Trump orders death penalty for every D.C. murder

President Trump announced August 26, 2025 that he wants the death penalty imposed on every person convicted of murder in Washington 🏛️D.C. He made the announcement at a Cabinet meeting, calling for federal prosecutors to seek capital punishment in all homicide cases. District voters rejected the death penalty 2-to-1 in a 1992 referendum ordered by Congress.

Trump signed an executive order January 20, 2025 called 'Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety' ending Biden's federal execution moratorium. The order calls for expanded federal death penalty including for drug traffickers, migrant killers, and those who harm law enforcement. Biden had paused federal executions after Trump's administration executed 13 people in his final six months.

The 🏛️D.C. Council abolished the death penalty in 1981, and the District has had home rule authority over local criminal justice matters since the Home Rule Act of 1973. Trump can't legally override local laws through executive power alone. Federal prosecutors can only seek death penalty for federal crimes like terrorism, treason, or interstate murder—not typical homicides.

Biden commuted sentences of 37 of 40 federal death row inmates on December 23, 2024, changing their sentences from execution to life imprisonment without parole. Trump called them 'vile and sadistic' criminals and claimed they'd be released, which is false—they remain in maximum-security federal prison for life. The commutations prevent execution but maintain lifetime incarceration.

Legal experts say Trump's 🏛️D.C. death penalty proposal likely violates local self-governance and constitutional due process protections. Federal government can only prosecute death penalty cases in D.C. for federal crimes, not local murders. D.C. juries historically refuse to impose death sentences even in federal cases—a 2003 trial involving 29 murders ended in life sentences when jurors couldn't unanimously agree on execution.

Research shows the death penalty doesn't deter crime. The Death Penalty Information Centre found 'no meaningful evidence' that executions prevent future murders. Academic studies spanning decades show no difference in murder rates between death penalty and abolition states.

Trump's plan would create a class-based execution system where wealthy defendants hire lawyers who avoid death sentences while public defenders scramble. Poor and minority defendants face systematic execution while rich defendants get life sentences. This isn't justice—it's economic discrimination disguised as law enforcement.

Mayor MBMuriel Bowser opposes the death penalty expansion as a violation of 🏛️D.C. home rule and self-governance. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves would be responsible for implementing death penalty prosecutions under federal jurisdiction. If Trump overrides D.C. home rule on executions, he can override any local law anywhere using selective federal enforcement as a political weapon.