The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was a legislative measure introduced to enhance the United States' ability to prevent and respond to terrorism. Following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the U.S. government faced mounting pressure to address perceived vulnerabilities in national security and law enforcement. As such, the act was formed to introduce a range of measures aimed at both prevention and punishment of terrorist acts.

Key provisions of the law included new federal crimes targeting acts of terrorism, expanded the scope of what constituted terrorism, and notably, it restricted the ability of individuals to challenge their death sentences in federal courts. The act indicated a substantial shift toward a more aggressive stance in the legal approach to dealing with terrorism, as it emphasized speed and efficiency in the judicial process, particularly for capital punishment cases.

The act also included measures to enhance information sharing among law enforcement agencies and provided additional funding for law enforcement efforts to combat terrorism. It represented a significant tightening of federal policies toward capital punishment in that it aimed to reduce the time taken for execution to occur once a federal death sentence was imposed. This marked a pivotal turn in the American approach to legislative responses to violence and terrorism.