The Federal Death Penalty

After the Supreme Court struck down existing death penalty laws in Furman v. Georgia in 1972 and allowed revised ones in 1976, Congress restored the federal death penalty for drug kingpin murders in 1988 and, in the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994, for about 60 offenses, including murder of federal officials, terrorism, and certain killings during kidnappings and carjackings. Federal prosecutors may seek death only with the Attorney General's personal approval after review by a Justice Department committee. A jury must unanimously agree on a death sentence, and federal executions take place at the penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Federal executions are rare. After 1963 none took place until Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001, and two more followed in 2001 and 2003. The federal government carried out 13 executions between July 2020 and January 2021, more than in the previous six decades combined. The Attorney General imposed a moratorium in July 2021, and on December 23, 2024, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row to life without parole.

On February 5, 2025, the new Attorney General lifted the moratorium and directed prosecutors to seek death in more cases, including in the District of Columbia. By April 2026 the department had authorized seeking the death penalty in 44 cases, readopted the single-drug pentobarbital protocol, and added the firing squad as a method of execution. No federal execution had taken place since January 2021 as of November 2026. Supporters say the penalty delivers justice for the worst crimes and deters terrorism and violence against officers, while opponents cite wrongful convictions, racial disparities, cost, and the long delays the system produces.