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The Trump administration is speeding up the execution of death row inmates in the final days of the White House, thereby violating a 130-year tradition that federal executions are halted during the presidential transition, the BBC writes. No fewer than five executions are scheduled to take place by January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden, who now opposes the death penalty, will take office. The BBC also lists the ways the death penalty is applied in each US state.
If all five scheduled executions are carried out, Donald Trump will become the most prolific president in terms of the death penalty in the last 100 years, with 13 convicts executed since July this year, the BBC writes.
Executions are scheduled to begin this week with Brandon Bernard (40) and Alfred Bourgeois (56). Both are sentenced in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department is enforcing the law, but critics say the process is concerning because it comes just weeks before the next president takes office, and Joe Biden has said he will try. to end the death penalty.
Donald Trump, the champion of executions
The death penalty was reintroduced at the federal level in the United States in 1988, by decision of the Supreme Court of Justice. However, executions were rare: only three federal executions were carried out until Donald Trump became president of the United States. All three were during the term of George W. Bush. Since 2003, there has been no federal execution, writes the BBC.
Execution of those sentenced to death continued to be carried out at the state (not federal) level, with 22 convicted persons executed last year, but this type of execution also has a downward trend.
Several states are beginning to abolish the death penalty, either banning it or simply not executing any convicts in the last decade.
And public opinion is heading in the same direction: A 2019 Gallup poll shows that 60% of Americans are in favor of life in prison, rather than the death penalty. It is the first time in the last 30 years that surveys of this type have been carried out, when the majority opinion is in favor of life.
If the first two scheduled executions are carried out, the number of federal executions this year will reach ten, a record not reached since 1896.
As for Joe Biden, the death penalty
Also, the execution of convicts during the transition period between two presidents violates an old tradition in the United States: generally they are not carried out during this period, the president ends his term leaving his successor to decide how things will go. .
While Donald Trump is a strong supporter of the death penalty, Joe Biden’s opinion on the issue has not always been the same.
A law passed by Senator Joe Biden in 1994 added 60 federal crimes to the death row. Some of those awaiting execution today are sentenced under the Biden-pushed law.
Now, Joe Biden has vowed to work to completely eliminate federal executions and encourages every state to do the same.
His team showed that more than 160 on death row since 1973 have been acquitted. Joe Biden has yet to make his nomination for the position of Attorney General of the United States.
List of convicts awaiting execution
- Brandon bernard – convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and murdering two children; execution scheduled for December 10
- Alfred Bourgeois – convicted of torturing and killing his 2-year-old daughter; execution scheduled for December 11
- Lisa montgomery – in 2004 he strangled a pregnant woman, then isolated her and kidnapped the child; execution scheduled for January 12 (will be the first woman executed in the United States since 1953)
- Cory Johnson – convicted of killing seven people in a drug trafficking case; execution scheduled for January 14
- Dustin John Higgs – convicted in 1996 of kidnapping and killing three young women; He did not kill them, but their accomplices, following Higgs’s instructions; execution scheduled for January 15
How executions are carried out in every state in the US
How those sentenced to death are executed in the United States depends on the state in which the execution takes place, according to the BBC.
Lethal injection – in 34 states
Electric chair – 7 states
Gas Chamber – California, Arizona, Missouri
Spânzurare – Delaware, Washington, New Hampshire
Firing Squad – Utah
Editing: Bogdan Pacurar
