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As President Donald Trump's days in the White House wane, his administration is racing through a string of federal executions. Five executions are scheduled before President-elect Joe Biden's 20 January inauguration - breaking with an 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions amid a presidential transition. And if all five take place, Mr Trump will be the country's most prolific execution president in more than a century, overseeing the executions of 13 death row inmates since July of this year. The Attorney General William Barr says the justice department is simply upholding existing law.   Why have there been so many executions in the US in the last few months? Ngozi Ndulue is senior director of research at the non-partisan Death Penalty Information Center. Photo shows: An anti-death penalty activist demonstrates at the U.S. Justice Department's Robert F. Kennedy Building July, 2020. Credit: Getty Images