New York's death penalty was reinstated on September 1, 1995

New York's death penalty was reinstated on September 1, 1995. A study showed that the death penalty was far more likely to be pursued in counties outside of New York City than those in the city. Capital case records from September 1, 1995 through June 30 of this year show that 4.5% of arrests for first- or second-degree murder in the 53 counties north of Westchester and Rockland resulted in death notices being filed by prosecutors, compared with a rate of only 0.51% of murder cases downstate. When first-degree murder indictments are compared, upstate district attorneys have sought lethal injection in about 31% of cases, compared with 9% downstate. The percentages are based on a statewide total of 3,043 first- or second-degree murder arrests, with 218 murder-one indictments and 36 death notices during the 46-month period. The numbers compiled by the state Capital Defender Office show 511 murder arrests upstate during the 46-month period, compared with 2,532 downstate. Some of the reasons for the disparities between upstate and downstate -which includes New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland - are obvious. Four of New York City's district attorneys personally oppose capital punishment. Two of them, Robert M. Morgenthau and Robert T. Johnson of the Bronx, have never brought a death penalty case. The relatively few death sentences in a state of this size is also attributed to the excellent system of representation at trial provided by the state's Capital Defender Office. In other states, experts have noted differences between urban and rural areas concerning the use of the death penalty.