Trump’s Daring Call for Capital Punishment
US President Donald Trump is to ask the death penalty to be imposed on suspected Washington DC murderers, posing it as a “preventative” action against violent crime. Addressing a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump stated that the action was part of his broader strategy for tackling what he said was “complete and total lawlessness” in the capital.
Hundreds of National Guard members and federal law enforcement officers have already been deployed to Washington DC, a model Trump hinted could also be extended to cities like Chicago and Baltimore.
“If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, DC, we’re going to be seeking the death penalty. And that’s a very strong preventative,” Trump told reporters.
Local Resistance and Legal Challenges
The plan has drawn opposition from local authorities. Trump’s assertion of crime was rejected by Washington’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, as she referenced a 30-year low in rates of violent crime after a surge in 2023. She rejected the suggestion of the necessity for federal intervention and accused Trump of exaggerating the threat to offer justification for forceful action.
Legal analysts also mention the practical challenges. Most homicides in Washington DC are charged by local laws, under which capital punishment is prohibited. Federal prosecutors could in theory seek the death penalty in some cases, but it would need to pass unanimous jury support something that won’t happen in a city where the majority of people are against the practice.
Trump’s Death Penalty Legacy
This is not the first time Trump has relied heavily on the death penalty. On his first day back in office in January, he signed an executive order reviving the federal death penalty, reversing the moratorium put in place by President Joe Biden. The order called executions “an essential tool for deterring and punishing” the worst crimes.
Trump authorized 13 federal executions toward the end of 2020 and at the beginning of 2021 in his first term, the most execution-oriented president in over a century. The streak shattered a decades-old tradition of suspending executions during presidential changes, with the last executed just five days prior to him leaving office in 2021.
Washington DC itself has a history going back decades of declining capital punishment. The Supreme Court overturned its death penalty in 1972, the city council abolished it in 1981, and in 2002 its return was overwhelmingly rejected by residents.
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Wider Political Battle
Trump’s remarks also follow a wider confrontation with Democratic-run cities. While he’s citing Chicago and Baltimore as potential next sites for federal takeover, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker charged he was “trying to create a crisis.
