Capital punishment by the United States federal government

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.

There are 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. Two death row inmates, Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, have asked a U.S. district court to reject their commutations because they believe that being commuted would hinder their efforts to prove their innocence. It is not yet known whether or not the inmates will have their commutations rejected, though the Justice Department and DPIC director Robin Maher have argued that the President's commutation power is absolute, thus preventing rejection of commutations.

The exceptions are Dylann Roof, Robert Gregory Bowers, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.