Murder, treason and armed robbery are capital crimes.

Murder, treason and armed robbery are capital crimes. Courts in Kenya apply the death penalty to violent robberies with particular rigour.
Judges, not juries, pass death sentences.
In July 2010, the Court of Appeal declared unconstitutional the mandatory death sentence for murder. However, Kenyan courts continue to apply the death penalty to violent robberies with particular rigour.
In August 2012, the scope of the death penalty was expanded with the signature by President Mwai Kibaki of the Kenya Defence Forces Act.
The last hanging in Kenya took place in 1987, when August 1982 coup plotters Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Oteyo Okumu were executed following a court-martial ruling.
At least 30 people were sentenced to death in 2015, according to Amnesty International.
In July 2012, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed regret that a total of 1,582 convicts still faced the death penalty, and that the death penalty applied to crimes such as robbery with violence that did not qualify as pmost serious crimesq within the meaning of Article 6(2) of the ICCPR. The Committee recommended to abolish the death penalty and accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. It suggested that the state should intensify public awareness campaigns against the death penalty.
On 16 June 2015, MP John Waiganjo presented two draft Bills whose enactment would result in the repeal of the death sentence from the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code and stop the accumulation of death-row prisoners. Waiganjo argued that having the death sentence in the law was contrary to the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. “Article 26 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life for all citizens and provides that this right may only be qualified by the Constitution or an Act of Parliament,” said the MP. “The punishment is immoral, ineffective as a deterrent and has failed to adequately restore victims of crimes for which it is prescribed,” he added. The two draft bills were at the stage where the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee was supposed to scrutinize them prior to publication and formal introduction in the House. The proposal has caused intense debate at the committee’s meeting, which was closed to the public, as a number of MPs in the team support the death sentence.
On 16 June 2015, MP John Waiganjo presented two draft Bills whose enactment would result in the repeal of the death sentence from the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code and stop the accumulation of death-row prisoners. Waiganjo argued that having the death sentence in the law was contrary to the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. “Article 26 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life for all citizens and provides that this right may only be qualified by the Constitution or an Act of Parliament,” said the MP. “The punishment is immoral, ineffective as a deterrent and has failed to adequately restore victims of crimes for which it is prescribed,” he added. The two draft bills were at the stage where the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee was supposed to scrutinize them prior to publication and formal introduction in the House. The proposal has caused intense debate at the committee’s meeting, which was closed to the public, as a number of MPs in the team support the death sentence.
On 22 January 2015, Kenya was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council. The Government accepted the recommendation to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty for all crimes. However, the recommendation to abolish capital punishment and ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights did not enjoy the support of Kenya that requested for support towards human rights awareness campaigns, including the abolition of the death penalty.
In December 2014, Kenya abstained on the Resolution for a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.