The federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988 with a limited statute for murders in the course of a drug conspiracy. It was expanded to 60 offenses in 1994 and included crimes such as carjacking and drive-by shootings if a death results. During the Clinton administration, no one from a non-death penalty state was sentenced to death. Since 2000, there have been at least 5 individuals in non-death states who have received death sentences: 2 in Iowa (Dustin Honken and Angela Johnson), 1 in Massachusetts (Gary Sampson), 1 in Michigan (Marvin Gabrion), and most recently, 1 in Vermont (Donald Fell). A total of 40 people are now under a federal death sentence (in some cases, a judge has not formally imposed the sentence).

See Federal Death Penalty.