Washington County, Maryland is included in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. The closes states to Washington County is west Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Tennessee. The western portions of the Province of Maryland (including present Washington County) were incorporated into Prince George's County in 1696. This original county included six current counties. The first to be created was Frederick, separated from Prince George's County in 1748. Following independence, the sovereign State of Maryland formed Washington County on September 6, 1776, by the division of Frederick County. At the same time, a portion
Capital punishment in Maryland recommendations concerning the application and administration of capital punishment in the state so that they are free from bias and error and achieve fairness and accuracy. Following a series of public hearings, the Commission submitted its final report, along with a minority report, to the General Assembly on December 12, 2008 which "strongly recommends that capital punishment be abolished in Maryland." On March 6, 2013, the Maryland State Senate voted 27-20 in favor of SB 276, a bill to repeal the death penalty for future offenders. On March 15, 2013 the House approved the legislation by an 82-56 vote and