Capital punishment has not been a penalty under state law in the State of New York since 2004 after the New York Court of Appeals declared that the statute as written was not valid under the state's constitution. However, certain federal crimes are subject to the federal death penalty, even if the crimes occur in New York.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Furman v. Georgia declared existing capital punishment statutes unconstitutional, abolishing the practice of capital punishment in the United States. In 1976, the same court's ruling in Gregg v. Georgia allowed states to reinstate the death penalty. In 1995, Governor George Pataki signed a new statute into law which returned the death penalty in New York by authorizing lethal injection for execution. Prior to Furman v.