The U.S. Department of Justice(DOJ) said Friday that it plans to reinstate the firing squad as a method of executing death row inmates as part of a group of measures to “strengthen” capital punishment at the federal level.
The new directives seek to clear “the way for carrying out executions once death row inmates have exhausted their appeals,” the DOJ reported, in compliance with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
New federal measures: more enforcement methods and faster processes
🔴Trump reintroduces firing squad in federal executions https://t.co/6bYUD2p4FC
– EL PAÍS (@el_pais) April 24, 2026
These include “readopting the lethal injection protocol used during the first Trump Administration.”
“The expansion of such protocol to include additional methods of execution, such as firing squad, and the streamlining of internal processes.”
“To expedite death penalty-related cases in the United States.”
“These steps are critical to deterring the most heinous crimes, bringing justice to the victims and providing long-overdue closure to their surviving loved ones,” Justice added in a statement.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, the administration of former President Joe Biden “failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to prosecute and execute the maximum penalty against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers and killers of law enforcement officers.”
USA toughens the death penalty
❗ U.S. to reinstate firing squad as method of execution for death row inmates https://t.co/7tVimGJdJ0
– El Debate (@eldebate_com) April 24, 2026
Blanche warned that now, the DOJ is “back to enforcing the law and standing in solidarity with the victims.”
Justice also announced that it instructed the Bureau of Prisons to “examine the possibility of relocating or expanding federal death row.”
“Or to construct an additional execution facility, in order to allow the application of alternative execution methods.”
It is planned to reinstate the firing squad
QuéOnnda.com
In the United States, the death penalty is legal in 27 states, although in four of them there are moratoriums that block executions.
In 23 other states and the District of Columbia it was abolished, according to the NGO Death Penalty Information Center.
According to the group’s figures, 47 executions were carried out nationwide in 2025, with a record 19 in Florida alone.
At least 32 executions are scheduled for this year in eight states, of which eight have already been completed.
With information from EFE
For more information, visit QuéOnnda.com
