Capital punishment by the United States federal government

For an overview of capital punishment by all jurisdictions in the United States, see Capital punishment in the United States. For capital punishment by the military, see Capital punishment by the United States military.

Capital punishment is a legal punishment under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It is the most serious punishment that could be imposed under federal law. The serious crimes that warrant this punishment include treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court officer in certain cases.

The federal government imposes and carries out a small minority of the death sentences in the U.S., with the vast majority being applied by state governments. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) manages the housing and execution of federal death row prisoners.

In practice, the federal government rarely carries out executions. As a result of the Supreme Court opinion in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, the federal death penalty was suspended from law until its reinstatement by Congress in 1988. No federal executions occurred between 1972 and 2001. From 2001 to 2003, three people were executed by the federal government. No further federal executions occurred from March 18, 2003, up to July 14, 2020, when they resumed under President Donald Trump, during which 13 death row inmates were executed in the last 6 months of his first presidency.

Since January 16, 2021, no further executions have been performed. On July 1, 2021, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland placed a moratorium on all federal executions pending review of policy and procedures. On February 5, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted the moratorium and directed the Justice Department to take steps to strengthen the death penalty, consistent with an executive order signed by the newly re-inaugurated President Trump on January 20.

As of December 2024, there were 3 offenders remaining on federal death row, after outgoing President Joe Biden issued a blanket commutation of death row prisoners not convicted of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder.

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