By Viviane Faver
During the year 2020, the Trump administration was quick to put ten prisoners to death, more American civilians in a year than all states combined. The wave of executions surpassed historical norms and was contrary to the decline in the practice of the death penalty, which has been a trend in the United States for several years.
According to data from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), the Trump administration’s actions highlight a grotesque aberration. “Government policies were not only out of step with the historical practices of past presidents but also out of step with today’s state practices,” said Robert Dunham, DPIC’s executive director and lead author of his year-end report.
With Trump’s refusal to take the coronavirus seriously and get the federal government to continue executions, there was an outbreak of Covid-19 cases at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana’s DPIC report notes infected at least nine members of the execution teams.
The overwhelming history of federal executions in 2020 was the Trump administration’s disdain for established standards and its determination to push the death penalty to the limits of decency, even by the standards set by those who support the practice. Since Trump lost the election on November 3, the federal government has sentenced three prisoners to death.
All three executions involved black men. As the DPIC review points out, racial disparities remain prominent on the death list, as they have for decades, with almost half of those executed being people of color. The last time a president presided over an execution was in 1889 when the Grover Cleveland government killed a Native American from the Choctaw nation named Richard Smith.
There was also good news, however. In March, Colorado became the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty. Louisiana and Utah have not executed anyone in 10 years.
Joe Biden, the president-elect, promised to eliminate the death penalty. But until he enters the White House on January 20, Trump remains in charge. Three more federal inmates are expected to die – including the only woman on federal death row – before he finishes.
