To provide for the imposition of the death penalty for certain crimes committed in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · August 13, 2026
Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
The Restoring the Death Penalty in DC Act reinstitutes capital punishment in Washington, D.C. for eight categories of serious crimes, including first-degree murder, murder of law enforcement officers, terrorism offenses, and first-degree child sexual abuse. The bill establishes a detailed sentencing process requiring prosecutors to provide advance notice of their intent to seek death, followed by a separate hearing where a jury must unanimously find statutory aggravating factors—such as prior violence convictions, torture, or crimes against vulnerable victims—beyond a reasonable doubt, while also weighing mitigating factors like mental disturbance or minor participation in the crime. The legislation specifies that executions may be carried out by electrocution by default, with defendants able to choose lethal injection, firing squad, lethal gas, or nitrogen hypoxia up to 14 days before execution, while prohibiting execution of pregnant women, individuals under 18, or those lacking mental capacity. The bill also amends federal law to treat D.C. as a "State" for purposes of federal death penalty procedural rules and includes a severability clause ensuring that if any provision is struck down as unconstitutional, the remainder of the law remains in effect.
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