List of Federal Executions in the USA

By: Dariusz Garbal

Narrated by: Hannah Misciasci

The death penalty is a legal penalty within the United States federal government's criminal justice system. It is the most serious punishment that can be imposed under federal law. Serious crimes that warrant this penalty include treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court official in some cases.

The federal government imposes and executes a small minority of death sentences in the United States, with the vast majority carried out by state governments. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) manages the housing and execution of federal prisoners sentenced to death. In practice, the federal government rarely carries out executions.

As a result of the 1972 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia, the federal death penalty was suspended until it was reinstated by Congress in 1988. No federal executions were carried out between 1972 and 2001. Between 2001 and 2003, the federal government executed three people. From March 18, 2003, to July 14, 2020, when executions resumed under President Donald Trump, 13 death row inmates were executed in the last six months of his first presidency. No further executions have been carried out since January 16, 2021.

On July 1, 2021, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on all federal executions pending a review of policies and procedures. On February 5, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted the moratorium and directed the Department of Justice to take steps to strengthen the death penalty, pursuant to an executive order signed by President Trump on January 20.

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