Capital punishment by the United States federal government

This is a list of individuals executed by the United States. The United States federal government (in comparison to the separate states) applies the death penalty for certain crimes: treason, espionage, federal murder, large scale drug trafficking and attempting to kill a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases. Military law allows execution of soldiers for several crimes. Executions by the federal government have been rare compared to those by state governments. Only 26 federal (including military) executions have been carried out since 1950. Only 3 of those (none of them military) have occurred in the modern post-Gregg era. This list only includes those executed under federal jurisdiction. Fifty-five people are on the federal death row at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana as of November 23, 2007.

History

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 restored the death penalty under federal law for drug offenses and some types of murder. President Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act expanding the federal death penalty in 1994. In response to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was passed in 1996. Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute became the only federal prison to hold and execute people.

Timothy McVeigh was the first person executed by the United States since 1976 on June 11, 2001 for his involvement in the Oklahoma City bombing. It was the first federal execution since 1963. Other executions by the United States include Juan Raul Garza on June 19, 2001 and the most recent person executed by the federal government, Louis Jones Jr. on March 18, 2003. Sentences of death are now handed down by the jury, and the jury's decision is read by the judge.

Fifty-five people are currently on the federal death row. Two people have been re-sentenced since 1976 to life in prison and one was commuted to life in prison by President Bill Clinton in 2001.

Capital offenses

These are the twelve offenses punishable by death or another punishment in the United States Code:

* Using a chemical weapon where the use causes death
* Killing a member of the United States Congress, the Cabinet or Supreme Court
* Kidnapping a member of the Congress, the Cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death
* Conspiracy to kill a member of the Congress, the Cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death
* Espionage
* Using an explosive knowingly to kill a person
* Causing death using an illegal firearm
* Genocide where death results
* First Degree Murder
** Murder perpetrated by poison or lying in wait.
** Murder that is willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated.
** Murder in the perpetrated or in the attempt to perpetrate any arson, escape, murder, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage, aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse, child abuse, burglary, or robbery
** Murder perpetrated as part of a pattern or practice of assault or torture against a child or children
** Murder perpetrated from a premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to effect the death of any human being other than him who is killed.
* Murder committed by a federal prisoner or an escaped federal prisonier sentenced to 15 to life or a more severe penalty
* Murdering the president or his staff
* Kidnapping the president or his staff resulting in death
* Killing persons aiding Federal investigations or State correctional officers
* Sexual abuse resulting in death
* Sexual exploitation of children resulting in death
* Torture resulting in death
* Treason
* War crimes resulting in death

Method

Federal law requires that the method of execution is the one used by the state the crime is committed in. The judge may select the method used by another state if the capital offense was committed in a state without the death penalty. All of the executions since 1976 under federal law have been by lethal injection.

Recent civilian executions

Only 26 federal (including military) executions have been carried since 1950. Only 3 of those (none of them military) have occurred in the modern post-Gregg era. This list only includes those executed under federal jurisdiction. Since 1963, three people have been executed by the federal government of the United States. All were executed by lethal injection.

The assassinations of Lincoln and Garfield were prosecuted by the federal government because they took place in the District of Columbia. The assassin of William McKinley, Leon Czolgosz was tried and executed for murder by New York state authorities. The accused assassin of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald would presumably have been tried for murder by Texas state authorities had he not been killed himself. Only after Kennedy's death was it made a federal crime to murder the President of the United States.

Military executions

The United States military has executed 135 people since 1916. The last execution was in 1961.

*U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett on April 13, 1961 for rape and attempted murder.

Since 1865 (American Civil War) only one person has been executed for a purely military offense.

*Private Eddie Slovik, January 31, 1945, convicted of desertion

ee also

* Capital punishment in the United States

Text of Laws

* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/11b/sections/section_229a.html/ Using a chemical weapon where the use causes death]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/18/sections/section_351.html/ Killing a member of the congress, the cabinet or Supreme Court, Kidnapping a member of the congress, the cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death and Conspiracy to kill a member of the congress, the cabinet or Supreme Court resulting in death]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/37/sections/section_794.html/ Espionage]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/40/sections/section_844.html/ Using an explosive device to knowingly kill a person]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/44/sections/section_924.html/ Causing death using an illegal firearm]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/50a/sections/section_1091.html/ Genocide where death results]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/51/sections/section_1111.html/ First Degree Murder]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/51/sections/section_1118.html/ Murder by a federal prisoner]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/51/sections/section_1121.html/ Killing persons aiding Federal investigations or State correctional officers]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/84/sections/section_1751.html/ Murdering the president or his staff and Kidnapping the president or his staff resulting in death]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/109a/sections/section_2245.html/ Sexual abuse resulting in death]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/110/sections/section_2251.html/ Sexual exploitation of children resulting in death]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/113c/sections/section_2340a.html/ Torture resulting in death]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/115/sections/section_2381.html/ Treason]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/118/sections/section_2441.html/ War Crimes Resulting in death]