By Austin Sarat, Amherst College The Trump administration is spending its final months authorizing executions. Ten federal death row prisoners have been killed so far this year, ending a 17-year federal moratorium on applying the death penalty. States, on the other hand, are carrying out fewer executions this year — seven so far — than in any year since 1983, when five people were executed. This is in part because the COVID-19 pandemic poses serious health risks for the personnel responsible for putting prisoners to death. Among the state executions postponed this year was that of Pervis Payne, who in November was granted a temporary reprieve by Tennessee’s governor until April 9, 2021. Payne was sentenced to death in 1988 for the stabbing deaths of 28-year-old Charisse Christopher and her 2-year-old daughter. He also was convicted of assault with intent to commit first-degree murder of Christopher’s 3-year-old son, who survived.