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Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act
To prohibit the imposition of the death penalty for any violation of Federal law, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill would prohibit the federal government from imposing or carrying out death sentences for any federal crime. Anyone already sentenced to death for a federal offense before the bill's enactment would be required to receive a new sentence without the possibility of capital punishment. The bill would eliminate the death penalty as a sentencing option in the federal justice system for all federal crimes.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
17 cosponsors
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE)
- Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] (D-HI)
- Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] (D-VA)
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA)
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] (I-VT)
- Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI] (D-HI)
- Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD)
- Sen. Warnock, Raphael G. [D-GA] (D-GA)
- Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Richard J. Durbin’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- SIMMONS HANLY CONROY LLC $19,133
- THE GORI LAW FIRM $18,300
- CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES PC $17,750
- POWER ROGERS & SMITH LLP $17,300
- MAUNE RAICHLE HARTLEY FRENCH & MUDD $14,638
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Richard J. Durbin → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- May 20, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S2417-2418; text: CR S2418) · senate
- May 20, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 20, 2026
Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Padilla, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Booker, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Welch, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Markey, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Coons, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Merkley, and Ms. Warren) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To prohibit the imposition of the death penalty for any violation of Federal law, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON IMPOSITION OF DEATH SENTENCE.
(a) In General.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person may be sentenced to death or put to death on or after the date of enactment of this Act for any violation of Federal law.
(b) Persons Sentenced Before Date of Enactment.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person sentenced to death before the date of enactment of this Act for any violation of Federal law shall be resentenced. <all>
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