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Report Finds Two Percent of Counties Produce Majority of Death Penalty Cases

Report Finds Two Percent of Counties Produce Majority of Death Penalty Cases

by Derek Gilna

A report issued by Death Penalty Information Center claims that only 2% of all U.S. counties are responsible for a majority of death penalty cases. This comes after the death penalty has come in for increasing criticism from many previous supporters who now feel the process is unjust.

According to the report, “[o]nly 2% of the counties are responsible for the majority of today’s death row population and recent death sentences...[A]ll of the state executions since the death penalty was reinstated stem from cases in just 15% of the counties in the U.S. All of the 3,125 [prisoners] on death row as of January 1, 2013 came from just 20% of the counties.”

The report points out that every decision to seek the death penalty is made by a single county prosecutor, who is generally an elected official, but the process he controls affects the budget of his entire state in which he is located, and in some cases, even the rest of the nation. In this era of tight budgets on all levels of government, the financial burdens of death penalty cases have received new scrutiny; death penalty cases run up expenses for prosecution, incarceration in high-security institutions, and lengthy retrials and appeals.

In short, according to the report:

“[The death penalty is] mainly driven by a small minority of counties that use it aggressively, while most counties in the U.S. do not resort to it at all. These high-use counties do not shoulder their own burdens, but instead shift the cost to every taxpayer, many of whom are unaware of the exorbitant costs or the unfavorable record of reversal and unfairness.”

Most experts estimate that the average death penalty case costs around $1 million.

The report provides a wealth of statistical information, further highlighting the disparity in the utilization of the death penalty. Texas has the most death-penalty prosecutions, people on death row, and actual executions, with Virginia, Oklahoma, and Florida not far behind. Ten out of the top fifteen counties in death penalty executions are located in the state of Texas.

The report also notes that many states have decided to opt-out of the death penalty process entirely, citing costs or, for many states, ethical reasons. “Michigan...has not had the death penalty since 1847…and Wisconsin abolished (it) in 1853, Maine in 1887, and Minnesota in 1911. Neither Alaska nor Hawaii has had the death penalty since they became states.”

Other states note the inordinate number of legal errors in death penalty cases, the frequency of verdicts being overturned, and the wasting of precious criminal justice resources. Other jurisdictions have noted the racial disparity of death penalty sentencing and prosecutorial misconduct in death penalty cases, as deterrents to pursuing death penalty sentences.

It is clear that the death penalty process is a flawed process, one of many in the criminal justice system. It is a process that many state, county, and municipal governments have decided is no longer appropriate, given its excessive cost and dubious results.

Source: “The 2% Death Penalty,” www.deathpenaltyinfo.org (October 2, 2013)