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.
Overview
The federal death penalty applies in all 50 states and U.S. territories but is used relatively rarely. About 60 inmates from many different states reside on the federal death row, most of whom are imprisoned in Terre Haute, Indiana. Three federal executions have been carried out in the modern era, all by lethal injection, with the last occurring in 2003.
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.
Feb 12, 2016
Judge Orders Evidentiary Hearing On Constitutionality of Federal Death Penalty
U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford has ordered an evidentiary hearing on Donald Fell’s (pictured) challenge to the constitutionality of the federal death penalty. In court filings seeking to bar federal prosecutors from s…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Jul 04, 2019
Judge Finds Federal Death-Row Prisoner Bruce Webster Intellectually Disabled, Vacates Death Sentence
An Indiana federal district court judge has vacated the death sentence imposed on federal death-row prisoner …
Mar 18, 2019
Pittsburgh Rabbi’s Wife Opposes Death Penalty for Tree of Life Synagogue Killings
Beth Kissileff (pictured), a writer and the wife of a rabbi who survived the shooting rampage that killed eleven worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, has asked the U.S. Department of Justice not to seek the death penalty against th…
Nov 28, 2018
Two Cases Pit Native American Sovereignty Against U.S. Death Penalty
As federal prosecutors dropped the death penalty against a Navajo man accused of killing a police officer on Navajo land, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in a separate case on the status of a treaty establishing the borders …
Sep 11, 2018
Defense Moves to Bar Death Penalty in New York Bike-Path Killings, Citing “Nakedly Political” Tweets
Defense attorneys for Sayfullo Saipov (pictured), the man accused of killing eight people by driving a truck onto a Manhattan bike path on October 31, 2017, have asked a New York federal district court to bar the U.S. government f…
May 16, 2018
Prosecutors Withdraw Death Penalty, Agree to Guilty Pleas in Two High Profile Cases With Multiple Victims
State and federal prosecutors have agreed to withdraw the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas by defendants charged with multiple killings in two unrelated high-profile murder cases. On May 4, Lake County, Indiana
Mar 20, 2018
Public Health Experts Criticize Trump’s Proposal to Seek Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers
Saying “the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty,” President Donald Trump (pictured) announced on March 19 that he will direct the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty against drug traffickers. The proposal, inc…
Dec 28, 2017
Judge Finds New Jersey Federal Capital Defendant Intellectually Disabled, Bars Death Penalty
A New Jersey U.S. district court judge has barred federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Farad Roland, finding that Roland is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for capital punish…
Oct 16, 2017
USS Cole Lawyers Resign From Guantánamo Death-Penalty Defense, Say Government Spied on Client Communications
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review of a petition filed by lawyers on behalf of Abd al Rahim al Nashiri — accused of orchestrating al-Qaida’s October 12, 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole warship off the coa…
Oct 09, 2017
Prosecutors Seeking Death Sentences for Aging Defendants Despite Taxpayer Cost, Likelihood of Dying Before Execution
Two cases in which prosecutors have elected to pursue the death penalty against aging or infirm defendants who will almost certainly never be executed have raised questions about the costs and benefits of capital charges and the arbitrary exercise…
May 11, 2017
Newly Released Documents Show Dylann Roof Feared Being Labeled Mentally Ill More Than He Feared Death Sentence
Newly unsealed psychiatric evaluations and court transcripts in the case of Dylann Roof (pictured) — sentenced to death for the racially motivated killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina — rais…
