As the clock ticks down on Donald Trump’s presidency, his administration has rushed to carry out an unprecedented number of federal executions. The Trump administration has executed at least 11 people since July, with more still to come. To put that in perspective, all 50 states combined executed seven people last year, the lowest number of state executions since 1983. Under Trump, the U.S. government has reversed what the New York Times calls an “informal 17-year moratorium” on capital punishment, enacting the “highest number of federal civilian executions in a single calendar year in either the 20th or 21st century.” And they’re not finished yet.
On January 15, five days before Joe Biden — who now opposes the death penalty and would like to eliminate it — takes office, a federal prisoner named Dustin Higgs is set to be executed. According to former attorney general William Barr, Dustin Higgs “kidnapped and murdered three women.” But prosecutors have never contended that Higgs killed any of the victims himself; the only witness, and even the confessed (and convicted) shooter, have confirmed this. Still, Higgs is the one who wound up on death row.
Read the full story at The Cut | News.
