Capital punishment remains controversial in the US, with critics warning of innocent people being put on death row.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to expand the use of the federal death penalty, including through the deployment of firing squads.

The announcement on Friday was part of a policy document issued by the Department of Justice, setting out the legal argument for various methods of execution.

It touted steps for “restoring and strengthening” the death penalty as integral to the pursuit of justice.

“The Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences — clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals,” the Justice Department said in a news release.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    5·
    1 day ago

    The squad means that no one member knows if they’re the one that actually delivered the killing shot.

    I get it. Its an attempt at plausible self-deniability, but all the people that fired know that one (or more of them) could be the killer. For someone that doesn’t like killing people, I wouldn’t think that’s enough.

    • Azzu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      3·
      24 hours ago

      It doesn’t even make sense in my opinion. In my mind, all of them are the killers, no matter whose exact bullet it was, and I don’t get how you could convince yourself otherwise.

    • deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz
      2·
      24 hours ago

      It also comes from the military, when you’re executing one of your own as a traitor. So there’s a mitigating factor in there somewhere.

      Theoretically any given soldier could deliberately miss too, relying on there being at least one other squad member to make a killing shot.

      I mean, not killing people under any circumstances is better.