Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered a moratorium on federal executions Thursday pending a Justice Department review of the administration of federal capital punishment. Garland said in a statement that concerns about the “arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color, and the troubling number of exonerations in capital and other serious cases” necessitate “careful study and evaluation” before continuing to put death row inmates to death. The Justice Department under Donald Trump and William Barr restarted federal executions after a 17-year hiatus, conducting 13 executions in 2020 and 2021 that included the only woman on federal death row.
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