The Department of Justice Announces It's Bringing Back Death by Firing Squad in Capital Punishment Cases

Dmitri Bolt | April 24, 2026 2:45 PM

The Trump administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday announced that it will be bringing back death by firing squad in death penalty cases.

🇺🇸 The Justice Department just brought back the firing squad as a federal method of execution.

Lethal injection is back too, death penalty cases are being fast-tracked, and 9 new death sentences have been authorized.

The federal government hasn't used a firing squad in modern… pic.twitter.com/p7tRIK7lsv
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 24, 2026

"Today, the Department of Justice acted to restore its solemn duty to seek, obtain, and implement lawful capital sentences — clearing the way for the Department to carry out executions once death-sentenced inmates have exhausted their appeals," the DOJ memo read.

"Among the actions taken are readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump Administration, expanding the protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad, and streamlining internal processes to expedite death penalty cases."

🚨 JUST NOW: The Trump DOJ reveals it’s REVIVING death penalty by FIRING SQUAD

LFG!

Trump is going full tough on crime mode.

This comes after 47 previously said he’d be seeking the death penalty for m*rders in Washington DC 🔥 pic.twitter.com/GjudKQugo0
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 24, 2026

"If anybody murders someone in the capital, capital punishment," the president said at the White House on Friday. "Capital, capital punishment. If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, D.C., we're going to be seeking the death penalty. And that's a very strong preventative. And everybody that's heard it agrees with it. I don't know if we're ready for it in this country, but we have it. It is. We have no choice."