Since DPIC released its new report, The 2% Death Penalty, on October 2, both nation­al and inter­na­tion­al media have been report­ing on its find­ings. The Washington Post not­ed, ​“Two per­cent of the coun­ties in the coun­try were respon­si­ble for [most] 685 of 1,320 exe­cu­tions from 1976, when the Supreme Court rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty, to 2012.” The Los Angeles Times, quot­ed DPIC’s Executive Director, “ ​‘The death penal­ty is not as American or as wide­spread as peo­ple might assume. It is clus­tered in a few coun­ties,’ said Richard Dieter, the group’s exec­u­tive direc­tor.” Similar sto­ries have appeared in CBS News, The Guardian (London), U.S. News & World Report, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Columbus Dispatch, The National Journal, and many oth­er out­lets. Many sto­ries echoed Stateline​’s empha­sis on the bur­den that all tax­pay­ers share because of the actions of a few coun­ties: ​“After a death sen­tence is hand­ed down, states are on the hook for pay­ing for the pros­e­cu­tion and some­times defense, as well as hous­ing the inmate. Those costs are borne by the entire state, not just the coun­ties that impose the death sen­tence.” (Click on image to enlarge).

(Posted by DPIC, October 3, 2013; media cov­er­age avail­able from DPIC). See Arbitrariness. See oth­er DPIC Reports.

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