The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area Capital punishment is generally only imposed for crimes of murder or felony murder, and generally only when aggravating circumstances were present in the commission of the crime, such as multiple victims, rape of the victim or murder-for-hire. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) allows for the death penalty as a possible sentence for 15 offences, many of which must occur during time of war. In recent practice, the death penalty has primarily been exercised at the state level; the Federal Government has not executed anyone since 2003. Similarly, under the UCMJ no one has been put to death since 1961.57 Moratorium There is no moratorium on executions in place at the federal level. The last four execution dates at the federal level58 were postponed due to issues surrounding lethal injection as the method of execution.59 A formal moratorium on executions has been in place in Illinois since 2000. A de facto moratorium on executions exists in California, Delaware and Maryland, due to the aforementioned dispute over lethal injection as the method of execution.60 Despite the fact that the Nebraska State Legislature approved a new lethal injection law in 2009, executions also remain halted there because the law is currently being challenged in the courts. Executions also remain effectively halted due to issues over lethal injection in Nevada, North Carolina and Tennessee. Method of Execution Authorized methods of execution vary from state to state, although most use lethal injection. Statistics Death Sentences The number of individuals sentenced to death decreased slightly in 2008, as compared to the previous year, following a pattern of decreasing use of capital punishment since 1999. The civilian death row population was 3,297 as of 1 January 2009.61 57  Ibid. 58  Ibid. 59  Background note: The United States Supreme Court on 16 April 2008 upheld the use of lethal injection, one of the most widely used execution methods. For seven months prior to the decision, executions across the United States had been postponed as states awaited a ruling from the high court. In a case in Kentucky, death penalty opponents had argued that the three-drug cocktail widely used for lethal injection could cause excruciating pain, in violation of the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. 60  Response from the United States Mission to the OSCE, op. cit., note 56. 61  Ibid. 11