US Federal Government

More than one hun­dred bills have been intro­duced this year in 34 states and in Congress to expand and lim­it use of the death penal­ty, abol­ish and rein­state the death penal­ty, mod­i­fy exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols and secret the infor­ma­tion about them, and alter aspects of cap­i­tal tri­als. Thus far, nine bills in five states have been enact­ed, with Florida enact­ing the most leg­is­la­tion. Of the bills that have been signed into law, three mod­i­fy exe­cu­tion pro­to­cols; two expand…

Three and a half years after announc­ing its inves­ti­ga­tion into the fed­er­al death penal­ty pro­to­col, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on January 15, 2025 that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is rescind­ing the fed­er­al government’s sin­­gle-drug pen­to­bar­bi­tal lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. The DOJ’s deci­sion was based on what AG Garland called​“sig­nif­i­cant uncer­tain­ty” about whether exe­cu­tions by pen­to­bar­bi­tal caused unnec­es­sary pain and suf­fer­ing. The…