The Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act is a proposed United States law that would abolish the death penalty for all

federal crimes In the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is an act that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation enacted by both the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives and signed into law by the president. Prosec ...

and all military crimes. If enacted, this act would mark the first time since 1988 where no federal crimes carry a sentence of death. This bill would repeal capital punishment on the federal level but would not affect the possibility for states to provide for it in state law.

History

Since the enactment of the

Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (, ) is a major law of the War on Drugs passed by the U.S. Congress which did several significant things: # Created the policy goal of a drug-free America; # Established the Office of National Drug Control Policy; ...

, the death penalty has been a legal punishment for United States federal crimes in the post '' Furman'' era. Since then, the federal government has executed sixteen individuals, with thirteen of those executions occurring between July 2020 and January 2021. Motivation for the introduction and support for the passage and enactment of this bill have been influenced by the criminal justice reform movement, the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

, and the thirteen people executed during the

Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

between July 2020 and January 2021, among other things. President Joe Biden’s campaign website has stated that Biden supports abolishing the death penalty on the federal level and to incentivize states to also abolish the death penalty for crimes within their jurisdiction. Biden is the first president to openly oppose the death penalty. Bills to abolish the federal death penalty have been introduced in each Congress since 1999, but no legislation has passed.

Provisions

The bill proposes the removal of all references to capital punishment as it pertains to federal crimes and sentencing law, abolishing the ability for the United States to impose a sentence of death in the process.

Legislative history

As of May 15, 2022: {, class="wikitable" !Congress !Short title !Bill number(s) !Date introduced !Sponsor(s) !# of cosponsors !Latest status , - ,

106th Congress The 106th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 19 ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 1999 , , November 10, 1999 , Russell Feingold (D-WI) , 1 , Died in Committee. , - ,

107th congress 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2001 , , January 25, 2001 , Russell Feingold (D-WI) , 1 , Died in Committee. , - , rowspan="2" ,

108th Congress The 108th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2005, during ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2003 , , June 24, 2003 ,

Dennis Kucinich Dennis John Kucinich (; born October 8, 1946) is an American politician. A U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1997 to 2013, he was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2004 and 2008. He ran for ...

(D-OH) , 46 , Died in Committee. , - , Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2003 , , February 13, 2003 , Russell Feingold (D-WI) , 0 , Died in Committee. , - , rowspan="2" ,

109th Congress The 109th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, from January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007, dur ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act , , March 9, 2006 ,

(D-OH) , 45 , Died in Committee. , - , Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2005 , , January 24, 2005 , Russell Feingold (D-WI) , 0 , Died in Committee. , - , rowspan="2" ,

110th Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2008 , , September 11, 2008 ,

(D-OH) , 19 , Died in Committee. , - , Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2007 , , January 31, 2007 , Russell Feingold (D-WI) , 0 , Died in Committee. , - ,

111th Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2009 , , March 19, 2009 , Russell Feingold (D-WI) , 0 , Died in Committee. , - ,

112th Congress The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. It convened in Washington, D.C. on January 3, 2011, and ended on January 3, 2013, 17 ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2011 , , September 23, 2011 ,

(D-OH) , 15 , Died in Committee. , - ,

113th Congress The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2013 , , December 12, 2013 , Donna Edwards (D-MD) , 13 , Died in Committee. , - ,

116th Congress The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, and ended on Janua ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2019 , , July 25, 2019 ,

Adriano Espaillat Adriano de Jesús Espaillat Rodríguez (; born September 27, 1954) is a Dominican-American politician. He is the U.S. representative for and the first Dominican American and first formerly undocumented immigrant to ever serve in Congress. He pre ...

(D-NY) , 67 , Died in Committee. , - , rowspan="3" ,

117th Congress The 117th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on ...

, Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2021 , , January 4, 2021 ,

(D-NY) , 85 , Referred to Committees of Jurisdiction , - , Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act , , January 11, 2021 , Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) , 79 , Referred to Committees of Jurisdiction , - , Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act , {{USBill, 117, s, 582 , March 3, 2021 , Richard Durbin (D-IL) , 20 , Referred to Committees of Jurisdiction

References

Proposed legislation of the 117th United States Congress United States federal criminal legislation Capital punishment in the United States Anti–death penalty laws

History

Provisions

Legislative history

See also

References