The death penal­ty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice was rein­stat­ed in 1984. The mil­i­tary death row is locat­ed at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. There are cur­rent­ly sev­en death row inmates await­ing exe­cu­tion, five of whom are African-Americans and two of whom are white. Unlike state exe­cu­tions, mem­bers of the mil­i­tary can­not be exe­cut­ed unless the President per­son­al­ly con­firms the death sen­tence. The President also has the pow­er to com­mute a death sen­tence that has been imposed on a mem­ber of the mil­i­tary. A per­son in the mil­i­tary ser­vice may receive the death penal­ty for 15 offens­es (10 USC Sections 886 – 934), many of which must occur dur­ing a time of war. All cur­rent mil­i­tary death row inmates were con­vict­ed of pre­med­i­tat­ed mur­der or felony mur­der. Since 1916, 135 sol­diers have been exe­cut­ed by the United States mil­i­tary, but none in almost 50 years. The last mil­i­tary exe­cu­tion occurred on April 13, 1961. U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett was hanged after being con­vict­ed of rape and attempted murder.

(DPIC, post­ed Nov. 11, 2010). See U.S. Military.

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