The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) affirmed the importance of capital punishment to the justice system and authorized the use of firing squads for federal executions in a new report published on Friday.
“The death penalty is a critical component of a just and effective criminal justice system. It empowers society to exact retribution proportionate to the worst offenses while also deterring others,” says the report.
“More than any other punishment, a death sentence also conveys the full gravity of a crime and affirms the principle that human life is of the highest value by reserving the ultimate penalty for the most egregious betrayals of human dignity and communicating with moral clarity that society will not tolerate such violations,” it continues
The report addresses the history of capital punishment in the U.S., including the Biden Administration’s recent moratorium on federal executions and President Donald Trump’s recent efforts to restore it as a necessary tool for the DOJ to deal with the worst criminals.
It accuses former Attorney General Merrick Garland of failing in his obligations to seek capital punishment in appropriate cases and of recommending the commutation of the capital sentences of 37 criminals.
The report also defended the use of lethal injection as a method of execution that does not inflict undue suffering on convicts.
“It has repeatedly been found to be less risky and more humane than other methods of execution—indeed, it was the preferred drug for lethal injection for many condemned inmates before it became less available because of pressure from anti-death penalty activists,” says the report.
The report also recommends that other methods of execution, including firing squads, gas chambers, and electrocution, be permitted for federal executions.
The last federal execution took place in the final days of the First Trump Administration, on January 16, when Dustin John Higgs was executed by lethal injection following a conviction on three counts of first-degree premeditated murder and kidnapping.
