Speaking during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said his government will seek the death penalty for all murders in the capital Washington as part of what he describes as a crackdown on crime.
"We’re going to be seeking the death penalty," Trump said, calling capital punishment a “very strong preventative.”
Most murders in Washington are prosecuted under local law in DC Superior Court, where the harshest punishment prosecutors can seek is life in prison.
Proseutors can bring murder charges to federal court in certain conditions, and federal laws then establish if a crime is eligible for the death penalty.
Washington and nearly two dozen states have abolished the death penalty.
According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, studies have found no “meaningful evidence” that using the death penalty deters crime.
'I'm not a dictator'
Earlier this month, Trump deployed hundreds of military troops to the US capital, as part of what he said was a crackdown on crime. And in recent days, Some US National Guard units patrolling Washington started carrying weapons.
Trump is also weighing out the option to expand deployments to other Democratic-led cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and New York.
The move sparked backlash from critics and Democratic leaders in both states, prompting Trump to once again reject accusations that he is a dictator, and insisting that some people in the country have said they could use one.
"The line 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 just know how to stop crime," the president told his Cabinet on Tuesday.
