Death penalty cases are among the more controversial and costly. There are numerous factors that may influence a prosecutor’s decision to seek the death penalty in a capital murder case. This study considers offender demographics, district attorney characteristics, victim characteristics, local political and criminal climate, and county financial condition to gain a more holistic understanding of prosecutorial decisions surrounding the death penalty. Using multilevel logistic regression models, Texas death penalty cases from 2007 to 2018 (N = 436) were analyzed. Findings suggest a reduction in prosecutor decisions to seek the death penalty over time, and that prosecutors may be more likely to seek the death penalty if a higher percentage of victims killed were White.

死刑案件是争议更大，费用更高的案件。在死刑案件中，有许多因素可能会影响检察官寻求死刑的决定。这项研究考虑了罪犯的人口统计资料，地区检察官的特征，受害人的特征，当地的政治和犯罪环境以及县的财务状况，以更全面地了解围绕死刑的起诉决定。使用多级逻辑回归模型， 分析了2007年至2018年的德克萨斯州死刑案件（N = 436）。调查结果表明，随着时间的推移，检察官寻求死刑的决定会减少，而且如果被杀害的受害者中有更高比例的是白人，检察官可能更有可能寻求死刑。