There are 12 states where there have been no executions in the past 10 years -- including Louisiana and Utah, which reached that milestone this year, the report said. Only five states carried out executions in 2020 — Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. 07/16/2020: Wesley Ira Purkey was sentenced to death for kidnapping a child resulting in the child's death. First published on Sat 12 Dec 2020 03.00 EST . Racial disparities in this year's executions were similar to previous trends, the report said, "with almost half of the defendants executed being people of color and 76% of the executions for the deaths of white victims.". By Ariane de Vogue and Jamie Ehrlich, CNN. The Federal Death Penalty Updated December 1, 2020 In July 2020, under U.S. Attorney General Barr’s direction and a revised Federal Execution Protocol Addendum (replacing the previous three-drug protocol used in executions with a single-drug procedure), the federal government resumed executions, ending a 17-year moratorium on the federal death penalty. "Since 2010, 14 states have used pentobarbital in over 200 executions and federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have repeatedly upheld the use of pentobarbital in executions as consistent with the Eighth Amendment," the statement reads. 07/17/2020: Dustin Lee Honken was sentenced to death for numerous offenses, including five counts of murder during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise. The Trump administration's Department of Justice announced its plans to resume executions for federal crimes in 2019. Bernard, 40, was the youngest person to be executed in the United States in nearly 70 years, according to DPIC, and was put to death for a crime committed when he was 18. Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee each carried out one execution in 2020, while Texas executed three prisoners. The ten people executed under the federal death penalty in the second half of 2020 exceeded the number executed by all of the states combined, the first time in the history of the United States in which the federal government carried out more civilian executions than did the states. Last month, the Supreme Court let stand an appeals court ruling that found the government was in compliance with the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994, which requires executions … Since the beginning of July, … Germany abandoned the death penalty after the Holocaust and enshrined protecting human dignity as a core value of its justice system. He maintained up until his death that he was innocent. [21][22][23][24] Tennessee also postponed the executions of four inmates who were due to be executed between June and December. Supreme Court turns away challenge to federal executions by lethal injection . The federal government is back in the business of executing prisoners. The death penalty -- as the most severe punishment -- must be part of the efforts to address racism in the criminal legal system as a whole," said Ngozi Ndulue, DPIC's Senior Director of Research and Special Projects and the lead author of "Enduring Injustice: the Persistence of Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty," which DPIC released in September. The federal government resumed executions of death row inmates in July 2020, leading to the first execution in nearly twenty years. By WILL WEISSERT July 26, 2019 GMT. [1], Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of executions that had been planned for 2020 were postponed and/or rescheduled. Federal Death Penalty News. Texas was also the last state to carry out a death sentence this year, executing Billy Wardlow on July 8 for fatally shooting an 82-year-old man in 1993. ", And in doing so, the report said, the government's actions "contributed to an outbreak (of coronavirus). June 30th Update: This morning, the United States Supreme Court announced it would not consider an appeal challenging the method of execution the Department of Justice plans to utilize in the four upcoming executions scheduled for later this summer. Lives should … 4052 in the 116 th Congress). federal executions and forcing defense lawyers to risk their lives to defend clients on death row is simply unthinkable. The incoming Biden-Harris administration campaigned on a, On Tuesday, more than 40 members of Congress and representatives-elect, "With a stroke of your pen, you can stop all federal executions, prohibit United States Attorneys from seeking the death penalty, dismantle death row at FCC Terre Haute, and call for the resentencing of people who are currently sentenced to death," reads, Dozens of members of Congress call on Biden to end the federal death penalty, The death penalty confuses vengeance with justice, and it's time to end it, RELATED: Barr directs federal government to reinstate death penalty, schedule the execution of 5 death row inmates, Latino and Black Americans feel more hopeful and less angry about the state of country since the election, Pew survey finds. The data shows a changing view compared with the 1990s, when support for the death penalty was as high as 80%, and executions reached an all-time high in 1999 with. There were also fewer new death sentences imposed this year -- 18 -- than in any other year "since the Supreme Court struck down all existing capital punishments statutes in the U.S. in 1972," the report said. "By the end of 2020, the federal government had conducted more civilian executions in five months than any other presidency in the 20th or 21st centuries, performed the first executions by a lame-duck president in more than a century, and scheduled more executions than had ever occurred in a presidential transition period in the history of the United States," the report said. He was executed by lethal injection at USP Terre Haute, IN on July 17, 2020. "Traditionally, out of respect for the incoming administration, and because executions are a matter of life and death, executions weren't carried out during a transition period," Dunham said. End federal executions, racist death penalty! This is a list of offenders executed in the United States in 2020. In March, Colorado became the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty, and Utah and Louisiana reached the ten year mark since their last execution. In March, Colorado became the latest state to abolish the death penalty, bringing the number of states that have done so to 22. Five people were exonerated from death row in 2020, bringing the number of people released from death row since 1973 to 172. "No president in the 20th or 21st century before this year presided over double-digit executions in any calendar year. From July 14, 2020 through January 16, 2021, the federal government executed thirteen prisoners. The Trump administration … Since Trump authorised the resumption of federal executions, which began again in July 2020, the US government has applied the death penalty to 12 people. The number of state-level executions in 2020 appears to have been influenced by the closing of courts due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it's in line with long-term trends showing a nationwide move away from the death penalty, Dunham said. Bernard, 40, was the youngest person to be executed in the US in nearly 70 years, and was put to death for a crime committed when he was a teenager. Resumed federal executions raise death penalty’s 2020 stakes. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who spent much of her adult life in Indiana, voted with the majority on Nov. 19 to allow the execution of Orlando Hall. According to the Justice Department's statement, Barr directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to adopt an execution protocol using a single-drug injection of pentobarbital, replacing a three-drug procedure observed in the past. "You'd have to go back to 1896 and President Grover Cleveland's second presidency to find this many federal civilian executions in a single year," Dunham added. Updated 2234 GMT (0634 HKT) December 17, 2020. 6. Jesse Jackson. 1 of 4. Shirts available for ordering on our merch site. Barr at the time said the government was moving to seek justice against the "worst criminals" and bring relief to victims and family members. [25][26][27][28] In addition, the December 8 execution of Lisa Montgomery by the federal government was postponed by the DC District Court after both of her defense attorneys caught COVID-19. Texas postponed the executions of seven inmates who were due to be executed between March and September, beginning with Carlos Trevino, whose execution was postponed three times (first on March 11, then June 3, and finally September 30). Our nation’s use of the death penalty separates us from many other democratic nations. that of Daniel Lewis Lee, a White man convicted of murdering a family of three Executions and new death sentences in 2020 continued to be directed at defendants and prisoners who were the most vulnerable or who had the most defective court process. Only the federal government moved forward with those executions. "Nearly 25% of the population of death row is now in counties where prosecutors say they won't use the death penalty or are going to significantly restrict its use. The death penalty in the United States. The Crimes Act of 1790 defined some capital offenses: treason, murder, robbery, piracy, mutiny, hostility against the United States, counterfeiting, and aiding the escape of a capital prisoner. The first federal execution of 2020 was that of Daniel Lewis Lee in July at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Death Penalty Information Center, Dunham explained, doesn't have a stance on whether the death penalty should or shouldn't exist. Washington, DC has also abolished the death penalty. The Trump administration's decision to resume federal executions after a 16-year hiatus was. It was the most consecutive executions by a single jurisdiction since the U.S. death penalty resumed in the 1970 s and the longest period of time in wh… With just a few weeks left … In July 2020, Daniel Lewis Lee, became the first person executed by the federal government since Jones in 2003. The Federal Death Penalty Act bars the government from executing a mentally disabled inmate under the law, and the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that mentally disabled criminals could not … For 17 years, the federal government had not used the death penalty — until President Trump changed that in 2020. A total of seventeen death row inmates, all men, were executed in the United States in 2020, sixteen by lethal injection and one by electrocution. The report noted there were several anomalies with the US government's actions this year. Lee, a white supremacist, had been on death row for robbing and murdering three people since being convicted in 1999. As of December 16, 2020, 2,591 convicts are still on death row. Wear a death penalty abolition t-shirt - spark a conversation about what is going on with some visibility! A total of at least 185 people who were sentenced to death since 1972 have since been exonerated. Colorado became the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty and two states – Louisiana and Utah – reached ten years with no executions. A total of seventeen death row inmates, all men, were executed in the United States in 2020, … In addition, we ask President-Elect Biden to declare a moratorium on federal executions and to commute current federal death sentences to terms of imprisonment. Federal prisoners Patrick R. Smith and Brandon S. Holm filed a class-action … Read “The Death Penalty in 2020: Year End Report” at https://bit.ly/34ecLPv. Alfred Bourgeois argued that the federal government was constitutionally... Coronavirus Litigation. 7. Prior to 2020, the last federal death row inmate to be executed was Louis … In July 2019, Mr Barr announced the scheduled executions of five death row prisoners, despite prevailing practices and public opinion. Of the five, only Texas conducted more than … (CNN)For the first time in US history, the government has executed more people than all of the 50 states, and the number of federal prisoners put to death this year -- 10 -- is the highest since President Grover Cleveland's second term in office, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Most recently, two Black men, Brandon Bernard and Alfred Bourgeois. Make checks payable to "Death Penalty Action" with "Federal Executions" in the memo line and mail to PO Box 89, Ghent, NY 12075. The Trump administration has carried out ten in the space of five months," Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and the report's lead author, told CNN. His case drew the attention of celebrities and politicians, including Kim Kardashian West who called on President Donald Trump to commute his sentence, and the Rev. FILE - In this March 17, 2003 file photo, guard towers and razor wire ring the compound at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., the site of the last federal execution. The first federal execution of 2020 was that of. In addition, no administration since Cleveland's first presidency has carried out multiple executions during a transition. Women lay flowers at a candlelight vigil for Brandon Bernard on December 13 in Los Angeles. The report said Texas accounted for three of the seven state executions in 2020, while there was one each in Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment. The first federal execution was that of Thomas Bird on June 25, 1790, due to his committing "murder on the high seas". One vehicle to accomplish this in federal law is the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act (S. 2390 and H.R. Before this year, according to the group's database, there had been no federal executions in the United States since 2003, and only three federal inmates had been executed since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988. [29] She was executed the following year, on January 13, 2021. "Everybody else knew that it was more important to protect the public health than it was to kill prisoners now, who could be executed when it was safe to do so later. Donald Trump is not only provoking fury among opponents in his race to complete a spate of federal executions … By Gloria Rubac posted on July 20, 2020 In just four days, the U.S. government doubled to six the number of federal executions since Congress reauthorized the federal death penalty in 1988. Photo: AP/ Michael Conroy. 2020 was also the year of a national reckoning with racial injustice across the board and within the criminal justice system. Renewed federal executions raise death penalty's 2020 stakes. He was executed by lethal injection at USP Terre Haute, IN on July 16, 2020. This trend meant that, for … On Monday, June 15, the U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to move forward the restart of executions at … As Trump and Barr ramp up executions, Biden must rally America to end the death penalty This spasm of state murder is unprecedented. December 2020 Executions Alfred Bourgeois (EXECUTED December 11). All of that suggests the numbers will stay low in most of the country going forward," Dunham told CNN. Federal executions, though they may get more attention this year, are a fraction of the larger picture, according to Dunham. "Racism has always infected the use of the death penalty and this year is no exception. [30], List of offenders executed in the United States in 2020, COVID-19 related problems with scheduling executions, List of death row inmates in the United States, List of juvenile offenders executed in the United States since 1976, List of most recent executions by jurisdiction, List of people executed by the United States federal government, List of people executed in Texas, 2020–present, List of offenders scheduled to be executed in the United States, List of women executed in the United States since 1976, "Texas carries out nation's first execution of 2020 for domestic violence slaying in Collin County", "Georgia man put to death for the 1997 killings of 2 people", "Texas executes Abel Ochoa, who killed five family members in Dallas shooting", "Tennessee execution: Nicholas Todd Sutton executed by electric chair", "Nathaniel Woods executed in Alabama after Supreme Court denies stay", "Missouri executes man convicted of murder despite calls to examine innocence claim", "Texas executes Billy Wardlow for 1993 murder", "Daniel Lewis Lee executed after Supreme Court clears the way for first federal execution in 17 years", "Wesley I. Purkey, Plaintiff v. William P. Barr et al., Defendants", "Wesley Ira Purkey executed in Terre Haute, 2nd man put to death this week", "Dustin Lee Honken: US government executes 3rd federal inmate this week", "Lezmond Mitchell executed inside federal prison in Terre Haute", "U.S. executes Keith Dwayne Nelson for 1999 rape, murder of Kansas girl", "US government executes killer obsessed with witchcraft", "US executes first Black federal inmate in more than 17 years", "Offender Information – Orlando Cordia Hall", "U.S. carries out 8th federal execution of 2020", "Brandon Bernard executed in Trump's final days", "Alfred Bourgeois executed: Child killer second to have lethal injection in two days", "Fourth Texas Execution Postponed Because Of Coronavirus", "Fifth Texas Execution Delayed in Midst of Virus Outbreak", "Execution Delayed for Man Condemned in TCU Professor's Death", "Texas Delays 7th Execution After Attorneys Raise Concerns Over Coronavirus Pandemic", "Tennessee supreme court stays execution of death row inmate due to covid-19 pandemic", "Second Tennessee execution stayed over coronavirus concerns; Byron Black's date set for April 2021", "Harold Nichols: Governor delays August execution over coronavirus concerns", "Governor grants 'temporary reprieve from execution' for Pervis Payne", "First federal execution of a woman in decades halted after lawyers diagnosed with Covid", "US carries out its 1st execution of female inmate since 1953", Retentionist countries with recently imposed moratorium, List of U.S. Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_offenders_executed_in_the_United_States_in_2020&oldid=1004577063, Lists of people executed in the United States, Short description with empty Wikidata description, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 3 February 2021, at 08:28. Updated 11:34 AM ET, Mon June 29, 2020 . Dunham also noted that executions took place during the coronavirus pandemic, as some states issued stays and no state-level executions took place past July 8. 12 Federal Lisa Montgomery EXECUTION DATE VACATED by U.S. District Court … According to the report, candidates pledging systemic reforms have won prosecutor races in counties across the country that produced a historically disproportionate number of death sentences or executions, such as Los Angeles County in California and Travis County in Texas, among others. According to Dunham, the administration's rushed approach to resuming federal executions, particularly with respect to the execution protocol, was to the detriment of public and judicial oversight. Sat 12 Dec 2020 09.57 EST. "Congress has expressly authorised the death penalty… At the time, the transition period lasted from November to March, compared to two and a half months now, Dunham explained.