ACROSS THE country and around the world, Washington is notorious as the “murder capital of America”—the city with the highest homicide rate of any major U.S. urban center. Less publicized, but no less scandalous, is another D.C. distinction involving needless loss of life. The District of Columbia is also the “’infant mortality capital of America”—the population center in which a baby is most likely to die during his or her first year of life.