Trump signs executive order authorizing death penalty in Washington, D.C.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order permitting the use of the death penalty in Washington, D.C., the White House announced.

The measure has taken effect in the District of Columbia, which is not considered a state and is officially governed by Congress.

According to the U.S.-based Death Penalty Information Center, since 1973, some 200 people sentenced to death in the United States have been exonerated, with 108 of them being Black.

Currently, the death penalty is legal in 27 states, though six of them have imposed a moratorium on its use.