Geography also matters in Illinois. You are five times as likely to get a death sentence for first-degree murder in a rural area as you are in Cook County, which includes Chicago. Gender seems to count, too. Capital punishment for slaying a woman is imposed at three and half times the rate for murdering a man. When you add in all the uncontrollable variableswho the prosecutor and the defense lawyer are, the nature of the judge and the jury, the characteristics of the victim, the place of the crimethe results reflect anything but a clearly proportionate morality.