Facts and Figures

Number of Executions
 

135 peo­ple have been exe­cut­ed by the Army since 1916. (Source: National Law Journal, April 4, 1999; see Military Executions for a list of addi­tion­al exe­cu­tions)
 

Date of Last Military Execution

On April 13, 1961, U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett was hanged after being con­vict­ed of rape and attempt­ed mur­der. (R. Serrano, ​“Last Soldier to Die at Levenworth Hanged in an April Storm,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1994)

Minimum Age to Receive the Death Penalty

18 Years

Method of Execution

Lethal Injection

Death Row Location

U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

Military Death Sentencing Rate

Under the cur­rent death penal­ty sys­tem (adopt­ed in January 1984), there have been 47 cap­i­tal courts-mar­tial result­ing in 15 adjudged death sen­tences, for a 31.9% pros­e­cu­tion ​“suc­cess” rate. (Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, March 2008).

Date of Death Penalty Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia)

In 1983, the Armed Forces Court of Appeals held in U.S. v. Matthews, 16 M.J. 354, that mil­i­tary cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dures were uncon­sti­tu­tion­al for fail­ing to require a find­ing of indi­vid­u­al­ized aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stances. In 1984, the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed when President Ronald Reagan signed an exec­u­tive order adopt­ing detailed rules for cap­i­tal courts-mar­tial. Among the rules was a list of 11 aggra­vat­ing fac­tors that qual­i­fy defen­dants for death sentences.

Life Without Parole

A 1997 amend­ment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice offers a pre­vi­ous­ly unavail­able alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty. For crimes that occurred on or after November 17, 1997, a sen­tence of life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole became avail­able. Prior to this leg­is­la­tion, ser­vice­mem­bers serv­ing a life sen­tence would have become eli­gi­ble for parole after serv­ing 10 years.

Clemency Process

The President has the pow­er to com­mute a death sen­tence. No ser­vice­mem­ber can be exe­cut­ed unless the President per­son­al­ly con­firms the death penal­ty. There has been one com­mu­ta­tion of a mil­i­tary death sen­tence since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the death penal­ty in 1976: On January 17, 2017, President Barack Obama com­mut­ed to life impris­on­ment the death sen­tence that had been imposed on Dwight Loving (B) in 1989.

Capital Offenses

The Uniform Code of Military Justice pro­vides the death penal­ty as a pos­si­ble pun­ish­ment for 15 offens­es (10 USC Sections 886 – 934), many of which must occur dur­ing a time of war. All 9 men on the mil­i­tary’s death row had been con­vict­ed of pre­med­i­tat­ed mur­der or felony murder.

Who Decides Sentence

In a mil­i­tary cap­i­tal case, the con­ven­ing author­i­ty — a high rank­ing com­mand­ing offi­cer who decides to bring the case to a court mar­tial — decides if the death penal­ty will be sought. Once decid­ed, the con­ven­ing author­i­ty picks those ser­vice­mem­bers who will serve as pan­el members/​jurors. One require­ment for the pan­el is that if the accused so choos­es, at least one-third of the pan­el must con­sist of enlist­ed per­son­nel. The pan­el must con­sist of 12 mem­bers. (Rules for Courts-Martial 501(a)).