司法部长梅里克·加兰已经下令司法部暂时停止支持任何进一步的日程安排实行根据一份给该部门高级官员的备忘录。
加兰在周四的备忘录中呼应了他自己最近对使用死刑的保留意见，指出一些被告后来被无罪释放，以及统计数据显示可能对少数民族产生歧视性影响。
“司法部必须确保联邦刑事司法系统中的每个人不仅获得美国宪法和法律保障的权利，而且得到公平和人道的待遇，”他写道。“这一义务在死刑案件中具有特殊效力。人们对全国各地继续使用死刑表示严重关切，包括死刑适用的任意性、对有色人种的不同影响以及令人不安的死刑和其他严重案件的免责数量。”
“这些重要的问题值得立法者仔细研究和评估。与此同时，司法部必须小心谨慎地履行我们的承诺，在执行现有的联邦死刑判决法律时，坚持公平和人道的待遇。
吉姆·洛·斯卡佐/环保局-埃菲社/Shutterstock
司法部长梅里克·B·加兰宣布对佐治亚州的vot提起诉讼...
根据DOJ的一份新闻稿，加兰的备忘录指示副总检察长对最近的政策变化进行多管齐下的审查，并要求审查包括与广泛的利益攸关方的协商，包括相关部门、其他联邦和州机构、医学专家和经验丰富的资本顾问等。在审查期间，不会安排联邦执行。
在加兰的前任威廉·巴尔恢复了该部门对死刑在将近20年后的一年前。他还在总统任期的过渡时期推动处决了几名联邦囚犯乔·拜登-谁反对死刑-就职。
根据死刑研究所的年终报告，2020年联邦政府处决的人数超过了所有50个州的总和。死刑研究所是一个非党派的死刑信息中心，跟踪死囚和处决情况。
然而，该指令预计不会影响该部门的最近采取的立场一位知情人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，在波士顿炸弹袭击者佐哈尔·察尔纳耶夫的案件中。官员们上个月敦促最高法院推翻下级法院的裁决，恢复察尔纳耶夫的死刑，尽管拜登表示反对死刑。
Garland orders halt to any further federal executions
Attorney General Merrick Garland has ordered a temporary halt to the Justice Department advocating any scheduling of furtherexecutionsof federal inmates, according to a memo to senior officials at the department.
Garland in the memo Thursday echoed his own recently stated reservations about use of the death penalty, noting a number of defendants who were later exonerated as well as statistics showing possible discriminatory impact on minorities.
"The Department ofJustice must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States, but is also treated fairly and humanely," he wrote. "That obligation has special force in capital cases. Serious concerns have been raised about the continued use of the death penalty across the country, including arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color, and the troubling number of exonerations in capital and other serious cases."
"Those weighty concerns deserve careful study and evaluation by lawmakers. In the meantime, the Department must take care to scrupulously maintain our commitment to fairness and humane treatment in the administration of existing federal laws governing capital sentences," he continued.
Garland’s memorandum directs the deputy attorney general to lead a multi-pronged review of recent policy changes and requires the reviews to include consultations with a wide range of stakeholders including the relevant department components, other federal and state agencies, medical experts and experienced capital counsel, among others, according to a DOJ news release. No federal executions will be scheduled while the reviews are pending.
The new directive comes after Garland's predecessor in the job, William Barr, had resumed the department's use ofcapital punishmentagainst inmates a year ago, after a nearly two-decade lapse. He also pushed for executions of several federal prisoners during the transition period before PresidentJoe Biden-- who opposes the death penalty -- took office.
The federal government in 2020 executed more people than all 50 states combined, according to a year-end report from the Death Penalty Institute, a non-partisan, death penalty information center that tracks death row inmates and executions.
The directive, however, is not expected to impact the department'sposition taken recentlyin the case of Boston bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev, a person familiar with the matter told ABC News. Officials last month urged the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling and reinstate Tsarnaev's death penalty despite Biden's stated opposition to capital punishment.
