AP Analysis: Death penalty varies by geography in California

[Judi Lynn]

AP Analysis: Death penalty varies by geography in California

DAVID KRAVETS, AP Legal Affairs Writer
Saturday, February 7, 2004


(02-07) 12:57 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

California now has 638 inmates awaiting death, some of them for more than one murder. It adds up to 645 death sentences -- roughly one for every 54,700 current residents. But some of the state's counties have condemned many more inmates than others of similar size, according to an Associated Press review of Corrections Department data.

While many counties issue roughly the same numbers of death sentences per capita, the disparities between some are so pronounced that legal experts say capital punishment is being unfairly doled out in California.

The reasons are complex -- for one, crimes happen more frequently in some places than others. But prosecutorial zeal and the attitudes of jurors also are factors. The bottom line, according to the data, is that death penalty sometimes depends on where the crime was committed.

"Capital punishment should not depend on an accident of geography," said defense attorney Robert Sanger, who prepared a lengthy analysis of California's death penalty system in the current issue of Santa Clara Law Review.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/07/state1557EST0061.DTL

[pinto]

1. great post and great research idea from the defense attorney. I am

staunchly against cap punishment, and it is often a hard position to maintain given the nature of crime brought up on capital cases and the emotion that accompanies them. Geography of similar crimes, within a state, is another piece of the fairness standard in the debate.

[SadEagle]

2. Something similar came out in NY a while ago...

Basically, upstate prosecutors used the death penalty a lot. NYC ones, hardly ever. Not surprising given the political split