Federal and military death penalty

As President, Kennedy oversaw the last federal execution prior to Furman v. Georgia, a 1972 case that led to a moratorium on federal executions.^[180] Victor Feguer was sentenced to death by a federal court in Iowa and was executed on March 15, 1963.^[181] Kennedy commuted a death sentence imposed by a military court on seaman Jimmie Henderson on February 12, 1962, changing the penalty to life in prison.^[182]

On March 22, 1962, Kennedy signed into law HR5143 (PL87-423), abolishing the mandatory death penalty for first degree murder in the District of Columbia, the only remaining jurisdiction in the United States with such a penalty.^[183] The death penalty has not been applied in the District of Columbia since 1957, and has now been abolished.^[184]