While Donald Trump is about to start a new mandate in the White House, the question of the death penalty deeply divides the country.
The former republican president recently announced his intention to reintroduce and expand the use of capital punishment, arousing concerns among human rights defenders.
On his social social platform, Donald Trump said he would give strict directives to the Ministry of Justice to intensify the proceedings leading to death sentences. “From my inauguration, I undertake to protect American families, making sure that rapists, murderers and other violent criminals are punished up to their actions,” he said.
This declaration comes after a controversial decision by Joe Biden, outgoing president, who commissioned the sentence of 37 federal detainees sentenced to death in life imprisonment. This measure, praised by numerous international organizations, marks a historic turning point in favor of reducing executions in the United States.
A deep ideological fracture
The positions of the two leaders illustrate a marked ideological fracture. During his term, Donald Trump had supervised a series of federal executions after a 17 -year suspension, establishing a historic record. On the other hand, Joe Biden, as soon as he came to power, had declared a moratorium on federal executions and promised to work for the abolition of capital punishment, a commitment applauded by groups such as Amnesty International.
Human rights defenders express their fears about the return of Donald Trump, evoking a possible “surge of executions”. With a corridor of federal death currently reduced to a handful of detainees, this perspective worries those who campaign for humanitarian alternatives to the American judicial system.
