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"Killer Counties": LA, OC, Riverside
As the United States moves away from death sentences to permanent imprisonment, California—particularly Los Angeles County—lags behind, according to a new report on the death penalty by the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC). In 2009, the number of new death sentences nationwide reached the lowest level since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The Golden State, however, sent more people to death row last year than in the seven preceding years. At the close of 2009, California’s death row was the largest and most costly in the United States.
The increase in death sentences in California last year was caused by the high number of new death sentences in just three counties, according to the report. The majority of counties in California, like the rest of the nation, have effectively replaced the death penalty with permanent imprisonment. Prosecutorial practices in just three “killer counties”— Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside – accounted for 83% of death sentences in 2009, while those counties represented only 41% of the state’s population.
Read more, view a county-by-county interactive map, or nuestra versión en español (pdf).
