President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for heinous crimes in Washington, D.C.
The order, dated September 25, 2025, instructs the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for D.C. to pursue capital punishment “in all appropriate cases” where evidence justifies it. The directive marks Trump’s latest effort to crack down on violent crime in the nation’s capital, and builds on his Day One executive order restoring federal death penalty enforcement nationwide.
Federal prosecutors must now pursue maximum federal jurisdiction for death-penalty-eligible crimes in D.C.
The memorandum frames capital punishment as “a critical tool for protecting public safety, ensuring the worst criminals receive the worst punishment,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Washington recorded a homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 residents in 2024, according to the White House. That ranked fourth-highest nationally — nearly six times New York City’s rate and exceeding Atlanta, Chicago, and Compton. For comparison, the murder rate in Dallas is 7.36 per 100,000 residents, according to the Dallas Crime Analytics dashboard.
Trump has repeatedly criticized D.C.’s crime situation since taking office. During his first return to Washington after leaving in 2021, he lamented “the filth and the decay” in the capital.
Trump later promised his administration would “take over the horribly run capital of our nation, Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime, but rather it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world.”
The death penalty directive follows several other D.C. crime initiatives. Trump created a task force in March to improve safety and infrastructure in the city. He also mobilized the National Guard in August using the Home Rule Act. Later that same month, he signed an executive order to eliminate cashless bail in D.C.
The White House fact sheet attributes D.C.’s crime problems to “lenient policies in recent years.” It warns that these policies pose a risk to residents, visitors, and federal operations.