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State & Federal

District of Columbia

News & Developments


News

Oct 25, 2013

Upcoming Events to Review Death Penalty Practice

Two events in November will exam­ine the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty from a vari­ety of per­spec­tives. On November 12, the American Bar Association will host the National Symposium on the Modern Death Penalty at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The con­fer­ence will cul­mi­nate the ABA’s eight-year effort to ass­es the death penal­ty in var­i­ous states, using cri­te­ria for due process estab­lished by the ABA. Former President Jimmy Carter will be a fea­tured speak­er at the sym­po­sium, along with for­mer Texas Governor Mark White, and oth­er legal experts and…

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Jan 20, 2011

ARBITRARINESS: Contract Killer Spared the Death Penalty Despite Seven Murders

Although the death penal­ty is often described as being reserved for the ​“worst of the worst” offend­ers, in prac­tice defen­dants respon­si­ble for many mur­ders are often spared while those who com­mit­ted arguably less­er offens­es are exe­cut­ed. Oscar Veal was a con­tract killer for a large drug ring and mur­der-for-hire oper­a­tion. He was con­vict­ed of sev­en counts of mur­der and eight counts of rack­e­teer­ing con­spir­a­cy. However, in exchange for tes­ti­mo­ny about a drug orga­ni­za­tion in Washington, D.C., fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors agreed not to seek the death penal­ty against Veal. According to the…

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Jan 13, 2011

NEW VOICES: ​“Police Officials Argue Death Penalty Doesn’t Make Us Safer”

Four law enforce­ment offi­cials from var­i­ous coun­tries who came togeth­er in Washington, D.C., in 2010 for a ground­break­ing inter­na­tion­al dia­logue on the death penal­ty recent­ly pub­lished an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News regard­ing their dis­cus­sion. From their expe­ri­ence, they dis­count­ed the argu­ment that the death penal­ty deters poten­tial offenders.

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Notable Cases

The first recorded execution in Washington, D.C. was the hanging of James McGirk in 1802.

Mary Surratt, the only woman executed in D.C., was hanged by the U.S. military in 1865 for conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.

Charles Guiteau was executed in 1882 for assassinating President Garfield.

The District of Columbia has not had an execution since Robert Carter in 1957. Carter was convicted of fatally shooting an off-duty police officer who pursued him after Carter robbed a dry cleaners. The jury in the case recommended mercy for Carter, but the law at the time mandated a death sentence for a conviction of first-degree murder.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

The District’s death penalty was nullified by the Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972 and repealed by the D.C. Council in 1981. District residents voted 2-1 against the death penalty in a 1992 referendum ordered by Congress. Prior to the referendum, the D.C. Council passed legislation allowing for a sentencing option of life without parole for first-degree murder. Lawmakers touted the legislation as an alternative to the reinstatement of the death penalty.

In 1997, the D.C. Council’s Judiciary Committee rejected a bill to permit capital punishment for the murder of public safety employees. The bill was proposed by then-Mayor Marion Barry.

Other Interesting Facts

For most of its history, Washington, D.C. was governed by federal statutes. Although D.C. now has its own code of laws, it is still subject to Congressional oversight. The federal government has sought the death penalty in murder cases that occurred in D.C.

Hanging and electrocution are the only methods of execution that have been used in the District of Columbia.

Washington Monument with Cherry Blossoms. Photo by Anne Holsinger.

Resources

  • Department of Corrections
  • National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (located in Washington, D.C.)
  • Amnesty International (located in Washington, D.C.)
  • ACLU of the Nation’s Capital
  • Prosecutors
  • Public defender’s office
  • Victims’ services

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: No
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 0
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 118
  • Current Death Row Population: 0
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 0
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 3
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): N/A
  • Date of Abolition: 1981
  • Location of Death Row/Executions: N/A
  • Capital: N/A
  • Region: South
  • Population: 689,545*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 23.5
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Clemency Process: N/A
  • Mayor: Muriel Bowser

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