The Federal Government and the Death Penalty
Between 1972, when the Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia struck down the death penalty as then applied, and the end of 1993, Congress enacted four death penalty statutes:
- (A) Any person engaging in working in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise, or any person engaging in an offense punishable under section 841 (b) (1) (A) or section 960 9b) (1) who intentionally kills or counsels, commands, induces, procures or causes the intentional killing of an individual and such killing results, shall be sentenced to any term of imprisonment, which shall not be less than 20 years and which may be up to life imprisonment, or may be sentenced to death; and (B) any person, during the commission of, in furtherance of, or while attempting to avoid apprehension, prosecution or service of a prison sentence for, a felony violation of this subchapter or subchapter II of this chapter who intentionally kills or counsels, commands, induces, procures, or causes the intentional killing of any Federal, State or local law enforcement officer engaged in, or on account of, the performance of such officer's official duties and such killing results, shall be sentenced to any term of imprisonment, which shall not be less than 20 years, and which may be up to life imprisonment, or may be sentenced to death (21 U.S. C. 848(e)).
- Espionage by a member of the Armed Forces: communication of information to a foreign government relating to nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, early warning systems, war plans communications intelligence or cryptographic information, or any other major weapons or defense strategy (10 U.S.C. 906 (a)).
- Witness tampering where death results (U.S.C. 1512).
- Death resulting from aircraft hijacking (49 U.S.C. 1472 and 1473).
The following capital punishment provisions, which were enacted prior to the Furman decision, remain in the United States Code:
- Murder while a member of the Armed Forces (10 U.S.C. 918)
- Destruction of aircraft, motor vehicles, or related facilities resulting in death (18 U.S.C.32-34).
- Retaliatory murder of a member of the immediate family of law enforcement officials (18 U.S.C. 115(b) (3) [by cross-reference to 18 U.S.C. 1111]).
- Murder of a member of Congress, an important executive official, or a Supreme Court Justice (18 U.S.C. 351[by cross-reference to 18 U.S.C.1111]).
- Espionage (18 U.S.C.794)
- Destruction of government property resulting in death (18 U.S.C. 844(f)(d)(l)).
- First-degree murder (18 U.S.C.1111).
- Assassination or kidnapping resulting in the death of the President or Vice President (18 U.S.C. 1751 [by cross-reference to 18 U.S.C. 1111]).
- Willful wreckage of a train resulting in death (U.S.C. 18 1992).
- Bank robbery-related murder of kidnapping (18 U.S.C.2113).
- Treason (18 U.S.C. 2381).
- Murder of Federal judges and officers (U.S.C.1114)
1994 Crime Bill Expansion
In 1994, as part of an omnibus crime bill, the federal death penalty was expanded to some 60 different offenses. Among the federal crimes for which people in any state or territory of the U.S. can receive a death sentence are murder of certain government officials, kidnapping resulting in death, murder for hire, fatal drive-by shootings, sexual abuse crimes resulting in death, car jacking resulting in death, and certain crimes not resulting in death, including the running of a large-scale drug enterprise.
The sentence is death by lethal injection.
Between 1927 and 1963, the United States executed 64 individuals, including 2 women. There have been no federal
executions since the hanging of Victor Feguer in 1963 for kidnapping.
