AG Points to Laws He Says Can Be Used to Obtain the Death Penalty – But Never Have Been
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has issued a memo directing all U.S. Attorneys to pursue the death penalty when prosecuting drug dealers in certain cases. The move comes just two days after President Trump delivered a speech calling for the death penalty as a deterrent to America’s opioid crisis, which the president promised to address immediately upon taking office but is just beginning to examine.
“Drug overdoses, including overdoses caused by the lethal substance fentanyl and its analogues, killed more than 64,000 Americans in 2016 and now rank as the leading cause of death for Americans under 50,” Sessions noted. And while his numbers and the existence of the epidemic are not in dispute, Sessions did not mention that a large percentage of those overdoses come from prescription, not illicit drugs.
“Drug traffickers, transnational criminal organizations, and violent street gangs all contribute substantially to this scourge. To combat this deadly epidemic, federal prosecutors must consider every lawful tool at their disposal,” Sessions continues. “In addition, this should also include the pursuit of capital punishment in appropriate cases.”
Sessions points to several laws currently on the books prosecutors could use to call for the death penalty.
“None of these laws has ever been used to to bring a death penalty sentence in a case where homicide wasn’t a factor, as far as I know,” says Buzzfeed civil rights and Department of Justice reporter Dominic Holden via Twitter.
Trump on Monday said, “If we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we’re wasting or time. And that toughness includes the death penalty.”
Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr and a CC license