Story perspectives

Justice Dept Adds Firing Squad, Electrocution, Nitrogen to Federal Executions

4/25/2026

Summary

Story summary

The Justice Department announced that firing squads are now authorized for federal executions.
The department also reinstated pentobarbital lethal injections and added electrocution and nitrogen-gas as permissible methods.
Three inmates—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers—remain on federal death row.
The Justice Department said the pentobarbital protocol complies with the Eighth Amendment, will strengthen the federal death penalty, and follows President Joe Biden’s commutation of 37 federal death sentences.

History

Historical Context

After the 1972 Furman decision halted executions, the Supreme Court revived capital punishment in Gregg v. Georgia (1976) under Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, prompting Congress to approve four methods—lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber and firing squad. By 1976, 35 states had rewritten statutes and public support rose to 66 %. The Justice Department’s addition of firing squads, nitrogen gas and pentobarbital echoes that 1976 expansion.

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Story summary

The Justice Department announced that firing squads are now authorized for federal executions.
The department also reinstated pentobarbital lethal injections and added electrocution and nitrogen-gas as permissible methods.
Three inmates—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers—remain on federal death row.
The Justice Department said the pentobarbital protocol complies with the Eighth Amendment, will strengthen the federal death penalty, and follows President Joe Biden’s commutation of 37 federal death sentences.

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