Trump calls for death penalty for Washington DC murder cases

US President Donald Trump said he was planning to ask for the death penalty for alleged murderers at Washington DC.

Speaking at a meeting from the cabinet to the White House, Trump said that the death penalty would be a “preventive” measure.

Hundreds of federal police officers and federal agents have been deployed in the American capital to fight against what Trump previously described as “complete and total anarchy” in the city – a strategy that he left in evidence could be repeated in Chicago and other cities.

The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, rejected the president’s claims concerning crime, which has fallen into the city since its application in 2023.

“If someone kills someone in the capital, Washington, DC, we are going to ask the death penalty,” Trump told journalists and members of the cabinet. “And it’s a very preventive strong.”

Most of the murders in Washington DC are prosecuted under local law, although prosecutors can – in theory – ask for the death penalty for crimes that fall under federal laws.

However, the death penalty can only be used if the jury agrees, posing a potential challenge in a city in which most residents are opposed to capital punishment.

The president did not provide more details on how he would seek to implement the change.

Trump resettled the federal death penalty through an executive decree on the first day of his administration in January.

Under his predecessor, Joe Biden, the Ministry of Justice had issued a moratorium on the federal use of the death penalty.

Trump’s executive decree signed by Trump describes capital punishment as “an essential tool to dissuade and punish those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of fatal violence against American citizens”.

“Before, during and after the United States Foundation, our cities, states and countries have continuously relied on capital punishment as ultimate deterrence and the only sanction for the most vile crimes,” he added.

The majority of executions in the United States are carried out at the state level, with 27 states, the military and the federal government still having a capital sentence as a legally available option.

Washington DC’s death penalty was canceled by the Supreme Court in 1972 and repealed by the municipal council in 1981.

Decades later, in 2002, the city residents voted massively against capital punishment in a referendum exercised local ballots by the American Congress under the control of the Republican.

Although no federal execution has been carried out since Trump returned to office, he supervised a burst of 13 executions during the decreasing months of his first mandate at the end of 2020 and January 2021.

These executions made Trump the most prolific executor in the country in more than a century and broke out with a precedent of 130 years to take a break in the midst of a presidential transition.

The last execution occurred just five days before leaving office in January 2021.

The president’s comments arise around 800 troops from the National Guard and hundreds of federal officers deployed in Washington DC in the midst of a repression against crime and homelessness, even though local officials questioned the need for federal intervention in the city, the mayor Bowser pointing to a “huge decrease in crime” which, according to him, was a “violent crime”.

In recent days, Trump has repeatedly launched the idea of ​​deploying troops in other cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, which are both led by Democrats.

“I am ready to go to Chicago, which is in great difficulty,” said Trump at the meeting of the cabinet.

Illinois governor JB Pritzker accused Trump of “tried to make a crisis”.