Published on: Thursday, July 22, 2021

The Justice Department has moved to withdraw the death penalty requests in seven cases in which the Justice Department directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty under the previous administration (article available here). 

The decision not to seek the death penalty in the cases comes amid the Biden administration’s broad rethinking of capital punishment — and could signal a move toward ending the practice at the federal level.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced a moratorium on federal executions and ordered a review of the way death sentences are carried out. But the decision not to seek the death penalty in cases where it had already been authorized goes further, taking capital punishment off the table in cases that are still being prosecuted.

Mr. Garland, who as attorney general has the final say on whether to seek death in a federal prosecution, has not personally authorized the death penalty in any case since he assumed office in March. And in a memorandum announcing the moratorium this month, Mr. Garland noted concerns about the death penalty, including its disparate impact on people of color and the troubling number of exonerations, and all but encouraged Congress to review the issue.

The withdrawal of death penalty authorizations and the absence of new cases under Mr. Garland has raised hope among death penalty lawyers and others that the administration’s approach to the highly divisive issue could signal a new policy on capital punishment.