Did any federal executions occur during the Obama administration?
No federal executions occurred during the Obama administration. The most recent federal execution prior to Obama's tenure occurred in 2003.
In 2020, eight federal prisoners have been executed. There are 54 awaiting execution, with three of them scheduled to die before the end of President Trump's term.
In 2014, two botched executions by lethal injection, at the state level in Oklahoma and Ohio, led then-President Obama to direct the Justice Department to begin an assessment of the death penalty. Obama called capital punishment "deeply troubling" in an interview with the Marshall Project. But ultimately, his administration didn't take steps to abolish federal capital punishment.
Before Obama left office, he commuted two federal death sentences.
In the 28 U.S. states that apply the death penalty, 2,591 prisoners were awaiting execution as of July 1, 2020.
