US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration will start seeking the death penalty in murder cases in Washington, District of Columbia.
The move is said to be part of his push to present himself as a tough-on-crime leader and to increase federal control over the nation’s largely Democratic capital.
Under the U.S. Constitution, Washington, D.C. holds a unique status as a federal district under the direct authority of the U.S. Congress which holds federal laws, covering all citizens across the country.
It means while most murders can be handled under a local law, which already abolished the death penalty decades ago, the federal jurisdiction can still allow prosecutors to pursue in certain cases that qualify under federal law, just like murder which Trump highlighted though under specific conditions.
The challenge, however, lies in the implementation.
According to reports, these cases can take years to resolve due to lengthy appeals, and such convictions require a local jury’s approval—something seen as unlikely in a city where most oppose this kind of punishment.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that Trump has taken unusual steps in Washington.
In recent months, Trump also declared an emergency over the capital, sending in hundreds of National Guard troops, and placing federal officers in the city over what he described as lawlessness by gangs and criminals.
However, data shows that even though violent crime in Washington spiked in 2023, it has since dropped sharply during this year.