Federal Death Penalty
Federal Death Row and Description of Cases
Results in Federal Capital Prosecutions and Background on Federal Death Penalty
News and Developments - Current Year
News and Developments - Previous Years
2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002-2000
Special Issues:
- Responses to Terrorism (Military Tribunals; the case of Zacarias Maussaoui; Guantanamo Detainees)
- The case of Jared Lee Loughner (Arizona Shootings)
- Press Release and Summary of Charges (Office of the United States Attorney, District of AZ, March 4, 2011)
- Original indictment (U.S. Dist. Ct. (Ariz.) Jan. 19, 2011); see also Mental Illness
- J. GOLDSTEIN and M. LACEY, "To Defend the Accused in a Tucson Rampage, First a Battle to Get Inside a Mind," N.Y. Times, February 12, 2011
- J. EMSHWILLER and T. AUDI, "Loughner's Mental Competence is Doubted," Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2011.
- J. Cloherty, P. Thomas, and T. Balderick, "Jared Lee Loughner Mentally Incompetent to Stand Trial in Deadly Arizona Shootings," ABC News, May 25, 2011.
- K. Franklin, "Loughner case shines spotlight on forced meds practices," In the news: Forensic psychology, criminology, and psychology-law, July 10, 2011.
- Press Release and Summary of Charges (Office of the United States Attorney, District of AZ, March 4, 2011)
- "Out of 2,545 potentially death penalty-eligible defendants in the past 19 years, the Department of Justice has sought capital punishment against 431 of them. Of that number, just 59 have been sentenced to die." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 28, 2007).
- "Since the federal government got back into the death penalty business in 1988, attorneys general have authorized 420 prosecutions, according to statistics kept by the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project: 180 during the 1990s, an average of 18 per year, and 240 since 2000, an average of 40 per year, mostly attributable to the Bush administration. "Of the 420 authorized prosecutions, 162 actually reached trial and sentencing. Juries imposed 105 life sentences and 57 death sentences. Since 2001, the beginning of the Bush administration, there have been 32 federal defendants sentenced to death ." (Marcia Coyle, National Law Journal, April 30, 2007).
- "Federal death penalty prosecutions reappeared in 1988, and since 1990 the attorneys general have authorized 416 prosecutions nationwide: 180 during the 1990s, an average of 18 per year; and 236 from 2000 to the present, a jump to almost 40 per year. In New York State, 12 were authorized during the 1990s; since then, 30 more." (Judge Frederic Block, U.S. Dist. Ct., Brooklyn, in "A Slow Death," Op-ed, N.Y. Times, Mar. 15, 2007).
- Of the 382 defendants approved by the Attorneys General for capital prosecuti on since 1988:
STUDIES AND RESOURCES
Memorandum from Eric Holder to U.S. Attorneys regarding selection of death penalty cases (July 27, 2011)
"Report to the Committee on Defender Services-Judicial Conference of the United States," by J. Gould and L. Greenman (September 2010) (contains cost data on defense representation and analysis on capital prosecutions)
The Department of Justice Responses to Questions from Senator Russell Feingold in preparation for hearings before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Judiciary Committee (June 27, 2007)
Full Report
National Law Journal: "U. S. Death Penalty In Wake of Ashcroft," November 29, 2004
Full Report
DPIC's Summary (Including Overview)
The Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project
Recent Summaries of the Results of Federal Capital Prosecutions
Disposition of Federal Death Penalty Cases Since Reinstatement of Federal Death Penalty in 1988
(source: Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project - Updated: September 1, 2010)
Since 1988, the federal government has taken to trial a total of 182 federal death penalty cases involving 270 defendants in 211 trials. These 270 defendants were culled from a larger pool of 466 against whom the Attorney General had authorized the government to seek the death penalty. Excluding 25 defendants who are awaiting or currently on trial on capital charges, 210 of the remaining 441 defendants avoided trial by negotiated plea, when the government dropped its request for the death penalty without a plea agreement, dismissed charges entirely or the judge barred the death penalty. Thirteen were found not guilty of the capital charge. Two were declared innocent. Charges were dismissed against a third when grave questions were raised about his guilt. There have been three executions. One death row inmate was granted clemency. In cases where juries actually reached the point of choosing between life and death, they imposed 138 life sentences and 69 death sentences. The dispositions of these cases is summarized below:
| Executed | 3 |
| Sentenced to death and now pending appeal | 28 |
| Clemency | 1 |
| Awaiting retrial or resentencing after reversal on appeal | 3 |
| Death sentence vacated and request for the death penalty withdrawn | 2 |
| Life sentences imposed by juries (136) or judge (2) | 138 |
| Acquittal | 13 |
| Capital charges dismissed before trial on grounds of actual innocence | 3 |
| Dismissal of death penalty by judge after death notice filed | 23 |
| Requests for the death penalty withdrawn by the government before trial | 53 |
| Requests for the death penalty withdrawn at trial | 12 |
| Capital prosecution discontinued by government due to plea bargain before trial | 102 |
| Capital prosecution discontinued by government due to plea bargain at trial | 20 |
| Committed suicide / died | 3 |
| Lesser included conviction | 3 |
| Awaiting or on trial on capital charges | 25 |
| Sentenced to death and now pending on 2255 | 32 |
| Incompetent after authorization | 2 |
| TOTAL | 466 |
Of the total of 466 defendants against whom the Attorney General has authorized the government to request the death penalty, 122 have been white, or 26%, 85 Hispanic, or 18%, 18 Asian/Indian/Pacific Islander/Native American, or 4%, 3 Arab, or 1% and 238 African-Americans, or 51%. 344 of the 466, or 74%, of the defendants approved for a capital prosecution by three Attorney Generals to date are members of minority groups. Thirty-seven of the sixty defendants now on federal death row under active death sentences, or 62% are non-white. 35 or 58% of federal death row were convicted of killing whites.
"No Decrease in Death Penalty Approval Rate"
Ari Shapiro, National Public Radio, Dec. 3, 2009
From cases that might be eligible for the death penalty, Attorney General Eric Holder has instructed prosecutors to seek the death penalty at about the same rate as Michael Mukasey, President Bush''s last attorney general. Holder''s cases do not include recent decisions to try Guantanamo detainees in federal courts and seek the death penalty.
22% John Ashcroft
139 of 641 cases
19% Alberto Gonzales
81 out of 423 cases
13% Michael Mukasey
21 out of 159 cases
11% Eric Holder
7 out of 61 cases
Prosecutions Resulting in Death Sentences (earlier data, date as indicated)
3 executed
44 were sentenced to death and now are pending on appeal or post conviction
1 received clemency
1 awaiting retrial or resentencing after reversal on appeal
95 were sentenced to less than death after jury or judge voted against death
2 death sentence vacated and request for the death penalty withdrawn
15 were acquitted or charges were dismissed before trial on grounds of innocence
15 were dismissed after notice by judge
38 requests for the death penalty withdrawn before or at trial
100 cases were discontinued by the government due to a plea bargain
3 died/committed suicide before sentencing
3 received a lesser included conviction
62 awaiting, or now on trial for capital charges
382 - Total
Source: Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project (June 28, 2006)
On a national level, 161 capital cases have gone to trial, with 15 resulting in verdicts of not guilty on all capital counts in the case. The remaining 146 cases have resulted in 95 life sentences and 51 death sentences (or 32% of the cases that have gone to trial). On a national level in federal capital cases, 73% of the defendants (281 out of 385) are members of minorities.
(New York Law Journal, August 2, 2006).
Minorities Dominate Federal Death Penalty Prosecutions
Since 1988, the federal government has authorized seeking the death penalty against 382 defendants. Of the 382 approved prosecutions, 278 (73%) were against minority defendants. Of these defendants, 104 have been white, 64 Hispanic, 16 Asian/Indian/Pacific Islander, 3 Arab and 195 African American. Of the 44 inmates currently on federal death row, 26 (59%) are members of a minority group.
(Source: Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project (June 28, 2006)).
Death Sentences by Year Since Reinstatement of Federal Death Penalty
|
Year |
2009 |
2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
2002 |
2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
|
Death Sentences |
4 |
3 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
10 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
1998 |
1997 |
1996 |
1995 |
1994 |
1993 |
1992 |
1991 |
1990 |
|||
|
5 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Background
In addition to the death penalty laws in many states, the federal government has also employed capital punishment for certain federal offenses.
The United States federal death penalty was first used on June 25, 1790, when Thomas Bird was hanged for murder in Maine. Since then, according to studies by the Capital Punishment Research Project, 336 men and 4 women have been executed under federal auspices. Of these inmates, 134 (39%) were white; 118 (35%) black; 63 (19%) Native American; and 25 (7%) were Hispanic or unknown. In the 20th Century, 61% of federal executions were of minority defendants. See also, Race and the Federal Death Penalty In 1988, a new federal death penalty statute was enacted for murder in the course of a drug-kingpin conspiracy. This statute was modeled on statutes which had been approved by the Supreme Court after its 1972 ruling. Between its enactment and the 1994 expansion of the federal death penalty described below, 6 people were sentenced to death for violating this law. One of the defendants, John McCullah, had his death sentence overturned and was later re-sentenced to life in prison.
In 1994, as part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses. Among the federal crimes for which people in any state or territory of the U.S. can receive a death sentence are murder of certain government officials, kidnapping resulting in death, murder for hire, fatal drive-by shootings, sexual abuse crimes resulting in death, car jacking resulting in death, and certain crimes not resulting in death, including the running of a large-scale drug enterprise.
A study was conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice at the request of President Clinton and was released on September 12, 2000. The study, The Federal Death Penalty System: A Statistical Survey (1988-2000), was to describe the Department of Justice''s decision-making process for deciding whether to seek the death penalty in individual cases, and to present statistical information focusing on the racial, ethnic and geographical distribution of defendants and their victims at particular stages of the decision-making process.
In May 1998, the Subcommittee on Federal Death Penalty Cases of the Committee on Defender Services of the Judicial Conference of the United States prepared a report entitled "Federal Death Penalty Cases: Recommendations Concerning the Cost and Quality of Defense Representation." Listed below are some of the major findings of that report:
Number of defendants charged with offenses punishable by death:
1992--45
1993--28
1994--45
1995-118
1996--159
1997--153
1991--6
1992--16
1993--5
1994--7
1995--17
1996--20
1997--31
On September 12, 2000 the Justice Department released a study of the federal death penalty system which which found numerous racial and geographic disparities. (see above)Other Notes on Dispositions (not updated)
Since the 1994 law expanding the federal death penalty went into effect, 243 cases have been reviewed for capital prosecution and the review committee recommended seeking the death penalty in 69 of these cases.
(Source: Justice Dept. as quoted in Washington Post, 1/11/98)
Method of Execution
Under the 1988 federal death penalty law, no method of execution was provided in the statute. President Bush did issue regulations in 1993 authorizing lethal injection as the method of execution. Under the 1994 law, the manner of execution will be that employed by the state in which the federal sentence is handed down. If that state does not allow the death penalty, the judge may choose another state for the carrying out of the execution. The federal Bureau of Prisons has converted an old cell block in Terre Haute, Indiana, into a new facility for condemned federal prisoners. See also, methods of execution by state.
Appeals
There is only one appeal granted to the defendant as a matter of right and that is an appeal of the sentence and conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Circuit in which the case was tried. There is also one chance to present any facts which were overlooked or unavailable at the time of the trial. All other review, such as Supreme Court review, is discretionary and can only be requested once, except under the rarest of factual situations requiring both clear proof of innocence and certain constitutional violations.
Clemency
For Federal Death Row inmates, the President alone has pardon power. New guidelines have been issued that require that an inmate be given 120 days notice of an execution date and allowing 30 days to file a clemency petition once the execution date has been set.
Native Americans
The use of the federal death penalty on Native American reservations has been left to the discretion of the tribal governments. Almost all the tribes have opted not to use the federal death penalty.
Death Penalty in Non-Death Penalty Jurisdictions
The U.S. may seek the federal death penalty for violations of federal law in jurisdictions that do not have their own capital punishment statute. In Puerto Rico, which forbids the death penalty under its constitution, a federal judge ruled in 2000 that the death penalty could not be sought against two defendants because the death penalty is "locally inapplicable." (U.S. v. Martinez & Alejandro, No. 99-044 (Dist. Ct. D.P.R. July 17, 2000)). This decision was reversed by the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in June 2001 (U.S. v. Martinez & Alejandro, No. 00-2088 (1st Circuit Court of Appeals, June 6, 2001)), and the defendants were tried under the federal death penalty statute. Acosta-Martinez and Rivera-Alejandro were acquitted July 31, 2003. (Associated Press, August 1, 2003).
U.S. Military
The U.S. military has its own death penalty statute, utilizing lethal injection, though no executions have been carried out in over thirty years. See military death row for further information.
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Related Items
| FEDERAL DEATH ROW: State Where Crime Was Committed |
Number of Inmates |
| Texas | 12 |
| Missouri | 7 |
| Virginia | 6 |
| Georgia | 3 |
| North Carolina | 3 |
| California | 2 |
| Florida | 2 |
| Arkansas | 2 |
| South Carolina | 2 |
| Iowa* | 2 |
| Maryland | 2 |
| Oklahoma | 2 |
| Connecticut | 1 |
| Illinois | 1 |
| Louisiana | 1 |
| Indiana | 1 |
| Arizona | 1 |
| Massachusetts* | 1 |
| Michigan* | 1 |
| Missouri | 1 |
| Ohio | 1 |
| Vermont* | 1 |
| North Dakota* | 1 |
| Tennessee | 1 |
| Idaho | 1 |
| TOTAL | 58 |
*States without their own death penalty law when the federal sentence was imposed. New York had the death penalty when a federal death sentence was handed down, but no longer has the death penalty, and that death sentence was overturned. Illinois and Connecticut no longer have the death penalty, but the federal death sentences in each state came when the state's death penalty was stilll in effect.