2 Percent of U.S. Counties Account for Most of America's Executions

Death-penalty opponents may have another talking point to add to their growing list of grievances about capital punishment: Just 2 percent of U.S. counties account for most of the country's death row population and executions, according to a study released today by the Death Penalty Information Center. It's generally known that a handful of states such as Texas, Florida, and Ohio carry out the majority of executions, but the county-by-county breakdown, like one might find in an analysis of presidential elections, provides more insight on the geographically small footprint of capital punishment in the U.S. Eighty-five percent of counties, including a majority in Texas, have not had an execution in 40 years. While a small percentage of counties are carrying out the bulk of executions, the economic burdens of the death penalty are shared by taxpayers across the state. Nine counties were responsible for 35 percent of death sentences in the U.S. last year, and 10 accounted for 27 percent of all death row inmates at the start of 2013.

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