State & Federal Info
Federal Death Penalty
The federal government can seek death sentences for a limited set of crimes, but federal executions are much rarer than state executions.
For more information regarding the federal executions scheduled in 2020 and 2021, see our page Federal Execution Updates. See DPIC Statement on Federal Executions.
Overview
The federal death penalty applies in all 50 states and U.S. territories but is used relatively rarely. About 45 prisoners are on the federal death row, most of whom are imprisoned in Terre Haute, Indiana. Sixteen federal executions have been carried out in the modern era, all by lethal injection, with 13 occurring in a six-month period between July 2020 and January 2021.
The federal death penalty was held unconstitutional following the Supreme Court’s opinion of Furman v. Georgia in 1972. Unlike the quick restoration of the death penalty in most states, the federal death penalty was not reinstated until 1988, and then only for a very narrow class of offenses. The Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 greatly expanded the number of eligible offenses to about 60.
The use of the federal death penalty in jurisdictions that have themselves opted not to have capital punishment—such as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and many states—has raised particular concerns about federal overreach into state matters.
Jul 06, 2021
Department of Justice Formally Pauses Federal Executions to Review Trump Death-Penalty Regulations
In a memorandum that left to Congress the task of addressing systemic questions of arbitrariness, racial discrimination, and wrongful convictions affecting the administration of the federal death penalty, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garl…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Innocence
Jan 07, 2022
“Random and Unjust,” “Barbaric” and “Ineffective”: Editorials Call for End to Death Penalty
As 2021 came to a close, editorial writers in four death penalty states called for legislative and executive action to end capital punishment or further limit its use. Editorial boards for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Lethal Injection
Dec 21, 2021
House Committee Asks Justice Department Its Plans on Resuming Executions, Purchasing Execution Drugs
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland seeking information on the Department of Justice’s death penalty practices and policies, including whether DOJ…
Victims' Families
Oct 27, 2021
Three Years After Attack on Synagogue, Status of Trials in Tree of Life Killings Remains Unclear
Three years after the religiously-motivated attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the status of the state and federal prosecutions in the case remains unsettled. As the three Jewish congregations who wors…
United States Supreme Court
Oct 14, 2021
Supreme Court Hears Argument on Department of Justice Efforts to Reinstate Death Penalty in Boston Marathon Bombing Case
A United States Supreme Court sharply divided along ideological lines heard oral argument October 13, 2021 on the Department of Justice’s appeal of a federal circuit court’s ruling overturning the death sentences imposed on
Capital Case Development
Sep 24, 2021
Federal Appeals Court Denies Reconsideration of Dylann Roof Appeal
In a one-page order on September 24, 2021, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied federal death-row prisoner Dylann Roof’s motion seeking to reargue his appeal in front of the full circuit. On August 25…
Mental Illness
Aug 26, 2021
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Convictions and Death Sentences for Dylann Roof
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has affirmed Dylann Roof’s federal-court convictions and death sentences for the racially motivated murders of nine parishioners in an historic Charleston, South Carolina
Arbitrariness
Aug 12, 2021
Senators, Members of Congress Urge Attorney General to Stop Seeking Death Sentences
Seventeen U.S. Senators and four Members of Congress who are leading the effort to abolish the federal death penalty have called on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland (pictured) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop seeki…
Race
Aug 10, 2021
NEW RESOURCES: Capital Punishment and the State of Criminal Justice 2021
The American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section has released its annual report, The State of Criminal Justice 2021, examining major issues, trends, and significant changes in America’s criminal justice system.
Public Opinion
Aug 04, 2021
As Biden Administration Mulls Federal Death-Penalty Policy, Study Finds U.S. Support for Capital Punishment at Lowest Point Since 1960s
As President Biden considers his administration’s policy on the federal death penalty, his expressed opposition to the punishment may be buoyed by a new study that has found that “Americans support capital punishment less than they have at any tim…
Federal Death Penalty
Jul 14, 2021
One Year Later, Execution Spree Lays Bare Federal Death Penalty’s Systemic Failures
At 3:00 a.m. Central time on July 14, 2020, after his notice of execution had expired, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) strapped Daniel Lewis Lee to an execution gurney in the United States Penitentiary in Terr…
