The use ofcapital punishment by the United States military is a legal punishment inmartial criminal justice. As of 2025,capital punishment has not been carried out by theU.S. military since 1961, when PrivateJohn A. Bennett was executed on charges of rape and attempted murder of a minor.[1] However, capital punishment has been utilized consistently by the US military in conflicts throughout American history.
TheUnited 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 PresidentRonald Reagan the following year.[2]
On July 28, 2008, PresidentGeorge W. Bush approved the execution of Former United States Army PrivateRonald A. Gray, who had been convicted in April 1988 of multiple murders and rapes. A month later,Secretary of the ArmyPete Geren set an execution date of December 10, 2008, and ordered that Gray be put to death bylethal injection at theFederal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute. The military publicly released Gray's execution date on November 20, 2008. On November 26, however, Gray was granted a stay of execution by U.S. District JudgeRichard Dean Rogers of Kansas.[3] In December 2016, a Kansas federal judge, U.S. District JudgeJ. Thomas Marten, lifted Gray's stay.[4]
As of 2025, the U.S. military has four inmates on death row. The most recent added wasNidal Hasan, who murdered 13 people and injured 32 others during the2009 Fort Hood shooting.[5]
Currently, under theUniform Code of Military Justice, 15 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 five 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 theSupreme Court of the United States ruled inCoker v. Georgia andKennedy v. Louisiana that the capital punishment for rape is unconstitutional.
Capital cases are tried incourts-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 ofenlisted rank. All members of the panel must outrank the accused whenever logistically possible per 10 USC 825 (e)(1).[6] The defendant cannot plead guilty to a capital offense if the government is seeking the death penalty. 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 theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. The sentence must be personally confirmed by thePresident of the United States.
Military executions would be conducted under regulations issued on January 17, 2006,[7] and would ordinarily take place at the Special Housing Unit of theUnited States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB),Fort Leavenworth,Kansas, although alternative locations are possible (such as theFederal 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 atCamp Lejeune. All 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.[8] Currently,lethal injection is the only method.[9]
Under theMilitary Commissions Act of 2009,military commissions may be established in the field in time of war to expeditiously try and sentence enemy military personnel under the UCMJ for certain offenses.[10]: 5 [11]: 16–18 [12] Controversially, this Act permits 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.[10]: 7–9 In a military commission trial, the death penalty may be imposed, but only in case of a unanimous verdict and sentencing decision.[10]: 31 The United States has sought totry several of the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks, as well as other alleged terrorists, before military commissions. However, these prosecutions have been fraught with legal challenges and delay resulting from evidence obtained during so-calledenhanced interrogations, and therefore, as of 2025, have not resulted in any convictions that have led to death sentences.[13]
In the aftermath of the9/11 attacks against the United States in 2001, Congress also passed anAuthorization for Use of Military Force Resolution authorizing the President to: "... use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons....".[14] The challenges associated with prosecutions by military commissions may have reinforced the American practice of relying ondirect military action against terrorist leaders,including Osama bin Laden, rather than attempting their apprehension and prosecution.[15][16] In 2025, this approach was expanded byPresident Trump to also incorporatedrug cartels in Latin America.[17][18][19][20]
The application of military law by theContinental Army was governed under 69Articles of War adopted by theSecond Continental Congress on 30 June 1775.[21] In the 18th Century, capital punishment was a common and accepted punishment in European armies for a range of offences and the American Articles of War were no exception to this practice. GeneralGeorge Washington was said to have "approved hundreds of death sentences by either hanging or firing squad".[22]Mutiny could be dealt with in a harsh manner,as occurred at Pompton New Jersey in January 1781, where three soldiers (one being reprieved at the last minute) were selected to be shot from among a large group of mutineers. The firing squad was ordered to be composed of their fellow mutineers.[23] Nevertheless, reprieves were not uncommon and it was not out of the ordinary for such reprieves to arrive at the last minute.[24]Summary executions on the battlefield were also specifically authorized. Four days after the American defeat at theBattle of Brandywine in September 1777, General Washington issued general orders which stated the following:
"Brigadiers and Officers commanding regiments are also to post some good officers in the rear, to keep the men in order, and if in time of action, any man, who is not wounded, whether he has arms or not, turns his back upon the enemy and attempts to run away, or retreats before orders are given for it, those officers are to instantly to put him to death. The man does not deserve to live who basely flies, breaks his solemn engagements, and betrays his country".[25]
In keeping with norms accepted in most militaries of the day, the death penalty was also applied in cases ofespionage against American forces; perhaps the most notable case being the execution of British MajorJohn André in October 1780.[26]
Throughout the 19th Century, and into the 20th, military justice in theUS Army, including the application of the death penalty, was governed under revised Articles of War adopted by Congress in 1806.[27] During theWar of 1812, the use of the death penalty in the US Army expanded as the war progressed. The American army performed poorly in the initial stages of the war, with GeneralWilliam Hullsurrendering Detroit in 1812. Hull was sentenced to death for neglect of duty and bad conduct, though his sentence was remitted byPresident Madison.[28] In 1812, a total of four sentences of execution were pronounced with three being reprieved. However, in 1813 there were 43 executions authorised and only 11 reprieves. By 1814, 160 death sentences were pronounced but only 14 reprieved (including General Hull[29]). In 1815, as the war ended, 53 soldiers were sentenced to death while 29 were reprieved.[30]
In theCreek campaign of 1814, Private John Woods of the39th 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 EastTennessee, 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, but made the 39th shoot him. The 39th was never happy with Jackson after that. ColonelJohn 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.[31]
The death penalty was enforced for varying crimes during theMexican–American War from 1846 to 1848, including in cases of American soldiers or civilians committing crimes against the Mexican population. In 1847 Isaac Kirk, an African-American civilian working for the US Army, was hanged after being convicted by a military commission of rape and theft.[32] However, the death penalty was most actively used for the offence of desertion, which was a significant problem for the US Army during the war.[33] In the most infamous case, fifty former American soldiers who were serving with theMexican Army'sSan Patricios Foreign Legion were executed for desertion. In what likely constitutes the second largest mass execution in American history, thirty of these individuals were hanged at theBattle of Chapultepec in 1847 at the precise moment that the American flag replaced the Mexican flag atop the citadel.[34]
TheUnion Army executed at least 267 soldiers for military offences during the Civil War, including 147 for desertion.[35] Other sources suggest that the number of executions by the Union during the Civil War were actually more than 275.[36] Nevertheless, most death sentences were not carried out since at least 1,883 death sentences for varying crimes were pronounced but the vast majority were reprieved, particularly in cases of desertion for whichPresident Lincoln often granted pardons.[37][38][39]
Executions were not limited to Union military personnel but were also carried out as punishment for various wartime offences including for espionage and other crimes. According to the National Park Service, there were nearly 1,000 military tribunals in which "Confederates, both regulars and guerrillas, were charged with various violations of the laws of war – mostly related to the treatment of prisoners of war".[40] One of the most famous offences committed during the Civil War, and tried under American military law, was thetrial of the assassins of President Lincoln in 1865. Other military tribunals formed during, and after, the Civil War included:
Union GeneralWilliam Rosecrans approved the courts-martial and hanging of twoConfederate officers,Lawrence Orton Williams and Walter Peters, on June 9, 1863, atFranklin, Tennessee, after the duo had disguised themselves as Union officers for the purposes of spying.[41][42]
On June 21, 1864, William Johnson, an African-American soldier in the Union Army, was hanged at theSiege of Petersburg for the attempted rape of a woman whose husband was said to be away serving in theConfederate Army. A request was made to the Confederate forces for a ceasefire so that Williams could be executed in view of Confederate lines. The request was granted.[43][44]
On March 15, 1865, Confederate captainMarcellus Jerome Clarke, sometimes better known under the aliasSue Mundy, was convicted by a Union military commission of the multiple murder of prisoners and hanged in Kentucky.[45]
On March 25, 1865, Confederate captainRobert Cobb Kennedy was hanged inNew York City for spying and for planting explosives around New York City, including at P.T. Barnum's Museum.[46]
In July 1865, four individuals, who had been tried in a military court for theassassination of President Lincoln, were executed by hanging in Washington D.C.[47]
On September 6, 1865, two Union soldiers were hanged in Ohio for the murder of a military policeman.[48]
On October 20, 1865, Confederate war criminalChamp Ferguson was hanged in Tennessee on multiple murder charges, including the murder of a Union officer in a Confederate hospital in November 1864. While he had been held for court martial by Confederate authorities he was released in the chaos of the late stage of the war. Tried by Union authorities after capture, he was sentenced to death by a military commission.[49]
On October 29, 1865,Henry C. Magruder was hanged in Kentucky for guerrilla activities, including several murders of captured Union soldiers from the5th United States Colored Cavalry Regiment.[50]
On November 10, 1865,Henry Wirz, Confederate commander of Camp Anderson (akaAndersonville POW camp) was tried and convicted of "conspiracy to kill or injure prisoners in violation of the laws of war". He was executed by hanging.[51]
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The US Army Center of Military History lists 14 separate Indian campaigns fought by the US Army between 1790 to 1891 for whichcampaign streamers were awarded.[52] Nevertheless,dozens of separate campaigns were fought during the 19th century and a number involved US military courts enforcing US authority, including through the use of the death penalty applied to Indigenous combatants and populations. Tribunals were often hastily formed, trials were often short and defendants may have received no legal representation. During theDakota War of 1862, hundreds ofSioux Indians were tried for offences of murder and rape and more than 300 were sentenced to death. WhilePresident Lincoln ultimately commuted most of the sentences,38 individuals were hanged in the largest mass execution in American history.[53]
The death penalty was also applied during theModoc War of 1872-73. In the aftermath of that conflict, four Modoc warriors, including Modoc ChiefKintpuash (also known as "Captain Jack"), were executed after being convicted by a military tribunal of the murder of Major GeneralEdward Canby during peace negotiations. The death sentences of two others were commuted byPresident Grant.[54]
During the Philippine–American War, 1899-1913 the counter insurgency campaign conducted by the American military involved considerable brutality on both sides, including summary executions of both combatants and civilians.[55] In the course of the conflict, 17 American soldiers were sentenced to death for desertion. However, only two sentences, applied to African-American soldiers (Edmund DuBose and Lewis Russell) of the9th Cavalry Regiment, who had been convicted of far more serious charges of desertion to the enemy in 1902, were carried out; an action which critics have asserted amounted to a selective and unfair application of the death penalty. These were the last American soldiers to be executed for desertion until the execution of PrivateEddie Slovik during the Second World War.[56]
The United States Army executed 36 soldiers during theFirst World War byhanging between November 5, 1917, and June 20, 1919, all for rape and/or murder. Eleven of these executions were carried out inFrance while the remaining 25 were carried out in the continentalUnited States.[57] While 24 American soldiers were sentenced to death for desertion, all such sentences were commuted to prison terms byPresident Wilson.[58]
Of the 25 soldiers executed in the continental United States, all but one of them were black. Nineteen black soldiers were executed inTexas for roles in theHouston riot of 1917.[59] In 2023, all 19 soldiers, along with 99 other black soldiers who were convicted, but not executed, had their convictions set aside by the military on the grounds that their trials had been unfair and were held in a racist atmosphere.[60] Another two black soldiers, Privates John B. Mann and Walter Matthews, were executed atCamp Logan inTexas on April 5, 1918, for the murder of Private Ralph M. Foley, a white fellow soldier whom they'd stabbed to death.[61]
Three more black soldiers, Stanley Grammell, Robert Johnson, and Fred Allen, were executed atCamp Dodge inIowa on July 5, 1918, for gang-raping a 17-year-old white girl after beating her boyfriend unconscious on May 24, 1918.[62] On July 11, 1918, a white soldier, Nat Hoffman, was executed atCamp MacArthur in Texas for raping an 11-year-old schoolgirl in mid April 1918.[63] Hoffman had attacked a similarly aged boy who was roughly the same age as the girl, whom he also attacked after the boy escaped.[64]
Of the 11 American soldiers executed in France, one was Native American, seven were black, two were white.[65] They were Frank Cadue, Charles E. Chambers, Claude Wilson, William Buckner and James Favors, John W. Jones, Clair L. Blodgett, Joe Cathey, Henry Williams and Sercey Strong, and Charles F. Witham. The first to be executed was Frank Cadue, a Native American soldier who was hanged on November 5, 1917, for the rape and murder of Raymonde Georgette Sirjean, a 7-year-old French girl on October 20, 1917. Cadue made no effort to deny his guilt, only claiming that he had been drunk and did not remember committing the crime.[66][67] The last to be executed was Charles Witham, a white soldier who was hanged on June 20, 1919, for the murder of a fellow soldier on January 21, 1919. Witham had been arrested for a minor charge and was being escorted to a court-martial by another soldier. As he was being escorted, Witham stole the revolver of a military police officer who was guarding him and shot him four times. He then hacked his body with a hatchet.[68]
US military justice during World War II was governed under the Articles of War enacted on June 4, 1920. These Articles were in effect through World War II and up until the Uniform Code of Military Justice came into effect in 1951.[69] The U.S. military is known to have executed 160 American servicemen between 1942 and 1961.[70] Of these executions, 157 were carried out by theUnited States Army (including members of theUnited States Army Air Forces prior to September 1947). After becoming independent of the U.S. Army on September 18, 1947, theUnited States Air Force conducted the three remaining executions, one in 1950 and two in 1954. Most of these 160 executions (a total of 141) took place between 1942 and January of 1946 (during and immediately afterWorld War II).[71] TheUnited States Navy has not executed any of its own sailors since 1849 (when sailors John and Peter Black were hanged at the yardarm for a mutiny committed on the USS Ewing),[72] nor has theUnited States Coast Guard executed any individuals since the enactment of theCoast Guard Act in 1915 and carrying out its only execution after that date in 1929.[73]
Of the 160 known executions, 21 were executed for both rape and murder, 85 for murder, 53 for rape, and one (PrivateEddie Slovik) fordesertion.[74] While more than 21,000 soldiers were convicted of desertion during World War II, only 49 were sentenced to death and one was executed.[75]
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These figures for total known executions do not include individuals executed by the US Army or Navy after being convicted by US military courts for violations of the laws of war, including about 18 German soldiers who were shot after being caught in American uniform as part ofOperation Greif during theBattle of the Bulge,[76][77] persons caught engaging in acts of espionage against US forces,[78][79] or soldiers/civilians convicted by US military courts of having committed crimes against American military personnel, including as occurred atRüsselsheim, Germany in 1944[80] and elsewhere.[81][82][83] The United States Navy hanged 14 Japanese soldiers/sailors forwar crimes committed onGuam,Wake Island orelsewhere in the Pacific theater during World War II.[84] Evidence also suggests that other persons, both American military personnel or enemy combatants/civilians, may have been executed during the Second World War or during theoccupation of Germany/Japan pursuant to verdicts by American military tribunals or decisions taken by senior commanders.[85][86][87]
In 1945, the US army executed fourteen Germanprisoners of war byhanging at theUnited States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth,Kansas. The 14 POWs, members of the German armed services, had been convicted by general court-martial for the murders of fellow Germans believed by their fellow inmates to be collaborating as confidential informants with the United States military authorities. While the murders had been committed in 1943 and 1944, the executions were delayed until after theend of hostilities in Europe due to fears of German retaliation against Allied POWs.[88]