How does the federal government carry out executions?

Capital punishment is a legal penalty under United States federal law for serious crimes such as treason, espionage, and murder. The federal government carries out only a small minority of death sentences compared to individual states, and executions are managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. After a period of suspension and moratoriums, federal execution policies and death row populations have shifted significantly across recent presidential administrations.

What we know

• The federal government imposes and carries out a small minority of death sentences in the U.S., with the vast majority applied by state governments. [2]
• Following a Supreme Court opinion in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, the federal death penalty was suspended until Congress reinstated it in 1988. [2]
• U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland placed a moratorium on all federal executions on July 1, 2021, which was subsequently rescinded by Attorney General Pam Bondi in February 2025. [2, 4]
• On December 23, 2024, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most federal death row prisoners, leaving three individuals remaining on federal death row. [2, 4]

Where to go next

• how it workedWhat crimes warrant the federal death penalty?
• what caused itHow did Furman v. Georgia impact capital punishment?
• a case in pointWhat role does the Federal Bureau of Prisons play?
• compared withHow is capital punishment handled by the U.S. military?
• the bigger pictureWhat is the history of the death penalty across U.S. states?
• an unexpected connectionWhy was a proposed public military execution canceled?Although federal and military executions are strictly private, plans to livestream a high-profile military execution were abruptly canceled following widespread domestic and global backlash.

Sources

• [1]capital punishment by the United States federal government (Wikidata Q3374308) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Capital punishment by the United States federal government · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Capital punishment by the United States military · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Capital punishment in the United States · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]List of death row inmates in the United States · CC BY-SA 4.0