US House Investigates Trump Decision To Resume Federal Executions

Umer Jamshaid Published August 15, 2019 | 02:20 AM

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2019) US House Oversight Committee members Jamie Raskin and Ayanna Pressley launched an investigation into the Trump administration's decision to resume federal executions.

On July 25, US Attorney General William Barr said the Trump administration ordered the resumption of capital punishment for federal prisoners on death-row after a nearly two-decade lapse.

"We are extremely concerned about the types of facilities from which the Bureau will obtain its pentobarbital, whether the Bureau will be able to guarantee that its intended method of execution is as painless as possible, and whether the Bureau will be subject to rigorous protocols to prevent the problems that have occurred at the state level," lawmakers said in letters sent to Barr and Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Hugh Hurwitz on Wednesday.

Since 1963 there were only three federal executions in the United States, while the current administration already scheduled five punishments in December 2019 and January 2020, they added.

At the day of Trump's announcement, Pressley introduced legislation that would immediately ban the use of the death penalty by the federal government. On August 1, a group of nine US senators introduced another bill with the same goal.