For the first time in 15 years, the Justice Department will be resuming federal executions. Even though the coronavirus pandemic has affected life both outside and inside the prisons, this doesn't stop the Justice Department from going back to business as usual.
Accord to reports, there are three individuals to die by lethal injection to start on Monday at an Indiana Prison. The Bureau of Prisons officials have been having safe drills for several months to accomplish it safely, according to AP News.
All family of the sentenced prisoners can attend with face masks on and prison officials will take they temperatures. Although they will not be tested for COVID-19, there are PPE's available for witnesses.
According to Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center, resuming federal executions should not be a priority amid the pandemic.
"Why would anybody who is concerned about public health and safety want to bring in people from all over the country for three separate execution in the span of five days to a virus hot spot? The original execution plan last year appeared to be political. And the current plan eliminates any doubt about that," says Robert on AP News.
Some people are thinking that this decision is politically motivated, but Attorney General William Barr rebutted and said it is the obligation of the government to carry out delayed executions.
He added that the American citizens, through Congress and government bodies, have made it imperative that all heinous crimes must get a death sentence.
In spite of this, many are criticizing this decision about federal executions. Some government critics are saying there were more important priorities for the government, like immigration.
The 2018 General Social Survey cited that Americans who favor the death penalty are nearly at 60% only.
Democrats oppose it and are using it against President Trump who considers it a deterrent to the heinous crime in the United States. The US has been rocked by the pandemic and protests that Democrats have used in their political agenda.
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Trump is pushing for a new death penalty legislation that is under review and most may not live to see trial.
Samuel Spital said that it is not part of the immediate agenda and it ignores inequality. He raised the issue of police violence against colored communities, which is balanced by recent activities of colored individuals responsible for heinous crimes, according to The Telegraph.
Blacks and Hispanics on death row
Most of the sentenced inmates are Hispanic and colored people who make up the most of death row. Contrary to the criticism that all coloreds are given the death sentence, next week, three inmates due to be executed are all white.
One of those scheduled for execution is Danny Lee. He killed a family of three including an 8-year-old. The family asked the judge to delay execution because of the pandemic.
Another is Ira Purkey from Kansas, who raped and killed a 16-year-old and an 80-year-old woman. Dustin Lee Honken was convicted of killing five, including two innocent children.
Last is Keith Dwayne Nelson who is scheduled to be executed in August for kidnapping a 10-year-old girl who was rollerblading. He abducted and raped the victim in a forest, then strangled her.
All of them were supposed to be executed last year, but it was halted by a federal appeals court in Washington and Supreme Court. But now the decision is reversed and only the lower court can stop it, according to KWQC.
All executions will be at the federal correctional institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. The unit which holds the sentenced is virus-free according to the officials. Barr has approved the execution procedures to be used, replacing the old system and executions are due to begin next week.
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