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DOJ to allow firing squads for executions

By
Published  April 24, 2026 12:49pm MST
Crime and Public Safety
FOX Local
article

(Getty Images)

The Brief

    • For the first time, the Justice Department will allow firing squads for federal executions. 
    • Only three defendants remain on federal death row after former President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison. 
    • Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.

The Justice Department will allow firing squads and certain single-drug lethal injections for executions in an effort to "strengthen" the federal death penalty, the agency announced. 

It’s the first time the federal government has included firing squad as a method of execution in its protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. 

Here’s what we know: 

Trump expands death penalty 

Big picture view:

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says firing squads and the return of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital are part of a bigger push to ramp up capital punishment. 

RELATED: Executions by firing squad resume: A brief history

The first Trump administration used pentobarbital in 13 executions, the most of any president in modern history. It was removed from the federal death penalty protocol under the Biden administration over concerns of unnecessary pain and suffering.  

In a report released Friday, the Justice Department said the Biden administration "got the standard and the science wrong." The Trump administration maintains that an inmate injected with pentobarbital quickly "quickly loses consciousness—rendering him unable to experience pain."

RELATED: South Carolina executes Mikal Mahdi by firing squad

Only three defendants remain on federal death row after former President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison, but the Trump administration is currently seeking the death penalty against at least 44 defendants.

What they're saying:

"The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. "Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims."

RELATED: South Carolina inmate chooses firing squad for execution, 1st in US in 15 years

Where are firing squads legal in the US?

Local perspective:

Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. The death penalty is legal in 27 states, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. 

SC death row inmate executed by firing squad

SC death row inmate executed by firing squad

Brad Sigmon has been executed by firing squad by the state of South Carolina Friday for killing his ex-girlfriend's parents at their home in Greenville County in 2001.

Who’s on federal death row? 

Dig deeper:

The three inmates currently on death row in the federal prison system are Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, the gunman who killed 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.

The Source: This report includes information from the Department of Justice, the Death Penalty Information Center and The Associated Press.

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