@article{ref1,
title="Learning to kill: why a small handful of counties generates the bulk of US death sentences",
journal="PLoS one",
year="2020",
author="Baumgartner, Frank R. and Box-Steffensmeier, Janet M. and Campbell, Benjamin W. and Caron, Christian and Sherman, Hailey",
volume="15",
number="10",
pages="e0240401-e0240401",
abstract="We demonstrate strong self-referential effects in county-level data concerning use of the death penalty. We first show event-dependency using a repeated-event model. Higher numbers of previous events reduce the expected time delay before the next event. Second, we use a cross-sectional time-series approach to model the number of death sentences imposed in a given county in a given year. This model shows that the cumulative number of death sentences previously imposed in the same county is a strong predictor of the number imposed in a given year. <br><br>RESULTS raise troubling substantive implications: The number of death sentences in a given county in a given year is better predicted by that county's previous experience in imposing death than by the number of homicides. This explains the previously observed fact that a large share of death sentences come from a small number of counties and documents the self-referential aspects of use the death penalty. A death sentencing system based on racial dynamics and then amplified by self-referential dynamics is inconsistent with equal protection of the law, but this describes the United States system well.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1932-6203",
doi="10.1371/journal.pone.0240401",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240401"
}