Final Judgement: The Texas Counties That Sentence The Most People To Death

Here in Texas, if you are about to commit a capital crime, you might want to see how far you are from the county line.

While death penalty sentences are on a steady decline here in Texas and across the U.S., there are still some areas of Texas that are more likely to hand down the most severe of punishments.

There is a clear frontrunner for most death penalty sentences since 2013- Harris County with 9 total death sentences.

Harris County is followed by Smith County (3), Walker County (2), Jefferson County (2), Bexar County (2), El Paso County(2), Kaufman County (2), McLennan County (2), Bowie County (2), and Hunt County (2).

Every other county has had one or less since 2013, with many having no death penalty sentences, despite Texas' reputation for being death penalty "trigger-happy."

This doesn't figure in per capita death penalty convictions, and that is important to consider with a county like Harris- which is the county that holds all of Houston- Texas' most populous city.

Read More: Death Penalty: Should Texas Expand Which Crimes Are Eligible?

Meanwhile, Austin is spread over three counties, surely diluting its death penalty numbers. Likewise, the Dallas/ Fort Worth metroplex is spread over several counties.

It is up to the discretion of the prosecutor to seek the death penalty in capital murder cases, and far fewer are choosing to go that route.

It could be their personal views on the matter, their response to the local political climate/ attitudes of constituents or it can simply come down to the fact that death penalty cases are much more expensive than seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Is Death Row itself dying out? Probably not for quite some time, however, it's rapidly becoming a rarity.