Andrew Lichtenstein/Polaris/eyevine
A handful of hotspots carry out a disproportionate number of executions in the US, but these areas don’t tend to have particularly high rates of murder. Instead, human bias seems to have led a small number of counties to become far more likely than others to follow through on a death sentence.
The death penalty is legal in 31 of the 50 US states, where it is given to some people convicted of murder. Now an analysis of the 38 years since 1977 has identified particular counties in the US that account for most of the country’s executions. During that time, 1422 people were executed, and more than a third of these deaths – 513 – happened in Texas.
But even within Texas, there is strong variation. Harris County, home