Capital punishment by the United States military - wikipedia Capital punishment by the United States military Capital punishment is a legal penalty under the U.S. military criminal justice system. Contents 1 Reinstatement of the military death penalty 2 Capital crimes 3 Legal process 4 Previous use 4.1 First World War 4.2 1942 - 1961 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Reinstatement of the military death penalty Nidal Hasan when he was still in the military. The U.S. Armed Forces Court of Appeals 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. 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 federal judge Rogers. In December 2016, a Kansas federal judge lifted Gray 's stay, moving Gray one step closer to becoming the U.S. military 's first death sentence carried out since 1961. The U.S. Military currently has four inmates on death row, the most recent being Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 people and injured 32 others during the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting. Capital crimes 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 at any time : 94 -- Mutiny or sedition 99 -- Misbehavior before the enemy 100 -- Subordinate compelling surrender 101 -- Improper use of countersign 102 -- Forcing a safeguard 104 -- Aiding the enemy 106a -- Espionage 110 -- Improper hazarding of vessel 118 -- Murder 120 -- Rape Another four provisions of the UCMJ carry a death sentence only if the crime is committed during times of war : 85 -- Desertion 90 -- Assaulting or willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer 106 -- Lurking as a spy or acting as a spy 113 -- Misbehavior of a sentinel or lookout Legal process United States Disciplinary Barracks houses men on military death row All female prisoners in the DOD serve time at Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar ( therefore female military service members under death sentence would await execution here ). 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. The defendant can not plead guilty to the charges. A two - thirds majority is enough for conviction, but unanimity is required 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, and would ordinarily take place at the Special Housing Unit of the United States Disciplinary Barracks, 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 Special Housing Unit and one at Camp Lejeune, all of whom have been convicted of murder. Until 1961 -- the last military execution to date -- hanging was the sole and official method. Later the military introduced the electric chair, which was never used. Currently, lethal injection is the only method. Previous use First World war The United States Army executed 36 soldiers during the First World War by hanging between 5 November 1917 and 20 June 1919. Eleven of these hangings were performed in France while the remaining 25 were carried out in the continental United States. 1942 - 1961 The military executed 160 soldiers and other members of the armed forces between 1942 - 61 ( these figures do not include German prisoners of war, war criminals, spies and saboteurs executed by U.S. military authorities between 1942 - 51 ). There have been no military executions since 1961, although the death penalty 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, with the United States Air Force conducting the three remaining executions, one in 1950 and two in 1954 ; the U.S. Navy has not executed anyone since 1849. Of the total, 21 were executed for rape and murder, 85 for murder, and 53 for rape, with Army Pvt. Eddie Slovik being executed in 1945 by firing squad for desertion. See also List of individuals executed by the United States military List of death row inmates held by the United States military References ^ Jump up to : The U.S. Military Death Penalty, Death Penalty Information Center Jump up ^ `` Military sets date for first execution since 1961 ''. Associated Press. November 20, 2008. Jump up ^ `` Judge Lifts Execution Stay for Ex-Soldier in Military Prison ''. military.com. December 28, 2016. Jump up ^ Unlike the other capital offenses under the UCMJ, the text of Article 120 does not explicitly state that the death penalty is available ; such language was removed in a 2007 revision. However, the revision stated that the maximum penalty remained death until the President specified otherwise. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006, PL 109 -- 163, January 6, 2006, 119 Stat 3136, § 552 ( b ). Subsequent Manuals for Courts Martial, issued under the President 's authority, continue to describe the maximum penalty for rape as death. See Manual for Courts - Martial ( 2012 ) Appendix 28 ( f ) ( 1 ). Jump up ^ regulations Jump up ^ Baldor, Lolita C. ( June 29, 2006 ). `` Iraq murder charges raise specter of rarely used military death sentence ''. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2010 - 01 - 30. Jump up ^ See Houston Riot of 1917 Jump up ^ The Milwaukee Sentinel July 5, 1918 Jump up ^ Establishment of Military Justice -- Proposed Amendment of the Articles of War, Thursday September 25, 1919. United States Senate, Subcommittee on Militarz Affairs, Washington, D.C. ( loc.gov/ ) Jump up ^ `` Statistical Abstract of the United States : 2000 '' ( PDF ). U.S. Census Bureau. p. 223. External links American executions at Shepton Mallet US Military Executions During WW2 Capital punishment in the United States Articles Federal Government Military Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Washington, D.C. Puerto Rico American Samoa Lists of individuals executed Federal Government Military Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Michigan Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia Washington Wyoming By year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Scheduled executions Other List of U.S. Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment List of death row inmates in the United States List of women on death row List of women executed since 1976 Juveniles National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Death Penalty Information Center Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_military&oldid=849842556 '' Categories : Lists of people executed in the United States United States military law United States Department of Defense lists Military discipline and World War II Military discipline and World War I Military discipline Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 11 July 2018, at 19 : 04 ( UTC ). 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Question: when was the last time the us military executed someone
Answer: 1961