FROM DPIC: ​‘The Death Penalty by County’ Underscores Geographic Disparities

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.