US EditionDOJ 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, the Justice Department announced it is reinstating federal lethal injection protocols and authorizing the firing squad as an execution method, as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche released a 52-page plan to expedite capital cases.
- The initiative reverses policies from the Biden administration, which had imposed an indefinite execution moratorium in 2021; the Trump administration claims prior policies relied on "deeply flawed analysis" that caused "untold harm to the public."
- Currently, the Department of Justice is seeking the death penalty for 44 defendants, including three MS-13 members, with Blanche stating the changes are necessary to deliver justice after 14 years without a federal execution.
- Officials plan to limit clemency petitions and reduce the time between conviction and execution, though legal experts expect the policy shift to trigger significant court challenges regarding execution method constitutionality.
- Five states currently authorize execution by firing squad, a method used recently in South Carolina, while an October 2025 Gallup poll shows 52 percent of Americans favor the death penalty, though the issue remains contentious.
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366 Articles
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'
The US wants to allow alternatives to the poison injection, as it is increasingly difficult to obtain the necessary drugs.
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
West Hawaii TodayTrump administration approves firing squad executions for death penalty
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Friday that it would allow firing squads and readopt lethal injection as part of a broader push to revive the death penalty. The post Trump administration approves firing squad executions for death penalty appeared first on Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
Washington. The U.S. Department of Justice will adopt firing squads as a permissible method of execution, as President Donald Trump’s government attempts to intensify and expedite death penalty cases, officials reported yesterday.
Omaha World-Herald
DOJ urges alternative methods of execution
President Donald Trump's administration plans to add firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation as alternative methods of executing people convicted of the gravest federal crimes, it announced Friday, noting difficulties in obtaining drugs for lethal injections.
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