The Trump administration’s Department of Justice issued a press release on April 24 announcing that “today, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences… expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad.” This, they asserted, will deter crime and deliver justice to victims, “providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones.” The DoJ also directed the Bureau of Prison “to examine relocating or expanding federal death row or constructing an additional execution facility to permit additional manners of execution.”
The press release reminded readers of President Trump’s personal commitment to the barbaric death penalty. “On his first day in office, President Trump directed the Department of Justice to prioritize seeking death sentences in appropriate cases, promptly carrying out those sentences, and strengthening the death penalty.”
It is noteworthy that on the same day, April 24, the American Pope Leo XIV released a short video message to those gathered at DePaul University in Illinois to mark the 15th anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty in that state. The Pope said that “The Catholic Church has consistently taught that each human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred and deserves to be protected. Indeed, the right to life is the very foundation of every other human right…
