Donald Trump arranges death penalty for Washington, DC

US President Donald Trump signed an explanation on Thursday that enables the imposition of the death penalty in certain criminal proceedings in Washington. The news agency and the.

“If you kill someone or if you kill a police officer or a law enforcement officer, there is the death penalty,” Trump said on Thursday at an signing ceremony in the Oval Office.

That, the order indicates “in all suitable cases in the District of Columbia to apply for the death penalty if the evidence and the facts available justify such a punishment”. In addition, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Prosecutor for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, should exercise “the Federal Court of Crimes, which can be punished in Washington, DC with the death penalty”.

“By enforcing the death penalty law against the worst criminals in Washington DC, President Trump underlines his determination of protecting the capital of our country for all Americans who visit and live there and ensure that violent criminals must expect the toughest punishments of the law,” says the white house’s statement.

Trump had announced a month ago to strive for the death penalty in the capital Washington. He described this as a “very strong preventive measure”.

The death penalty in the United States is still permitted at the federal level, the military and in 27 states, but is not actually enforced everywhere. Justice Minister Bondi wants to enforce this according to a report by the US station. Bondi, who stood in the signature ceremony alongside Trump in the Oval Office, said: “We (the death penalty) not only want it to Washington, DC, but again in the whole country.”

The US capital has a special legal status: it is not a state, but is under the control of the congress in some areas. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, no one has been executed in Washington since 1957; In 1981 the city council abolished the death penalty. Nevertheless, the federal government can accuse suspects at the federal level.

Before taking office, Trump had declared that he would instruct the Ministry of Justice to consistently pursue the death penalty. Expressions at the federal level were exposed to his predecessor Joe Biden.

Trump’s arrangement fits into his intensified approach in the capital, where he as President has more powers than in the states. Weekly activated the national guard weeks ago and provided the local police under federal supervision – there is legal resistance. Since then, national guard and federal authorities have been increasingly deployed, and underlying offenses should also be pursued consistently and as possible.

Trump draws a picture of Washington as a city in which crime and violence have come out of control. However, police statistics contradict this. They show a significant decline in violent crimes between 2023 and 2024, after an increase during corona pandemic. However, Trump accuses Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser to “deliver false and extremely inaccurate crime figures”.

Critics warn that the President Uses Washington as a field of experimentation for an authoritarian government style. Experts emphasize that stricter punishments hardly reliably reduce crime – prevention and social programs are more sustainable.

Trump also threatened a similar approach to other cities ruled by Democrats such as Chicago, New York and Baltimore.

In 23 of the 50 US states, the death penalty is abolished, in three other-California, Oregon and Pennsylvania-a moratorium applies. Three countries that had suspended executions – Arizona, Ohio and Tennessee – plan their resumption.

US President Donald Trump supports the death penalty. At the beginning of his first term (2017 to 2021) there were no executions at the federal level. In fact, there has been a break since 2003. Shortly before the end of his term, Trump had the enforcement resumed. Within a few months, 13 people were executed at the federal level, more than under any other US president for decades.

According to surveys, a narrow majority of Americans continue to support the death penalty. However, doubts about judicial illnesses, discrimination and unequal legal representation have deceptive. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, over 2000 people are currently in the death wing of US prisons; 29 people have been executed since the beginning of the year.