Joe Biden is against the death penalty and admits he has ended the practice

US President-elect Joe Biden is against the death penalty and intends to end the practice, his spokesman said today, when three more executions are expected before the new head of state takes office.

Biden “opposes the death penalty now and in the future,” the spokesman for the US president-elect said, not clarifying whether the executions will be suspended immediately when Biden takes office, the Associated Press (AP) said.

Federal executions resumed this year, after 17 years apart. This, despite the context of the covid-19 pandemic which has already killed more than 250,000 people in the country and in which the virus is active within the American prison system.

This year, the Justice Department has carried out more executions than there have been in the past 50 years, although support for the death penalty is increasingly weak among Democrats and Republicans.

According to official documents, executions are scheduled for December 11 and January 14 and 15, days before Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.