Capital punishment by the United States federal government
The United States federal government (in comparison to the separate states) applies the death penalty for crimes: treason, terrorism, 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. Twenty-six federal (including military) executions have been carried out since 1950. Three of those (none of them military) have occurred in the modern post-Gregg era. This list only includes those executed under federal jurisdiction. The Federal Bureau of Prisons manages the housing and execution of federal death row prisoners. As of January 19, 2014[update], fifty-nine people were on the federal death row for men at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana; while the two women on the federal death row were at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.[1]
Contents
History
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The Crimes Act of 1790 created six capital offenses: treason, counterfeiting, three variations of piracy or felonies on the high seas, and aiding the escape of a capital prisoner.[2]
The use of the death penalty in U.S. territories was handled by federal judges and the U.S. Marshal Service.
The capital punishment was halted in 1972 after the Furman v. Georgia decision, but was once again permitted under the Gregg v. Georgia decision in 1976.
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 restored the death penalty under federal law for drug offenses and some types of murder.[3] U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, expanding the federal death penalty in 1994.[4] 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 execute people and one of only two prisons to hold federally condemned people.
Prior to the 1990s bills, federal death penalty cases only covered crimes not in state criminal codes such as treason. Since the 1990s some federal death penalty laws cover some acts already covered under state criminal codes.[5]
Pre-Furman executions by the federal government were normally carried out within the prison system of the state where the crime was committed. Only in cases where the crime was committed in a territory, in the District of Columbia or in a state without the death penalty was it the norm for the court to designate the state in which the death penalty would be carried out, as the federal prison system lacked an execution facility.
Timothy McVeigh was executed 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 Louis Jones Jr. on March 18, 2003. Sentences of death are now handed down by the jury, and the judge lacks discretion to reject the recommendation.[6]
As of May 14, 2010, 52 male federal death row prisoners were housed at United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute.[7] As of 2010, the two women on federal death row, Angela Johnson and Lisa M. Montgomery, were held at Federal Medical Center, Carswell.[8][9][10] Some male death row inmates are instead held at ADX Florence.[11] Two people have been re-sentenced since 1976 to life in prison and one had the sentence commuted to life in prison by President Bill Clinton in 2001.
As of 2015[update] only three federal death row prisoners had been executed since 1988.[12]
Capital offenses
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These are the offenses punishable by life imprisonment or death under United States Code:[13]
- Causing death by using a chemical weapon or a weapon of mass destruction
- Killing a member of the Congress, the Cabinet or United States 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
- Causing death by using an explosive
- Causing death by using an illegal firearm
- Causing death during a drug-related drive-by shooting
- Genocide resulting in death
- Carjacking resulting in death
- Willful destruction of aircraft or motor vehicles resulting in death.
- Causing death by aircraft hijacking or any attempt to commit aircraft hijacking.
- Causing death by kidnapping or hostage taking.
- First degree murder
- Murder perpetrated by poison or lying in wait
- Murder that is willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated
- Murder in the perpetration of, or in the attempt to perpetrate, any arson, torture, escape, 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 committed by a federal prisoner or an escaped federal prisoner sentenced to 15 years to life or a more severe penalty
- Assassinating the President or a member of his staff
- Kidnapping the President or a member of his staff resulting in death
- Killing persons aiding Federal investigations or State correctional officers
- Willful wrecking of a train resulting in death
- Sexual abuse resulting in death
- Sexual exploitation of children resulting in death
- Torture resulting in death
- War crimes resulting in death
- Large-scale drug trafficking
- Attempting, authorizing or advising the killing of any officer, juror, or witness in cases involving a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, even if such killing does not occur.
- Espionage
- Treason
Method
Under current law, federal executions occur at United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute by lethal injection. Federal judges are permitted to relocate individual executions from USP Terre Haute to a prison in a state where the death penalty is legal. They may do this to make it more convenient for victims and/or family members of persons involved in the relevant cases.[14]
The federal prison system never operated its own gas chamber or electric chair for pre-Furman executions. Pre-Furman executions carried out within the federal prison system were by hanging. All federally mandated executions by lethal gas or electrocution were carried out in state prisons.
People who are under 18 at the time of commission of the capital crime [15] or intellectually disabled[16] are legally precluded from being executed.
Recent non-military executions
Three executions (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.
Executed person | Date | Crime | State where crime occurred | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Timothy McVeigh | June 11, 2001 | Murder of eight federal law enforcement officers through the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. | Oklahoma |
2 | Juan Raul Garza | June 19, 2001 | Murder of Thomas Albert Rumbo, ordering the murders of Gilberto Matos, Erasmo De La Fuente, Antonio Nieto, Bernabe Sosa, Diana Flores Villareal, Oscar Cantu, and Fernando Escobar Garcia in conjunction with a drug-smuggling ring | Texas |
3 | Louis Jones, Jr. | March 18, 2003 | Rape and murder of Pvt. Tracie McBride, USA | Texas |
Earlier non-military executions
From 1790 to 1950, there were 327 Federal, 271 Territorial and 40 Indian Tribunal executions according to the most complete records.[17] One of those was the execution of James Arcene on June 18, 1885, when he was 23 years old, for his role in a robbery and murder committed when he was 10 years old.
Twenty-six federal (including military) executions have been carried since 1950.[18][19] Between 1950 and 1963, 13 people were executed (not counting those executed under military law):[18][19]
Executed person | Method of execution | Offense | Date of Execution | Location | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
James Alderman | hanging | murder on the high seas | August 17, 1929 | Broward County Jail, Fort Lauderdale, Florida | Killed 2 US coastguardsmen and a Secret Service agent. |
Carl Panzram | hanging | murder | September 5, 1930 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | Killed a Federal Penitentiary employee. Linked to 4 other murders-claimed to have killed 22 persons. |
George Barrett | hanging | murder | March 24, 1936 | Marion County Jail, Indiana | The first person to receive the death penalty by hanging under a congressional act that made it a capital offense to kill a federal agent.[20] |
Arthur Gooch | hanging | kidnapping | June 19, 1936 | Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma | |
Earl Gardner | hanging | murder | July 12, 1936 | Gila County Jail, Arizona | |
Anthony Chebatoris | hanging | attempted bank robbery and murder | July 8, 1938 | Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Milan, Michigan | |
Henry Seadlund | electrocution | kidnapping | July 14, 1938 | Cook County Jail, Illinois | |
Robert Suhay | hanging | murder | August 12, 1938 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | |
Glenn Applegate | hanging | murder | August 12, 1938 | United States Penitentiary (USP), Leavenworth, Kansas | |
James Dalhover | electrocution | bank robbery and murder | November 18, 1938 | Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana | |
hanging | murder | November 10, 1939 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | ||
Herbert Hans Haupt, Heinrich Heinck, Edward Kerling, Herman Neubauer, Richard Quirin, Werner Thiel |
electrocution | espionage and attempted sabotage | August 8, 1942 | D.C. Jail, Washington, D.C. | Tried on July 8, 1942, by a military commission appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for their role in Operation Pastorius during World War II. |
Clyde Arwood | electrocution | murder | August 14, 1943 | Tennessee State Prison, Nashville, Tennessee | |
Henry Ruhl | gas chamber | murder on a government reservation | April 27, 1945 | Wyoming State Penitentiary, Rawlins, Wyoming | |
Austin Nelson | hanging | murder | March 1, 1948 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | |
David Joseph Watson | electrocution | murder on the high seas | September 15, 1948 | Florida State Prison, near Raiford, Florida | |
Samuel Richard Shockley | gas chamber | murder | December 3, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | |
Miran Edgar Thompson | gas chamber | murder | December 3, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | |
Carlos Romero Ochoa | gas chamber | murder | December 10, 1948 | California State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California | |
Eugene LaMoore | hanging | murder | April 14, 1950 | Federal Jail, Juneau, Alaska | |
Fred Pritchertt | electrocution | murder | February 15, 1952 | Washington, D.C. | |
William Tyler Jr. | electrocution | murder | July 25, 1952 | Washington, D.C. | |
Albert Allen | electrocution | murder/robbery | March 20, 1953 | Washington, D.C. | |
Julius Rosenberg | electrocution | espionage | June 19, 1953 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, Ossining, New York | |
Ethel Rosenberg | electrocution | espionage | June 19, 1953 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, Ossining, New York | |
Carl Austin Hall | gas chamber | kidnapping and murder | December 18, 1953 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | |
Bonnie Brown Heady | gas chamber | murder | December 18, 1953 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | |
Gerhard Puff | electrocution | murder | August 12, 1954 | New York State Prison, Sing Sing, Ossining, New York | |
Arthur Ross Brown | gas chamber | kidnapping | February 24, 1956 | Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri | |
Robert Carter | electrocution | murder | April 26, 1957 | Washington, D.C. | Convicted of Robbery and murder of an off-duty Washington D.C. police officer who attempted to apprehend Carter right after the robbery. |
George Krull | electrocution | kidnapping | August 21, 1957 | Georgia State Prison, Reidsville, Georgia | |
Michael Krull | electrocution | rape | August 21, 1957 | Georgia State Prison, Reidsville, Georgia | |
Victor Feguer | hanging | kidnapping | March 15, 1963 | Iowa State Penitentiary, Fort Madison, Iowa |
Presidential assassins
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Executed person | Date of execution | Method | President Assassinated | Under President |
---|---|---|---|---|
George Atzerodt | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
David Herold | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
Lewis Powell | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
Mary Surratt | July 7, 1865 | hanging | Abraham Lincoln | Andrew Johnson |
Charles J. Guiteau | June 30, 1882 | hanging | James Garfield | Chester A. Arthur |
The assassinations of Lincoln and Garfield were prosecuted by the federal government because they took place in the District of Columbia. Guiteau's trial was held in D.C. court while the trial of the Lincoln conspirators was held in a special military tribunal. 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 two days later by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Municipal Building (then Dallas Police Department headquarters) while being transferred to the county jail. (Ruby himself was initially tried and convicted of murder in a Texas state court, but that was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and he died before he could be retried.) Only after Kennedy's death was it made a federal crime to murder the President of the United States.
Military executions
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The United States military has executed 135 people since 1916. The most recent person to be executed by the military is U.S. Army Private John A. Bennett, executed on April 13, 1961 for rape and attempted murder. Since the end of the Civil War in 1865, only one person has been executed for a purely military offense: Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed on January 31, 1945 after being convicted of desertion.
See also
- List of death row inmates in the United States
- Capital punishment in the United States
- List of offenders executed in the United States in 2013
- Capital punishment for drug trafficking
- List of wrongful convictions in the United States
- List of exonerated death row inmates
References
- ↑ Federal Death Row Prisoners, Death Penalty Information Center, January 19, 2014
- ↑ Crimes Act of 1790, ch. 9, §§ 1, 3, 8–10, 14, 23, 1 Stat. 112, 112–15, 117.
- ↑ (Pub.L. 100–690, 102 Stat. 4181, enacted November 18, 1988, H.R. 5210)
- ↑ H.R. 3355, Pub.L. 103–322
- ↑ Shapiro, Bruce. "What’s Wrong With the Federal Death Penalty." The Nation. May 19, 2015. Retrieved on March 23, 2016.
- ↑ 18 U.S.C. § 3594; see also U.S. v. Henderson, 485 F.Supp.2d 831, 857 (S.D. Ohio 2007) (recognizing that jury's "recommendation" is binding on the court).
- ↑ "The Bureau Celebrates 80th Anniversary." Federal Bureau of Prisons. May 14, 2010. Retrieved on October 3, 2010.
- ↑ "DAVID PAUL HAMMER, PETITIONER v. JOHN D. ASHCROFT, ET AL.." U.S. Department of Justice. 14 (18/30). Retrieved on December 15, 2010. "If a media-access policy were to cover the two female death-sentenced inmates in the federal system, it would have to be issued by the warden at the Federal Medical Center in Carswell, Texas, where they are housed."
- ↑ "Lisa M Montgomery." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on October 3, 2010.
- ↑ "Angela Johnson." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on October 14, 2010.
- ↑ Sargent, Hillary and Dialynn Dwyer. "Tsarnaev moved to supermax prison. Here’s how he’ll live" (Archive). Boston Globe. July 17, 2015. Retrieved on December 13, 2015.
- ↑ "Few federal inmates on death row have been executed." CNN. May 15, 2015. Retrieved on March 24, 2016.
- ↑ Title 18 Chapter 228, U.S. Code
- ↑ "The plan to kill Tsarnaev" (Archive). Boston Globe. April 9, 2015. Retrieved on December 13, 2015.
- ↑ Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)
- ↑ Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002)
- ↑ 340 Federal, 271 Territorial and 40 Indian Tribunal Executions 1790 to 1963. Retrieved on 20 October 2008.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Federal Executions 1927–2003. Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved on 16 October 2008.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 The Federal Death Penalty. Death Row Speaks. Retrieved on 20 October 2008.
- ↑ Barrett's Execution. George W. Barrett (-1936). Retrieved on 12 November 2008.
Further reading
- Texts of relevant laws
- Using a chemical weapon where the use causes death
- 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
- Espionage
- Using an explosive device to knowingly kill a person
- Causing death using an illegal firearm
- Genocide where death results
- First Degree Murder
- Murder by a federal prisoner
- Killing persons aiding Federal investigations or State correctional officers
- Murdering the president or his staff and Kidnapping the president or his staff resulting in death
- Sexual abuse resulting in death
- Sexual exploitation of children resulting in death
- Torture resulting in death
- Treason
- War Crimes Resulting in death