Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump signaled he would resume federal executions if he won and make more people eligible for capital punishment, including child rapists, migrants who kill U.S. citizens and law enforcement officers, and those convicted of drug and human trafficking (article available here).
While it remains unclear how Trump would act to expand the death penalty, anti-death penalty groups and criminal justice reform advocates say they are taking his claims seriously, noting the spree of federal executions that occurred during his first term.
President Joe Biden had campaigned on passing legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, but pulled back on that in office. Instead, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a moratorium in 2021 to review the federal execution protocols.
Biden’s aides say he supports death row inmates serving life sentences without probation or parole. It’s unclear what, if anything, he may do on the issue before leaving office.
There are currently 40 people, all men, on federal death row, according to the nonpartisan Death Penalty Information Center. Eighteen of them are White; 15 are Black; six are Latino; one is Asian.