The Attorney General of the United States, Merrick B. Garland issued a memo on 1 July suspending the federal executions and ordering a review of procedures. The memo denounced the "arbitrariness" in applying death penalty and its "disparate impact on people of colour". Such "weighty concerns deserve careful study and evaluation by lawmakers"
The call for attention to the continued use of the death penalty in the United States is significant as executions resume after a suspension due to the Covid pandemic. On 30 June, the latest execution, in Texas, took the life of John Hummel, for whom an international campaign, including Sant'Egidio's "No Death Penalty" campaign, had called for alternative measures to capital punishment.
MORATORIUM ON FEDERAL EXECUTIONS PENDING REVIEW OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
