Death penalty in the USA: understand the Trump administration’s measure on the firing squad The United States gave the green light last Friday (24) to expand the methods used for the death penalty in the country. Now, executions of federal prisoners by firing squad will be permitted — a method used in more than 20 countries around the world, according to the organization Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM, its French acronym). ✅ Follow the g1 international news channel on WhatsApp According to the US Department of Justice, the recommendation follows an order from Donald Trump to speed up and expand the application of death sentences in the country. In practice, the Trump administration’s decision works as a guideline for states, as the death penalty is decentralized in the USA, and different methods are allowed or prohibited depending on the location. Furthermore, the law only authorizes the federal government to carry out federal executions in states that allow the death penalty and must follow local protocols. Currently, five states allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah. In total, the death penalty is applied in 46 countries, according to 2025 data from the organization Together Against the Death Penalty (see map below). Of these, 23/apply the shooting method. 👉 They are: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Belarus, Qatar, China, North Korea, United Arab Emirates, USA (5 North American states), Ethiopia, Yemen, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Oman, Syria, Somalia, Taiwan and Vietnam. 🔎The death penalty is a legal procedure in which the State of a country sentences a person to death as punishment for a crime, according to the organization Amnesty International. The organization condemned the US government’s intention to expand the methods of executing death sentences. Within the United States, the main criticism came from the Democratic Party, rival of Republican Donald Trump. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin called the change “cruel, immoral and discriminatory.” “Expanding the federal death penalty will be a stain on our history,” he said. MAPA – death penalty around the world Editoria de Arte/g1 In total, at least 1,500 people were executed following a death penalty sentence in 2024, the highest number since 2015, according to Amnesty International, a human rights organization. Of this number, 90% of executions took place in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. “However, China alone carries out more executions annually than all other countries combined, although its official numbers are classified as state secrets,” according to the ECPM. ⚠️Therefore, in practice, the total number of people executed should be much higher. In addition to China, countries such as North Korea and Vietnam also keep this information confidential. And what about Brazil? In Brazil, article 5 of the constitutional charter, in section 47, says that the death penalty cannot be applied, “except in the case of declared war”. This is one of the fundamental clauses of the Constitution, that is, it cannot be modified by constitutional amendments. Shootings in the USA See the videos that are trending on g1 Until now, the firing squad was a rare method of carrying out death sentences in the United States. Historically, it has been used sporadically since the 19th century, most often in military cases. But in some states, such as Utah, shooting remained a legal option well into the 20th century. After the resumption of the death penalty by the US courts in 1976, only three sentences were carried out by firing squad. All occurred in Utah between 1976 and 2010.
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USA approves execution by firing squad: find out which countries adopt the method around the world
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