When was the last time the federal government executed someone?
Asked by: Kristy Lehner II | Last update: April 29, 2026Score: 4.4/5 (27 votes)
The last federal execution was Dustin Higgs on January 16, 2021, at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, marking the final of 13 federal executions that resumed under the Trump administration after a 17-year hiatus. Following this, Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions in July 2021, and while the moratorium was rescinded in February 2025, no federal executions have occurred since Higgs'.
When was the last time the US executed someone?
The last U.S. federal execution was Dustin John Higgs on January 16, 2021, with several state executions occurring more recently, like in Texas (2024), Arizona (2022), and Virginia (2023). While there's a federal moratorium on new executions, state-level executions continue, though some states haven't used the death penalty in years.
Is there still a federal death penalty?
The federal death penalty applies in all 50 states and U.S. territories but is used relatively rarely. President Biden commuted the federal death sentences of 37 men on December 23, 2024, leaving just 3 prisoners on the federal death row.
Who was the last person to get hung in the United States?
Billy Bailey (1946 – January 25, 1996) was a convicted murderer who was hanged in Delaware in 1996. He became the third person to be hanged in the United States since 1965 (the previous two were Charles Rodman Campbell and Westley Allan Dodd, both in Washington), and the first person hanged in Delaware in 50 years.
How many people have been executed in the US in the last 50 years?
1654 men and women have been executed in the United States since the 1970s, although executions have declined significantly over the past two decades. Most executions have been concentrated in a few states and a small number of outlier counties.
Federal government to resume death penalty
Was the guillotine painless?
The guillotine was designed for swift, supposedly painless death by severing the head, but whether it was truly painless is debated; while it caused rapid unconsciousness from blood loss, historical accounts and experiments suggest the severed head showed signs of sensation like twitching and redness, implying consciousness or pain perception might have lingered briefly after decapitation, making it quick but not necessarily instant or completely free of suffering.
What was Obama's death penalty?
On 17 January 2017, three days before leaving office after eight years in the White House, President Barack Obama commuted one military death sentence and one federal death sentence. The prisoner in each case will now serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
What crimes are still punishable by death in the US?
Federal capital punishment can be imposed for crimes like murder, genocide, treason, and espionage. Additionally, crimes that may qualify if they cause death include terrorism, hostage-taking, aircraft hijacking, and murder by a federal prisoner serving a life sentence.
Which US state executes the most?
No state in the Northeast has conducted an execution since Connecticut, now abolitionist, in 2005. The state of Texas alone conducted 596 executions, over 1/3 of the total; the states of Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma make up over half the total. 17 executions have been conducted by the federal government.
What is the shortest time on death row?
The shortest time on death row for a modern execution in the U.S. belongs to Joe Gonzales, who was executed in Texas after only 252 days (about 8.3 months) in 1996, having waived all appeals to speed up the process. He holds the record for the shortest time in Texas, though historically, some individuals in other eras, like Gary Gilmore, also had very quick executions after conviction.
How many people in the United States have been executed in 2025?
Forty-seven people, all male, were executed in the United States in 2025, thirty-nine by lethal injection, five by nitrogen hypoxia, and three by firing squad. The number of executions in 2025 became the highest number to be carried out in the United States in 16 years.
What 5 countries still use the death penalty?
These are China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, the United States, and Yemen. In the United States, this ended in 2005 with the Supreme Court case Roper v. Simmons, in Nigeria in 2015 by law, and in Saudi Arabia in 2020 by royal decree.
When was the last time guillotine?
The last time a guillotine was used for a legal execution was on September 10, 1977, in France, for Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of torture and murder; France abolished capital punishment entirely in 1981, making this the final state-sanctioned execution by the device anywhere in the Western world.
What's the longest someone has stayed on death row?
The longest-serving death row inmate in the world was Iwao Hakamata of Japan, who spent 47 years on death row before being released and later acquitted in 2024, though he was exonerated in 2014 and received compensation for his wrongful imprisonment. In the U.S., Raymond Riles was the longest-serving, with over 45 years on Texas death row before being resentenced to life in prison in 2021 due to mental incompetence.
Who cannot receive the death penalty?
In the U.S., juveniles (under 18 at the time of the offense), individuals with intellectual disabilities, and individuals with severe mental illness are generally exempt from the death penalty due to Supreme Court rulings, with some states also having specific laws for severe mental illness or conditions like dementia, aiming to spare those with diminished culpability. Pregnant women are also exempt from execution.
What is the most punishable crime in the US?
The descending order of UCR violent crimes are murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, followed by the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Although arson is also a property crime, the Hierarchy Rule does not apply to the offense of arson.
What is the average cost of a US execution?
Nationally, the death penalty costs taxpayers an average of $1 million than a life without parole sentence, making it the most expensive part of our criminal justice system on a per offender basis.
Did JFK believe in the death penalty?
JFK was an interesting man. Obviously, it seems as though he would have been completely against the concept of the death penalty. Through his signing of laws to his controversial speeches, he wanted it where no one would ever use this on another human.
What president did not pardon anyone?
The two U.S. presidents who never granted a pardon were William Henry Harrison, due to his death just a month into office, and James A. Garfield, who was assassinated early in his term, leaving neither president enough time to issue any.
What was Obama's GPA?
Barack Obama reportedly had a 3.7 GPA when he graduated from Columbia University, where he majored in political science and graduated with a B.A. in 1983, though details from his time at Occidental College (where he initially attended) are less specific, with one biographer noting Obama told him his GPA there was 3.7 as well.
Why was hair cut for guillotine?
Hair was cut short for the guillotine for practical reasons, to ensure the blade could sever the head cleanly without obstruction, preventing messy botched executions, a practice that became a macabre fashion trend called the "Titus cut" or "à la victime" after the French Revolution, where survivors adopted the style as a symbol of rebellion and remembrance, often adding red ribbons to mimic the executioner's actions.
Who screamed at guillotine?
When clearing Robespierre's neck, executioner Charles-Henri Sanson tore off the bandage that was holding his shattered jaw in place, causing him to produce an agonised scream until his death. He was guillotined at the same place where King Louis XVI, Danton and Desmoulins had been executed.
Why do people sit on death row for so long?
People are on death row for so long primarily due to complex, mandatory, multi-layered legal appeals designed to prevent executing innocent people, involving state and federal courts, plus issues like inadequate defense, racial bias, underfunded public defenders, and difficulties securing lethal injection drugs, leading to delays often spanning decades.