Washington, DC does not have the death penalty under its own law. The District abolished capital punishment in 1981, and the harshest sentence a DC Superior Court can hand down is life in prison without release. Federal law is a different matter. Because DC sits on federal territory, the U.S. Department of Justice can prosecute certain crimes committed in the city as federal offenses, and some of those offenses carry the death penalty. A September 2025 presidential memorandum has instructed federal prosecutors to use that power aggressively in the District.
What DC’s Own Code Allows
If you are charged under the D.C. Code, execution is not a possible sentence for any crime. D.C. Code § 22-2104 caps punishment for first-degree murder at life imprisonment without release, with a mandatory minimum of 30 years.1D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 22-2104 – Penalty for Murder in First and Second Degrees Second-degree murder carries a sentence of up to life. No local judge has the authority to sentence anyone to death, no matter how violent the offense.
The abolition traces back to the Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia, which nullified death penalty statutes across the country.2Death Penalty Information Center. District of Columbia Most states rewrote their laws to comply with later rulings. DC went the other way. The D.C. Council passed the District of Columbia Death Penalty Repeal Act of 1980, which took effect February 26, 1981.3D.C. Law Library. D.C. Law 3-113 – District of Columbia Death Penalty Repeal Act of 1980 When Congress forced the question back onto DC voters through an advisory referendum in 1992, the electorate rejected reinstatement by roughly two to one.
When Federal Law Makes Execution Possible
The local prohibition does not reach federal prosecutions. Because Washington, DC is federal territory, the U.S. Department of Justice can bring charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the Federal Death Penalty Act authorizes execution for a long list of offenses.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3591 – Sentence of Death The result is a city where local law forbids execution and federal law permits it for crimes committed on the same streets.
Federal capital-eligible offenses that can realistically arise in DC include:
- Murder of a federal official, including a federal judge, law enforcement officer, or member of Congress
- Terrorism resulting in death, within the United States or against U.S. nationals abroad
- Espionage and treason under 18 U.S.C. § 794 and § 2381
- Murder on federal property, including government buildings
- Killings committed during large-scale drug trafficking operations
- Carjacking or kidnapping resulting in death, when charged federally
- Murder using a firearm during a federal crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924
Under 18 U.S.C. § 3591, a federal death sentence requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally killed someone, caused death through serious bodily injury, or participated in violence with reckless disregard for human life that directly resulted in death.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3591 – Sentence of Death No one who was under 18 at the time of the offense can be sentenced to death. After conviction, a separate penalty-phase hearing follows, where jurors weigh aggravating and mitigating factors.
Those jurors come from the local DC population, people living in a jurisdiction that rejected capital punishment. They are nevertheless instructed to apply federal law that treats execution as a lawful outcome.
The 2025 Directive Aimed at DC
The federal option used to be exercised sparingly. That has changed. On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” directing the Attorney General to pursue capital charges in all federal cases where the evidence supports it.5The White House. Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety The order reversed the moratorium on federal executions that Attorney General Merrick Garland had imposed in July 2021. On February 5, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi formally lifted that moratorium.6Congress.gov. Federal Capital Punishment – Recent Executive Action
On September 25, 2025, the President signed a memorandum targeting the District specifically. It orders the Attorney General and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to seek the death penalty in all appropriate cases arising in DC and to pursue federal jurisdiction “to the maximum degree practicable” for death-eligible crimes committed in the city.7The White House. Enforcing the Death Penalty Laws in the District of Columbia to Deter and Punish the Most Heinous Crimes The accompanying fact sheet called capital punishment “a critical tool for protecting public safety” in the nation’s capital.8The White House. Fact Sheet – President Donald J. Trump Directs the Enforcement of Death Penalty Laws in the District of Columbia
The practical effect matters for anyone charged with a serious violent offense in DC. A killing that local prosecutors would charge as first-degree murder under the D.C. Code, with life without release as the ceiling, can instead be pulled into federal court if any federal hook exists. Once the case is federal, execution becomes a possible sentence.
How a Federal Execution Would Actually Happen
DC has no execution law of its own, which creates a procedural wrinkle. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3596, a federal death sentence must be carried out “in the manner prescribed by the law of the State in which the sentence is imposed.”9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3596 – Implementation of a Sentence of Death Because DC has no such law, the court must designate another state whose law does provide a method, and the sentence is carried out under that state’s procedure.
Federal death row inmates are held at the Special Confinement Unit at USP Terre Haute in Indiana, which houses the federal execution chamber. The Department of Justice has directed the Bureau of Prisons to reinstate the single-drug pentobarbital protocol used for the 13 federal executions carried out between 2020 and 2021, and to expand the protocol to include alternative methods such as firing squad and electrocution where pentobarbital is unavailable. As of April 2026, the Department has authorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants across the federal system.10United States Department of Justice. The Justice Department Takes Actions to Strengthen the Federal Death Penalty
What “Life Without Release” Means Locally
Under the DC Code, first-degree murder carries not less than 30 years and up to life without release, and the statute bars release before 30 years from the date the sentence begins.1D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 22-2104 – Penalty for Murder in First and Second Degrees For the most aggravated cases, judges routinely impose life without release, meaning the person will die in custody.
One narrow exception can shorten even a life sentence. The Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act, codified at D.C. Code § 24-403.03 and later expanded by the Second Look Amendment Act, lets people who committed their offense before age 25 petition for a reduced sentence after serving at least 15 years.11D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 24-403.03 – Modification of an Imposed Term of Imprisonment for Violations of Law Committed Before 25 Years of Age A judge then considers whether the person still poses a danger and whether the interests of justice support a shorter sentence. Prosecutors can oppose the motion, denials are common, and a denied petitioner must wait three years before filing again, with a cap of three total petitions.
Which Courthouse Decides
For anyone facing a serious violent charge in DC, the courthouse handling the case now matters more than it did a year ago. The same underlying act can produce two very different maximum sentences depending on whether it is prosecuted locally or federally. In DC Superior Court under the D.C. Code, the ceiling is life without release. In U.S. District Court under federal law, execution is on the table whenever the facts fit a capital-eligible federal statute, and current federal policy pushes prosecutors toward charging those cases federally wherever they can.