently, there are about 60 death row inmates incarcerated for federal crimes, according to the DPIC.
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Break with American standards
DPIC Director Robert Dunham believes the Trump administration’s “lame duck” executions violate American norms and tradition.
– If the administration had followed the usual and civilized rules that have been followed throughout the history of the country, this would not have been a problem. The executions would not have taken place, Dunham told The New York Times recently.
Dunham tells The Washington Post that it is formally the United States Department of Justice that decides when a federal death sentence should be executed, but notes that in practice it is different.
– If the president does not want to carry out executions, they will not be carried out under that administration, he says.
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Democratic members of Congress have called on Justice Minister Barr to postpone the execution of executions during the transition period. They justify this, among other things, with infection control considerations, noting that nearly all states have postponed executions in the pandemic due to infection control considerations.
Three US senators have also asked Attorney General Barr to postpone the “lame duck” executions “so that the incoming Biden-Harris administration can evaluate and decide on the future use of the death penalty at the federal level.”
Convicted of heinous crimes
The Trump administration has given the green light to up to five federal executions during the transition period. The last two executions will take place just days before Biden is sworn in as the country’s new president. All those sentenced to death have been convicted of committing heinous crimes, according to the Associated Press.
Alfred Bourgeois is scheduled to be executed on December 11. He was sentenced to death for torture, sexual assault and murder of his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter in 2004.
Cory Johnson is scheduled to be executed on January 14. Johnson has been convicted of seven murders in drug-related settlements. Defense attorneys claim that he suffers from mental retardation, so it would be unconstitutional to execute him.
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Dustin Higgs is scheduled to be executed on January 15. He was convicted of abducting three women and ordering a friend to shoot and kill the women in 1996. Higgs has also been found mentally retarded by defenders.
Lisa M. Montgomery is to be executed on December 8. She was convicted of the murder of a pregnant woman and the kidnapping of a child in 2004. Montgomery killed the pregnant woman by suffocation, removed the child from her womb and fled the scene. He tried to pretend that the child was his.
Brandon Bernard will be executed on December 10. He was found guilty of the murder of a couple in 1999. He hijacked a car and shot the couple in the car. Then he started the car with the two of them inside.
In addition to this, the Trump administration has carried out eight federal executions in 2020. The last in a row so far is the Orlando Hall execution last Thursday. He was sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping and burying a teenage girl alive in 1994.
President William Howard Taft is admitted to have been president during a so-called “lame duck” execution in February 1913 after the electoral defeat against Woodward Wilson in the fall of 1912, but the execution was carried out on the basis of a crime. committed under local laws in the District of Colombia.
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