Saralnama
President Donald Trump announced on 27 Aug 2025 that his administration will seek the death penalty for all murder cases in Washington, D.C. He said this move aims to prevent crime and that prosecutors will have no choice but to pursue capital punishment. Washington, D.C., abolished the death penalty in 1981, and local voters rejected its return in 1992. However, federal prosecutors can still charge murder cases under federal law, allowing the death penalty to be applied despite the local ban. This policy change marks a major shift, as most murder cases in D.C. are handled under local law where capital punishment is not allowed. The last execution in D.C. was in 1957. The Trump administration has already ended a federal moratorium on executions and is seeking the death penalty in some recent murder cases. How to apply this policy will be decided by federal prosecutors handling murder cases in the capital. (Updated 28 Aug 2025, 02:25 IST; source: link)