Page 27 - bon-dia-aruba-20210619

A27
u.s. news Diasabra 19 Juni 2021

Biden's silence on executions adds to death penalty disarray

(AP) — Activists widely according to the nonpartisan
expected Joe Biden to take Death Penalty Information
swift action against the Center in Washington, D.C.
death penalty as the first
sitting president to op- Biden didn’t make capital
pose capital punishment, punishment a prominent fea-
especially since an un- ture of his presidential run,
precedented spate of ex- but he did say on his cam-
ecutions by his predeces- paign website that he would
sor ended just days before work “to pass legislation to
Biden took office. eliminate the death penalty at
the federal level, and incen-
Instead, the White House has tivize states to follow the fed-
been mostly silent. eral government’s example.”

Biden hasn’t said whether That simple-sounding prom-
he’d back a bill introduced ise was historic because it
by fellow Democrats to strike wasn’t just about the federal
the death penalty from U.S. death penalty, which, before
statutes. He also hasn’t re- former President Donald
scinded Trump-era protocols Trump, had been carried out
enabling federal executions just three times in the previ-
to resume and allowing pris- ous five decades. Then, 13
ons to use firing squads if federal prisoners were ex-
necessary, something many ecuted during Trump’s last
thought he’d do on day one. six months in office during
the height of the coronavirus it obtained pentobarbital for chance the U.S. government his Justice Department not to
And this week, his adminis- pandemic. Biden’s promise the lethal injections under would ever embrace an ex- schedule federal executions
tration asked the Supreme also took direct aim at states, Trump. ecution method favored by during his term. But that
Court to reinstate the Boston which, combined, have ex- Nazis, Dunham said the very would fall far short of fulfill-
Marathon bomber’s original ecuted some 1,500 inmates Some states have refurbished idea that it’s theoretically ing his campaign promise,
death sentence. since the 1970s; 27 states still electric chairs as standbys possible should horrify Biden and it would leave the door
have death penalty laws. for when lethal drugs are administration officials and open for future presidents to
The hands-off approach in unavailable. On Wednesday, spur them to act with an even restart executions.
Washington is adding to dis- But the fact that the Biden South Carolina halted two greater sense of urgency.
array around the death penal- administration chose to ac- executions until the state He could also use his execu-
ty nationwide as pressure in- tively push for Dzhokhar could pull together firing “This creates another oppor- tive powers to commute all
creases in some conservative Tsarnaev’s execution suggests squads. tunity for the Biden admin- federal death sentences to life
states to find ways to contin- the president’s opposition to istration to take action,” he in prison, but there’s no sign
ue executions amid shortages the death penalty isn’t as all- To the disbelief of many, Ari- said. “Doing nothing puts the of that happening. Grant-
of the lethal-injection drugs. inclusive as many activists zona went so far as to acquire U.S. on the books as autho- ing full clemency to every-
Worse, some longtime death believed. materials to make cyanide rizing these cyanide execu- one on death row could be
penalty observers say, is that hydrogen — the poisonous tions in some instances.” politically problematic for
Biden’s silence risks sending Justice Department lawyers gas deployed by Nazis to kill Biden and other Democrats,
a message that he’s OK with said in court filings Monday 865,000 Jews at Auschwitz — A federal prosecutor, argu- who have a slim majority
states adopting alternative ex- that a lower court was wrong for possible use in the state’s ing in litigation over the gov- in both the House and the
ecution methods. to toss the 27-year-old’s death chamber. ernment’s execution proto- Senate. Among those whose
death sentence over con- cols last month, insisted to lives would be spared by
“Biden’s lack of action is un- cerns about the jury selection “Execution processes are be- a judge that the Justice De- such a Biden order would
conscionable,” said Ashley process, saying the Supreme coming more and more out partment would allow some be Dylann Roof, who killed
Kincaid Eve, a lawyer and ac- Court should “put this case of touch with core American death row inmates to choose nine Black church members
tivist who protested outside back on track toward a just values,” Robert Dunham, their method of execution if during a Bible study session
the Terre Haute, Indiana, conclusion.” director of the Death Pen- they were sentenced in a state in South Carolina and was
prison where the federal in- alty Information Center, said where the law would allow the first person sentenced to
mates were executed. “This is White House spokesper- about Arizona’s purchase. “It that. death for a federal hate crime.
the easiest campaign promise son Andrew Bates said in an provides a very clear picture
to keep, and the fact he re- email regarding the Tsarnaev of what the death penalty Abe Bonowitz, director of After Biden’s inauguration,
fuses to keep it ... is political decision that the Justice De- has become in the United the anti-capital punishment the question of whether the
cowardice.” partment “has independence States.” group Death Penalty Action, president would act fast to
regarding such decisions.” said he and other activists end capital punishment was
His cautious approach dem- Bates added that the presi- Protocols put in place under have spoken with adminis- a popular topic on federal
onstrates the practical and dent “believes the Depart- Trump and not rescinded by tration officials and received death row in Terre Haute,
political difficulties of ending ment should return to its Biden allow the U.S. govern- some behind-the-scenes where discussions were of-
or truncating capital punish- prior practice, and not carry ment to employ execution assurances that Biden will ten conducted through inter-
ment after it’s been integral out executions.” methods sanctioned in states eventually support legislation connected air vents. It’s not
to the criminal justice system where a federal defendant to abolish the federal death discussed much these days,
for centuries, even as popular Meanwhile, states have re- was sentenced, Dunham said. penalty. death row inmate Rejon Tay-
support for the death penalty sorted to other means as That means, in theory, feder- lor told The Associated Press
among both Democrats and drugs used in lethal injec- al executioners could also use “We know this is not the big- recently through a prison
Republicans wanes. tions have become increas- hydrogen cyanide. gest fish they have to fry right email system.
ingly hard to procure. Phar- now. But we are hearing they
Support for the death penalty maceutical companies in the Dunham said death by hy- will get to it,” said Bonow- “I won’t say that skepticism
among Americans is at near- 2000s began banning the use drogen cyanide stands out as itz, who has been critical of has settled in, but I will say
historic lows after peaking in of their products for execu- uniquely brutal, invariably Biden’s silence. that most no longer feel that
the mid-1990s and steadily tions, saying they were meant leading to an “extended, tor- immediate action will hap-
declining since, with most to save lives, not take them. turous death.” The president could take the pen,” said Taylor, who was
recent polls indicating sup- The U.S. Bureau of Prisons path of least resistance, po- sentenced in 2008 for killing
port now hovers around 55%, has declined to explain how Even if there’s virtually no litically speaking, by telling an Atlanta restaurant owner.