Federal Laws Providing for the Death Penalty

SOURCE: Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, Statutes; Bureau of Justice Statistics: Capital Punishment 2012.

Although not listed by BJS, the following offenses are also punishable by death under the federal statute, though it is not clear that the death penalty would be constitutional for these offenses under Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008) since they do not require a murder:

• Trafficking in large quantities of drugs (18 U.S.C. § 3591(b))
• Attempting, authorizing or advising the killing of any officer, juror,or witness in cases involving a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, regardless of whether such killing actually occurs. (18 U.S.C. § 3591(b)(2))).

Crimes Punishable by Death

Tennessee Authorizes Death Penalty for Child Sexual Assault in Direct Challenge to Supreme Court Precedent

Federal Death Penalty

Federally Death-Sentenced Prisoners Allege that New Conditions of Confinement Contributed to Recent Prisoner Death

Federal Death Penalty

Analysis Shows Supreme Court’s Changing View of Death Penalty Cases

Website Guide

An introduction to the navigation system, features, and terminology of DPI's website.

Upcoming Executions

Information about scheduled executions around the country

Innocence

For every 8.2 peo­ple exe­cut­ed in the Unit­ed States in the mod­ern era of the death penal­ty, one per­son on death row has been exon­er­at­ed.

State-By-State

States With and Without the Death Penalty

DPI Fact Sheet

PDF handout with facts about the Death Penalty