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25th Jul 2019

US government to start executing people for the first time in almost 20 years

Rudi Kinsella

Us Iran war

Major news coming from America today.

The federal government will resume executing death row inmates after nearly two decades without doing so, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday.

Attorney General William Barr announced the news, directing the Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions of five inmates convicted of murder and other crimes.

The executions in question have been scheduled for December 2019 and January 2020, while the last federal execution was carried out in 2003, according to CNBC.

At the time of writing, there are 62 individuals on federal death row, according to a tracker maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center.

“Congress has expressly authorised the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Barr said in a statement.

He continued:

“Under Administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding.

“The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”

The decision means that America will join countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran as nations who use capital punishment.