The use of capital punishment by the United States military is a legal punishment in martial criminal justice. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been imposed by the U.S. military in over sixty years.
The use of capital punishment by the United States military is a legal punishment in martial criminal justice. Despite its legality, capital punishment has not been imposed by the U.S. military in over sixty years.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled in 1983 that the military death penalty was unconstitutional, and after new standards intended to rectify the Armed Forces Court of Appeals' objections, the military death penalty was reinstated by an executive order of President Ronald Reagan the following year. [1]
On 28 July 2008, President George W. Bush approved the execution of Former United States Army Private Ronald A. Gray, who had been convicted in April 1988 of multiple murders and rapes. A month later, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren set an execution date of 10 December 2008 and ordered that Gray be put to death by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute. The military publicly released Gray's execution date on 20 November 2008. On 26 November, however, Gray was granted a stay of execution by U.S. District Judge Richard Rogers of Kansas. [2] In December 2016, a Kansas federal judge, US District Judge J. Thomas Marten, lifted Gray's stay, moving Gray one step closer to becoming the U.S. military's first death sentence carried out since 1961. [3]
The U.S. Military currently has four inmates (all men) on death row, the most recent being Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 people and injured 32 others during the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. [4]
Currently, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 14 offenses are punishable by death. Under the following sections of the UCMJ, the death penalty can be imposed in both times of war and peace:
Another four provisions of the UCMJ carry a death sentence only if the crime is committed during times of war:
Under article 120, rape was once punishable by death, but the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Coker v. Georgia and Kennedy v. Louisiana that the death penalty for rape is unconstitutional.
Capital cases are tried in courts-martial before a panel of at least 12 military members. If the defendant is an enlisted service member, he or she may opt for at least one-third of the panel to also be of enlisted rank. All members of the panel must outrank the accused whenever logistically possible per 10 USC 825 (e)(1) . The defendant cannot plead guilty to a capital offense if the government is seeking the death penalty for it. Unanimity is required for a conviction and is required separately to issue a death sentence during the penalty phase of the proceeding.
All death sentences are automatically appealed, first to the Court of Criminal Appeals for the military service concerned, then to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. The sentence must be personally confirmed by the President of the United States.
Military executions would be conducted under regulations issued on 17 January 2006, [5] and would ordinarily take place at the Special Housing Unit of the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, although alternative locations are possible (such as the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana, where federal civilian death-row inmates are housed and executed). Of four convicted servicemen awaiting execution, three are confined at the USDB's Special Housing Unit and one at Camp Lejeune, all of whom have been convicted of murder.[ citation needed ]
Prior to 1991, the methods of execution approved by Headquarters, Department of the Army were hanging, firing squad (musketry) or electrocution. Electrocution was added as an option in the 1950s but could only be used at a specific confinement facility designated by Headquarters, and only be performed by a professional civilian executioner. An electric chair was installed at the old United States Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, but was never used. The last military execution occurred in 1961 by hanging. [6] Currently, lethal injection is the only method. [7]
Separately, military commissions may be also established in the field in time of war to expeditiously try and sentence enemy military personnel under the UCMJ for certain offenses. [8] : 5 [9] : 16–18 Controversially, the Military Commissions Act of 2009 allows military commissions to try and sentence "'alien unprivileged enemy belligerent[s]'" accused of having "'engaged in'" or "'purposefully and materially support[ed] hostilities'" against the United States or its allies, without the benefit of some UCMJ protections. [8] : 7–9 In a military commission trial, the death penalty may only be imposed in case of a unanimous verdict and sentencing decision. [8] : 31
In 1814, Private John Woods of the 39th United States Infantry was executed by a firing squad for assaulting a superior officer. Andrew Jackson was troubled by serious discipline problems with his militia and volunteers, particularly the militia from East Tennessee. So he prosecuted Private John Woods, only 18 years old, under allegedly false charges. Private Woods had spent his last month in the camp of the 39th. The night before his execution the officers of the 39th signed and sent Jackson a petition asking for mercy. He not only failed to grant it, he made the 39th shoot him. The 39th was never happy with Jackson after that. Colonel John Williams, the commanding officer of the 39th United States Infantry, said in a campaign pamphlet in 1828 that Private Woods cried "bitterly and loudly"; the Jackson camp claimed he was belligerent and deserved to die. [10]
Union General William Rosecrans approved the courts-martial and hanging of two Confederate officers, Lawrence Orton Williams and Walter Peters, on June 9, 1863, at Franklin, Tennessee, after the duo had disguised themselves as Union officers for the purposes of spying. [11] [12]
On June 21, 1864, Union Army deserter William Johnson was hanged in Petersburg, Virginia for attempted rape. [13]
On March 15, 1865, Confederate captain Marcellus Jerome Clarke was hanged in Kentucky for guerrilla activities.
On March 25, 1865, Confederate captain Robert Cobb Kennedy was hanged in New York City for spying.
In July 1865, four involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln were executed in Washington D.C. by hanging.
On September 6, 1865, two Union soldiers were hanged in Ohio for the murder of a military policeman. [14]
On October 20, 1865, Confederate war criminal Champ Ferguson was hanged in Tennessee on murder charges.
On October 29, 1865, Henry C. Magruder was hanged in Kentucky for guerrilla activities, including several murders.
On November 10, 1865, Henry Wirz, Confederate commander of Camp Anderson (aka Andersonville POW camp) was tried, convicted and executed by hanging.
The United States Army executed 35 soldiers during the First World War by hanging between November 5, 1917, and June 20, 1919, all for offenses relating to murder or rape. 11 of these hangings were performed in France while the remaining 24 were carried out in the continental United States. [Note 1] [15] [16]
The U.S. military executed 160 American servicemen between 1942 and 1961. There have been no military executions since 1961, although death is still a possible punishment for several crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Of these executions, 157 were carried out by the United States Army, including members of the United States Army Air Forces prior to September 1947. After becoming independent of the U.S. Army on September 18, 1947, the United States Air Force conducted the three remaining executions, one in 1950 and two in 1954. The United States Navy has not executed any of its own sailors since 1849. Since its founding in 2019, the United States Space Force has not imposed death sentence on any of its Guardians or executed any.
Of the total, 21 were executed for both rape and murder, 85 for murder, 53 for rape, and one (Private Eddie Slovik) for desertion. [17]
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last execution for treason took place in 1946. In 2004, Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention.
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 20 states currently have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other seven, as well as the federal government, being subject to different types of moratoriums.
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.
In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out as of March 2019, because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Before the moratorium, executions had been frozen by a federal court order since 2006, and the litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Thus, there will be a court-ordered moratorium on executions after the termination of Newsom's moratorium if capital punishment remains a legal penalty in California by then.
Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013, in the U.S. state of Maryland.
The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB), colloquially known as Leavenworth, is a military correctional facility located on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army post in Kansas. It is one of two major prisons built on Fort Leavenworth property, the other is the military Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility, which opened on 5 October 2010. It reports to the United States Army Corrections Command and its commandant usually holds the rank of colonel.
Capital punishment in Canada dates back to Canada's earliest history, including its period as a French colony and, after 1763, its time as a British colony. From 1867 to the elimination of the death penalty for murder on July 26, 1976, 1,481 people had been sentenced to death, and 710 had been executed. Of those executed, 697 were men and 13 women. The only method used in Canada for capital punishment of civilians after the end of the French regime was hanging. The last execution in Canada was the double hanging of Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin on December 11, 1962, at Toronto's Don Jail. The National Defence Act prescribed the death penalty for certain military offences until 1999, although no military executions had been carried out since 1946.
Capital punishment was abolished in 2019 in New Hampshire for persons convicted of capital murder. It remains a legal penalty for crimes committed prior to May 30, 2019.
John Arthur Bennett was a U.S. Army soldier who remains the last person to be executed after a court-martial by the United States Armed Forces. The 19-year-old private was convicted of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria. Despite last minute appeals for clemency and pleas to President John F. Kennedy by her family to spare his life, Kennedy refused; Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1961.
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Cases of wrongful execution are cited as an argument by opponents of capital punishment, while proponents say that the argument of innocence concerns the credibility of the justice system as a whole and does not solely undermine the use of the death penalty.
Capital punishment is a legal punishment in Iran.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Malaysian law.
Hanging has been practiced legally in the United States of America from before the nation's birth, up to 1972 when the United States Supreme Court found capital punishment to be in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Four years later, the Supreme Court overturned its previous ruling, and in 1976, capital punishment was again legalized in the United States. As of 2023, only New Hampshire has a law specifying hanging as an available secondary method of execution, and even then only for the one remaining capital punishment sentence in the state.
The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judge advocates.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Georgia. Georgia reintroduced the death penalty in 1973 after Furman v. Georgia ruled all states' death penalty statutes unconstitutional. The first execution to take place afterwards occurred in 1983.
Capital punishment in Hawaii ended in 1957 when it was still an organized incorporated territory of the United States. About 75 people were executed by the government, all for the crime of murder, and all by hanging. Additionally during and after World War II, at least seven U.S. servicemen were executed by the United States Armed Forces by order of a general court martial.
Capital punishment has never been practiced Alaska throughout its history as a state, as it was abolished in 1957. Between December 28, 1869, and April 14, 1950, between the Department, District, and Territory of Alaska, twelve felons, all male, were executed by hanging for murder, robbery, and other crimes. Some were European, some were Native American, and two were African. The territorial legislature abolished capital punishment in 1957 during preparations for statehood, making Alaska the first in the West Coast of the United States to outlaw executions, along with Hawaii, which did the same.
Capital punishmentin Kuwait is legal. Hanging is the method of choice for civilian executions. However, shooting is a legal form of execution in certain circumstances.