Trump announces death penalty in Washington – A step into darkness?

Trump announces death penalty in Washington – A step into darkness?

Things are boiling again in the USA: US President Donald Trump recently announced that he would seek a return to the death penalty in murder cases in Washington as a “very strong preventative measure”. The discussions are not new, but with Trump's announcement the debate is gaining momentum again. Antenna Unna reports that the death penalty is legal in the US at the federal level, in the military and in 27 states, but has not been carried out in Washington itself since 1981. This could change now that the federal government can charge suspects at the federal level.

The announcement comes amid a heightened crackdown in Washington, where Trump has expanded powers as president. Two weeks ago, he activated the National Guard and placed local police under federal supervision, sparking legal opposition. While Trump says police in Washington are struggling with crime and violence, police statistics contradict this narrative.

A controversial chapter in the judiciary

Trump sharply criticizes his predecessor Joe Biden, who commuted the death sentences of 37 death row inmates to life imprisonment. On his platform Truth Social, Trump describes this decision as incomprehensible and underlines his plan to instruct the Justice Department to strictly pursue the death penalty. Loud World Trump argues that American families must be protected from violent criminals.

There were no executions under his first term from 2017 to 2021, but executions of 13 death sentences were resumed shortly before the end of his term - more than under any other US president in recent decades. There are currently over 2,000 people on death row in US prisons, while 29 people have been executed since the beginning of the year. A slim majority of Americans support the death penalty, polls show, although that support is gradually declining due to concerns about miscarriages of justice and discrimination.

Legal developments and international perspectives

What is particularly piquant is that Washington recently became the 20th US state to declare the death penalty unconstitutional. How Amnesty International reported that the use of the death penalty in Washington was declared invalid due to its arbitrary and racially discriminatory application. Kristina Roth of Amnesty described this decision as a positive step towards abolishing the death penalty in the state. The debate over the death penalty is not just a domestic issue; Global initiatives show that by the end of 2017, 106 countries had already abolished the death penalty for all crimes.

With this complex situation in the US judiciary, it remains to be seen how things will develop under Trump's renewed presidency. Critics fear Washington could become a testing ground for authoritarian styles of government, while experts point out that harsher punishments do not necessarily reduce crime. There is a lot of need for discussion here and perhaps also an urgent need for action in order to respond to the actual challenges in society.