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The Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to offer a new set of data illus­trat­ing the geo­graph­ic arbi­trari­ness of the death penal­ty. The new sec­tion, The Clustering of the Death Penalty, demon­strates that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is actu­al­ly car­ried out in only a small per­cent­age of U.S. juris­dic­tions. DPIC ana­lyzed the coun­ties with­in states that are respon­si­ble for the most exe­cu­tions, the most death row inmates, and the most recent death sen­tences. For exam­ple, one map shows that less than 1% of coun­ties in death penal­ty states account­ed for 30% of the exe­cu­tions in the U.S. since 1976. Similarly, less than 1% of the coun­ties were respon­si­ble for 27% of cur­rent death row inmates and 35% of recent death sen­tences. For more infor­ma­tion on each of these areas and on the geo­graph­ic arbi­trari­ness of the death penal­ty, vis­it this new sec­tion.

(DPIC post­ed, May 6, 2013). See Arbitrariness and Studies.

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