He was one of just five co-sponsors of a 2001 bill calling for a nationwide moratorium on executions while a study is conducted of how the death penalty is applied. He opposed bills that would have re-established the death penalty in the District of Columbia and battled efforts to make certain drug offenses capital crimes. Kerry also has supported bills to prohibit capital punishment for juveniles and the Innocence Protection Act, which would open up the use of DNA evidence.

The federal death penalty does fall under the president's purview, however, particularly through decisions of the Justice Department about when capital convictions are pursued. "One reason why death penalty opponents would welcome a Kerry victory is that it would undoubtedly result in the appointment of a U.S. attorney general who either opposes capital punishment or, at the least, would be far less aggressive in seeking death sentences for crimes covered by federal law than ... Ashcroft," McNeirney said.

He described Ashcroft's "passion for seeking the death penalty" as unprecedented, and noted that the attorney general frequently overrides the advice of local U.S. attorneys to decide in favor of prosecuting more cases under death penalty laws, "extending even to states where citizens and their lawmakers have long ago abolished executions."