President Donald Trump has directed federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., to pursue the death penalty “to the maximum degree practicable,” even though the city abolished capital punishment more than four decades ago. The memo, issued Thursday, cites Trump’s August emergency declaration that federalized D.C. law enforcement.
It describes capital punishment as part of the administration’s broader push to combat what the president has called “out of control” crime in the nation’s capital — despite federal data showing violent crime fell significantly last year and continued declining ahead of the takeover.
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“You kill somebody, or if you kill a police officer, law enforcement officer — death penalty,” Trump remarked at a signing ceremony at the White House Thursday.
How prosecutors may apply it
The order instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro to apply federal statutes in seeking death sentences for certain violent crimes.
Before the directive, Pirro announced prosecutors would look at pursuing capital punishment against Elias Rodriguez, the man charged in the shooting deaths of a pair of Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum this spring.
Bond, standing alongside Trump on Thursday, expanded the scope: “Not only are we seeking [the death penalty] in Washington, D.C., but all over the country — again,” she said.
Legal pushback
Critics say the directive defies local authority.
“DC’s democratically elected leaders abolished the death penalty more than 40 years ago, and voters have repeatedly rejected bringing it back. For good reason: The death penalty doesn’t deter crime, is prone to error and is consistently applied in a discriminatory way,” Ryan Downer, legal director at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, told The Washington Post.
Legal analysts warn that prosecutors could face hurdles shifting cases to federal courts to seek capital punishment.
The Trump administration’s argument
The move fits into Trump’s national campaign to expand the use of the death penalty. Shortly after beginning his second term, he signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to pursue capital punishment in cases involving drug trafficking, the killing of law enforcement officers, and gun-related murders such as drive-by shootings.
“By enforcing the death penalty against D.C.’s worst offenders, President Trump underscores his determination to protect our Nation’s capital for all Americans who visit and reside there and ensure violent criminals face the toughest consequences under the law,” a statement in a White House fact sheet reads.
