Riverside County led the nation in the number of people who received the death penalty so far this year, according to a recently released survey.

Eight of the 49 people — 16 percent — sentenced to death nationally in 2015 were sentenced in Riverside County, according to a survey from the Death Penalty Information Center based in Washington D.C.

That percentage is also a jump from previous years. Riverside County’s share of the nation’s death sentences was 4 percent in 2014, 8 percent in 2013 and 5 percent in 2012. The reason for the increase is two-fold: The number of death sentences decreased nationally while the number of death sentences in Riverside County increased slightly.

“What we’re seeing is that most of the death sentences come from counties that disproportionately use the death penalty,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

However, Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said that the higher percentage is reflective of the views of the community.

“What that tells me is the public, as represented through their juries, is supportive of the death penalty in these cases,” Hestrin said.

Hestrin said the District Attorney’s office considers a wide variety of factors, from a defendant’s background, to the type of crime, to the crime’s impact on victims. He added that his office has started meeting with a defendant’s attorney when considering whether to seek the sentence.

“They have swayed us from time to time,” he said.

Hestrin said the decision to allow defense attorneys to argue against a particular penalty prior to trial was a no-brainer.

“It’s not a trivial thing to ask a jury to take someone’s life,” he said.

Steven Harmon from the Riverside County Public Defender’s office said he feels that Riverside County has traditionally been more in favor of capital punishment than other counties. He noted that Hestrin has been much more careful in his consideration of whether to seek the death penalty than his predecessors.

“I think his approach is much more appreciated and much more reasonable,” Harmon said.

California leads the nation in number of death sentences in 2015 with 14, though no one has been executed in the state since Clarence Ray Allen was put to death via lethal injection in 2006.

The nationwide numbers are down from 73 in 2014 and are the lowest since capital punishment resumed in 1976, according to statistics keep by the center. The number of death sentences nationwide peaked at 315 in 1996, according to the center.

Of those sentenced to death nationwide in 2015, all but one were by states. The only federal sentence was for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of carrying out the Boston Marathon attack.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9693 or agroves@pe.com