Federal

Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2023

Source: Congress.gov · 6,655 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill removes the death penalty as a punishment option under all federal laws. It eliminates capital punishment (the death penalty) from dozens of federal crimes and stops any new death sentences from being handed down. Anyone currently on federal death row would be resentenced to life imprisonment instead. ##

Who It Affects

- People convicted of federal crimes currently punishable by death - People already sentenced to death under federal law - Federal courts and military courts - The federal government and military justice system ##

Key Provisions

- No person can be sentenced to death or executed under federal law after this bill becomes law (Sec. 3(a)) - Anyone already sentenced to death before this bill becomes law must be resentenced to a different punishment (Sec. 3(b)) - Death penalty language is removed from over 60 federal crime statutes, including murder, terrorism, espionage and treason offenses (Sec. 2(a)) - Military court procedures and rules are changed to remove death as a possible punishment for military crimes (Sec. 2(c)) - Chapter 228 of federal criminal law (which contains procedures for imposing death sentences) is completely repealed (Sec. 2(d)(1)) ##

What Changes

Death becomes an illegal punishment for all federal crimes. Life imprisonment becomes the maximum sentence for crimes like first-degree murder, terrorism, espionage and treason. Military courts can no longer impose death sentences. Federal courts must follow new rules for sentencing because death is no longer an option. Anyone currently waiting to be executed under federal law gets a new sentencing hearing where death cannot be imposed. ##

Important Definitions

None defined in bill text ##

Effective Date

The bill takes effect on the date it is signed into law. No other effective date is specified in bill text.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1124 To abolish the death penalty under Federal law. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 21, 2023 Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. LEE of Cali- fornia, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. MENG, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. CASAR, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. MULLIN, and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To abolish the death penalty under Federal law. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Death Penalty 4 Abolition Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF FEDERAL LAWS PROVIDING FOR THE 6 DEATH PENALTY. 7 (a) HOMICIDE-RELATED OFFENSES.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1124 IH (1) MURDER RELATED TO THE SMUGGLING OF 1 ALIENS.—Section 274(a)(1)(B)(iv) of the Immigra- 2 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 3 1324(a)(1)(B)(iv)) is amended by striking ‘‘punished 4 by death or’’. 5 (2) DESTRUCTION OF AIRCRAFT, MOTOR VEHI- 6 CLES, OR RELATED FACILITIES RESULTING IN 7 DEATH.—Section 34 of title 18, United States Code, 8 is amended by striking ‘‘to the death penalty or’’. 9 (3) MURDER COMMITTED DURING A DRUG-RE- 10 LATED DRIVE-BY SHOOTING.—Section 36(b)(2)(A) 11 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by strik- 12 ing ‘‘death or’’. 13 (4) MURDER COMMITTED AT AN AIRPORT SERV- 14 ING INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION.—Section 15 37(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended, 16 in the matter following paragraph (2), by striking 17 ‘‘punished by death or’’. 18 (5) MURDER COMMITTED USING CHEMICAL 19 WEAPONS.—Section 229A(a)(2) of title 18, United 20 States Code, is amended— 21 (A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 22 ‘‘DEATH PENALTY’’ and inserting ‘‘CAUSING 23 DEATH’’; and 24 (B) by striking ‘‘punished by death or’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1124 IH (6) CIVIL RIGHTS OFFENSES RESULTING IN 1 DEATH.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United States 2 Code, is amended— 3 (A) in section 241, by striking ‘‘, or may 4 be sentenced to death’’; 5 (B) in section 242, by striking ‘‘, or may 6 be sentenced to death’’; 7 (C) in section 245(b), by striking ‘‘, or 8 may be sentenced to death’’; and 9 (D) in section 247(d)(1), by striking ‘‘, or 10 may be sentenced to death’’. 11 (7) MURDER OF A MEMBER OF CONGRESS, AN 12 IMPORTANT EXECUTIVE OFFICIAL, OR A SUPREME 13 COURT JUSTICE.—Section 351 of title 18, United 14 States Code, is amended— 15 (A) in subsection (b)— 16 (i) by striking ‘‘(1)’’; and 17 (ii) by striking ‘‘, or (2) by death’’ 18 and all that follows through the end of the 19 subsection and inserting a period; and 20 (B) in subsection (d)— 21 (i) by striking ‘‘(1)’’; and 22 (ii) by striking ‘‘, or (2) by death’’ 23 and all that follows through the end of the 24 subsection and inserting a period. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1124 IH (8) DEATH RESULTING FROM OFFENSES IN- 1 VOLVING TRANSPORTATION OF EXPLOSIVES, DE- 2 STRUCTION OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, OR DE- 3 STRUCTION OF PROPERTY RELATED TO FOREIGN OR 4 INTERSTATE COMMERCE.—Section 844 of title 18, 5 United States Code, is amended— 6 (A) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘or to 7 the death penalty’’; 8 (B) in subsection (f)(3), by striking ‘‘sub- 9 ject to the death penalty, or’’; 10 (C) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘or to the 11 death penalty’’; and 12 (D) in subsection (n), by striking ‘‘(other 13 than the penalty of death)’’. 14 (9) MURDER COMMITTED BY USE OF A FIRE- 15 ARM OR ARMOR PIERCING AMMUNITION DURING 16 COMMISSION OF A CRIME OF VIOLENCE OR A DRUG 17 TRAFFICKING CRIME.—Section 924 of title 18, 18 United States Code, is amended— 19 (A) in subsection (c)(5)(B)(i), by striking 20 ‘‘punished by death or’’; and 21 (B) in subsection (j)(1), by striking ‘‘by 22 death or’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1124 IH (10) GENOCIDE.—Section 1091(b)(1) of title 1 18, United States Code, is amended by striking 2 ‘‘death or’’. 3 (11) FIRST DEGREE MURDER.—Section 4 1111(b) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 5 by striking ‘‘by death or’’. 6 (12) MURDER BY A FEDERAL PRISONER.—Sec- 7 tion 1118 of title 18, United States Code, is amend- 8 ed— 9 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘by 10 death or’’; and 11 (B) in subsection (b), in the third undesig- 12 nated paragraph— 13 (i) by inserting ‘‘or’’ before ‘‘an inde- 14 terminate’’; and 15 (ii) by striking ‘‘, or an unexecuted 16 sentence of death’’. 17 (13) MURDER OF A STATE OR LOCAL LAW EN- 18 FORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR OTHER PERSON AIDING IN 19 A FEDERAL INVESTIGATION; MURDER OF A STATE 20 CORRECTIONAL OFFICER.—Section 1121 of title 18, 21 United States Code, is amended— 22 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘by sen- 23 tence of death or’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1124 IH (B) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘or 1 death’’. 2 (14) MURDER DURING A KIDNAPPING.—Section 3 1201(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 4 by striking ‘‘death or’’. 5 (15) MURDER DURING A HOSTAGE-TAKING.— 6 Section 1203(a) of title 18, United States Code, is 7 amended by striking ‘‘death or’’. 8 (16) MAILING OF INJURIOUS ARTICLES WITH 9 INTENT TO KILL OR RESULTING IN DEATH.—Section 10 1716(j)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is amend- 11 ed by striking ‘‘to the death penalty or’’. 12 (17) ASSASSINATION OR KIDNAPPING RESULT- 13 ING IN THE DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT OR VICE 14 PRESIDENT.—Section 1751 of title 18, United 15 States Code, is amended— 16 (A) in subsection (b)— 17 (i) by striking ‘‘(1)’’; and 18 (ii) by striking ‘‘, or (2) by death’’ 19 and all that follows through the end of the 20 subsection and inserting a period; and 21 (B) in subsection (d)— 22 (i) by striking ‘‘(1)’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1124 IH (ii) by striking ‘‘, or (2) by death’’ 1 and all that follows through the end of the 2 subsection and inserting a period. 3 (18) MURDER FOR HIRE.—Section 1958(a) of 4 title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking 5 ‘‘death or’’. 6 (19) MURDER INVOLVED IN A RACKETEERING 7 OFFENSE.—Section 1959(a)(1) of title 18, United 8 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘death or’’. 9 (20) WILLFUL WRECKING OF A TRAIN RESULT- 10 ING IN DEATH.—Section 1992 of title 18, United 11 States Code, is amended— 12 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter fol- 13 lowing paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘or subject 14 to death,’’; and 15 (B) in subsection (b), in the matter fol- 16 lowing paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘, and if the 17 offense resulted in the death of any person, the 18 person may be sentenced to death’’. 19 (21) BANK ROBBERY-RELATED MURDER OR 20 KIDNAPPING.—Section 2113(e) of title 18, United 21 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘death or’’. 22 (22) MURDER RELATED TO A CARJACKING.— 23 Section 2119(3) of title 18, United States Code, is 24 amended by striking ‘‘, or sentenced to death’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1124 IH (23) MURDER RELATED TO AGGRAVATED 1 CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE.—Section 2241(c) of title 18, 2 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘unless 3 the death penalty is imposed,’’. 4 (24) MURDER RELATED TO SEXUAL ABUSE.— 5 Section 2245 of title 18, United States Code, is 6 amended by striking ‘‘punished by death or’’. 7 (25) MURDER RELATED TO SEXUAL EXPLOI- 8 TATION OF CHILDREN.—Section 2251(e) of title 18, 9 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘pun- 10 ished by death or’’. 11 (26) MURDER COMMITTED DURING AN OF- 12 FENSE AGAINST MARITIME NAVIGATION.—Section 13 2280(a)(1) of title 18, United States Code, is 14 amended by striking ‘‘punished by death or’’. 15 (27) MURDER COMMITTED DURING AN OF- 16 FENSE AGAINST A MARITIME FIXED PLATFORM.— 17 Section 2281(a)(1) of title 18, United States Code, 18 is amended by striking ‘‘punished by death or’’. 19 (28) MURDER USING DEVICES OR DANGEROUS 20 SUBSTANCES IN WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES.— 21 Section 2282A of title 18, United States Code, is 22 amended— 23 (A) by striking subsection (b); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1124 IH (B) by redesignating subsections (c) and 1 (d) as subsections (b) and (c), respectively. 2 (29) MURDER INVOLVING THE TRANSPOR- 3 TATION OF EXPLOSIVE, BIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL, OR 4 RADIOACTIVE OR NUCLEAR MATERIALS.—Section 5 2283 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— 6 (A) by striking subsection (b); and 7 (B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub- 8 section (b). 9 (30) MURDER INVOLVING THE DESTRUCTION 10 OF VESSEL OR MARITIME FACILITY.—Section 11 2291(d) of title 18, United States Code, is amended 12 by striking ‘‘to the death penalty or’’. 13 (31) MURDER OF A UNITED STATES NATIONAL 14 IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.—Section 2332(a)(1) of title 15 18, United States Code, is amended by striking 16 ‘‘death or’’. 17 (32) MURDER BY THE USE OF A WEAPON OF 18 MASS DESTRUCTION.—Section 2332a of title 18, 19 United States Code, is amended— 20 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter fol- 21 lowing paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘, and if 22 death results shall be punished by death’’ and 23 all that follows through the end of the sub- 24 section and inserting a period; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1124 IH (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘, and if 1 death results shall be punished by death’’ and 2 all that follows through the end of the sub- 3 section and inserting a period. 4 (33) MURDER BY ACT OF TERRORISM TRAN- 5 SCENDING NATIONAL BOUNDARIES.—Section 6 2332b(c)(1)(A) of title 18, United States Code, is 7 amended by striking ‘‘by death, or’’. 8 (34) MURDER INVOLVING TORTURE.—Section 9 2340A(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amend- 10 ed by striking ‘‘punished by death or’’. 11 (35) MURDER INVOLVING A WAR CRIME.—Sec- 12 tion 2441(a) of title 18, United States Code, is 13 amended by striking ‘‘, and if death results to the 14 victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death’’. 15 (36) MURDER RELATED TO A CONTINUING 16 CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE OR RELATED MURDER OF A 17 FEDERAL, STATE, OR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 18 OFFICER.—Section 408(e) of the Controlled Sub- 19 stances Act (21 U.S.C. 848(e)) is amended— 20 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 21 ‘‘DEATH PENALTY’’ and inserting ‘‘INTEN- 22 TIONAL KILLING’’; and 23 (B) in paragraph (1)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1124 IH (i) subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘, or 1 may be sentenced to death’’; and 2 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 3 ‘‘, or may be sentenced to death’’. 4 (37) DEATH RESULTING FROM AIRCRAFT HI- 5 JACKING.—Section 46502 of title 49, United States 6 Code, is amended— 7 (A) in subsection (a)(2)(B), by striking 8 ‘‘put to death or’’; and 9 (B) in subsection (b)(1)(B), by striking 10 ‘‘put to death or’’. 11 (b) NON-HOMICIDE RELATED OFFENSES.— 12 (1) ESPIONAGE.—Section 794(a) of title 18, 13 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘pun- 14 ished by death or’’ and all that follows before the pe- 15 riod and inserting ‘‘imprisoned for any term of years 16 or for life’’. 17 (2) TREASON.—Section 2381 of title 18, United 18 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘shall suffer 19 death, or’’. 20 (c) TITLE 10.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 856 of title 10, 22 United States Code (article 56 of the Uniform Code 23 of Military Justice) is amended by inserting before 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1124 IH the period at the end the following: ‘‘, except that 1 the punishment may not include death’’. 2 (2) OFFENSES.— 3 (A) CONSPIRACY.—Section 881(b) of title 4 10, United States Code (article 81(b)), is 5 amended by striking ‘‘, if death results’’ and all 6 that follows through the end and inserting ‘‘as 7 a court-martial or military commission may di- 8 rect.’’. 9 (B) DESERTION.—Section 885(c) of title 10 10, United States Code (article 85(c)), is 11 amended by striking ‘‘, if the offense is com- 12 mitted in time of war’’ and all that follows 13 through the end and inserting ‘‘as a court-mar- 14 tial may direct’’. 15 (C) ASSAULTING OR WILLFULLY DIS- 16 OBEYING SUPERIOR COMMISSIONED OFFICER.— 17 Section 890 of title 10, United States Code (ar- 18 ticle 90), is amended by striking ‘‘shall be pun- 19 ished’’ and all that follows through the end and 20 inserting ‘‘shall be punished as a court-martial 21 may direct.’’. 22 (D) MUTINY OR SEDITION.—Section 23 894(b) of title 10, United States Code (article 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Mar 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1124.IH H1124 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 1124 IH 94(b)), is amended by striking ‘‘by death or 1 such other punishment’’. 2 (E) MISBEHAVIOR BEFORE THE ENEMY.— 3 Section 899 of title 10, United States Code (ar- 4 ticle 99), is amended by striking ‘‘by death or 5 such other punishment’’. 6 (F) SUBORDINATE COMPELLING SUR- 7 RENDER.—Section 900 of title 10, United 8 States Code (article 100), is amended by strik- 9 ing ‘‘by death or such other punishment’’. 10 (G) IMPROPER USE OF COUNTERSIGN.— 11 Section 901 of title 10, United States Code (ar- 12 ticle 101), is amended by striking ‘‘ [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.