Where the Death Penalty Is Imposed - A Remarkable Graphic

If you haven't been watching Second Class Justice, take a look.  In the short time it has been up, there is first-class content.

I particularly want to highlight the post, "90% of counties in the country have imposed no death sentences for the last 6 years," by Rob Smith.  The graphic is remarkable.  It's a must-see and a must-read:

Death Penalty Usage Maps 2004-2009

Here's a snippet from the post.

The maps above detail each death sentence issued in a state prosecution between 2004-2009. One of the maps details all federal death sentences since the modern death penalty was established in 1988. These figures include re-sentences to death (after a person’s first sentence was reversed by an appellate court), so, if anything, these maps are overly generous to those who believe that American juries (as opposed to a small handful of jurisdictions) regularly sentence to death people who commit first-degree murder.

The maps show that roughly 90% of counties in the United States did not sentence anyone to death between 2004-2009 (the number is closer to 95% between 2007-2009). Even within states that heavily rely upon the death penalty, places like Texas, Alabama, Florida, California, and Oklahoma, the majority of counties in these states do not use the death penalty. Instead, a narrow band of counties (e.g., Los Angeles, Maricopa) account for a disproportionate number of death sentences year after year. Nothing distinguishes the murders (or murderers) in the counties that impose death sentences from those in the heavy majority of American counties that do not.

Earlier coverage of Stephen Bright's new blog, Second Class Justice, is here.