(Click image to enlarge) The Atlantic reports that death sen­tences are heav­i­ly con­cen­trat­ed in a small num­ber of heavy-use coun­ties. According to DePaul University law pro­fes­sor Robert J. Smith, ​“1 per­cent of coun­ties accounts for rough­ly 44 per­cent of all death sen­tences” since the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty in 1976. Death-sen­tenc­ing rates in those coun­ties are not a prod­uct of their pop­u­la­tion or mur­der rates, Smith points out. For exam­ple, from 2004 to 2009, ​“Miami-Dade County (Florida), which has a pop­u­la­tion of approx­i­mate­ly 2.5 mil­lion, only sen­tenced four peo­ple to death, where­as Oklahoma County, which has a pop­u­la­tion of approx­i­mate­ly 750,000, sen­tenced eigh­teen peo­ple to death.” DPIC’s 2013 report, ​“The 2% Death Penalty,” found that, ​“Houston had 8 per­cent more mur­ders than Dallas, but 324 per­cent more death row inmates; 15 per­cent more mur­ders than San Antonio, but 430 per­cent more death row inmates.” The coun­ty dis­par­i­ties come from pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al dis­cre­tion, which allows local pros­e­cu­tors to deter­mine when to seek the death penal­ty. In some coun­ties, Washington Post reporter Radley Balko report­ed, ​“a tox­ic cul­ture of death and invin­ci­bil­i­ty” val­ues con­vic­tions and death sen­tences above all else. In 2007, Orleans Parish (Louisiana) Assistant District Attorney James Williams said, ​“There was no thrill for me unless there was a chance for the death penalty.”

(M. Ford, ​“The Death Penalty Becomes Rare,” The Atlantic, April 21, 2015.) See Arbitrariness.

Citation Guide