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Regarding a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump stated that his administration will pursue the death penalty for all murders in Washington, DC, as an element of efforts to reduce crime in the capital.
“We will pursue the death penalty,” Trump said, describing capital punishment as a “very strong preventative measure.”
Most murders in Washington are prosecuted under local law in DC Superior Court, where the maximum penalty prosecutors can seek is life imprisonment.
In some circumstances, prosecutors may bring murder charges to federal court, and federal laws then determine if a crime is eligible for the death penalty.
DC and nearly two dozen states have abolished the death penalty.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, studies have found no “meaningful evidence” that using the death penalty deters crime.
‘I am not a dictator’
Earlier in the month, Trump sent hundreds of military troops to the US capital, as part of what he described as a crackdown on crime. And recently, some US National Guard units patrolling Washington began carrying weapons.
Trump is also considering expanding deployments to other cities led by Democrats, such as Baltimore, Chicago, and New York.
The move has been met with backlash from critics and Democratic leaders in these states, prompting Trump to once again deny accusations that he is a dictator, and asserting that some people in the country would prefer having one.
“The claim is that I’m a dictator, but I stop crime. So a lot of people say, you know, if that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator. But I’m not a dictator. I simply know how to stop crime,” the president told his Cabinet on Tuesday.
