Madison County ranks second statewide in death sentences imposed since 2012, according to a new analysis.
A new analysis by the Alabama Reflector shows that the use of the death penalty in Alabama is heavily concentrated in a small number of counties, with Madison County, home to the City of Huntsville, among the most active jurisdictions.
Since 2012, five of Alabama’s 67 counties have accounted for nearly half of all death sentences imposed statewide. Those counties collectively have a population of about 1.7 million people, roughly one-third of the state’s total population. In all, 23 counties have sentenced at least one person to death during that period.
Mobile County leads the state with nine death sentences, followed by Madison County with four. Morgan, Jefferson, St. Clair, and Calhoun counties each imposed three death sentences since 2012. Four additional counties — Russell, Marshall, Escambia, and Colbert — sentenced two people each, while 13 counties issued one death sentence…