From now on, there no longer has to be unanimity in Florida on the question of whether a person lives or dies. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Thursday that would require only eight out of twelve jury members to recommend a verdict. This makes Florida the US state with the lowest hurdle for capital punishment.
"Today I signed legislation ensuring that victims of the most heinous crimes receive justice," the 44-year-old Republican tweeted.
The debate was triggered when three jurors ruled against a death penalty for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz last year (the star reported). In February 2018, Cruz shot and killed 17 people - 14 students and three adults - at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Relatives of the victims were outraged by the jury members' decision.
"A few months ago we suffered another tragic failure of the justice system. Today's change in the law in Florida will hopefully protect other families from the injustice we have suffered," the father of one Parkland victim said in a statement.
The activists from "Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty" announced that they wanted to challenge the law immediately. "If one of the main justifications for the death penalty is to bring comfort and finality to the victims, then the introduction of this new unconstitutional law almost certainly does the opposite," said Maria DeLiberato, the group's director. DeLiberato spoke of a legal step backwards, after all, the US Supreme Court overturned a similar law in the past in 2016. Until the subsequent decision by the Florida Supreme Court, a simple majority of seven votes to five was sufficient for a death sentence. In 2020, the court dealt with the question again. This time, however, three judges appointed by DeSantis had a say - the unanimity principle was abolished.
The civil rights organization American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also vehemently opposed DeSantis' draft. In no other state have so many death row inmates been exonerated - the new law would inevitably lead to "even more innocent people being harmed". According to figures from the Death Penalty Information Center, 30 people on death row have been exonerated since 1976. There are currently 323 people on death row.
So far, unanimity has applied in 26 of the 27 states that have the death penalty. Only in Alabama were two jurors allowed to deviate from the consensus. The Florida bill also requires a jury to unanimously find a defendant guilty as a requirement for a death sentence. According to the "New York" Times, a bill is currently on DeSantis' desk that would allow the death penalty for those convicted of sexual violence against children.
DeSantis, who is considered to be ex-President Donald Trump's biggest competitor in the upcoming presidential elections but has not yet announced his candidacy, has made a name for himself several times in recent weeks and months with controversial draft laws. In mid-April, the Republican-dominated legislature in Tallahassee passed a ban on abortions from the sixth week of pregnancy - one of the most restrictive laws in the country.
In addition, critics accuse the governor of running a real culture war in Florida's schools. The Conservative recently pushed through a far-reaching ban on school teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity. Such courses should only be allowed in exceptional cases in the future. DeSantis has also sworn himself and his supporters against what he sees as leftist indoctrination at Sunshine State colleges.
On the day of his re-inauguration as governor in November last year (in which he had scored a landslide victory with almost 60 percent of the vote), he promised in front of 4,000 ardent supporters that he would never want to "capitulate to the woken mob" and Florida's children "always against them defend those they want to rob of their innocence". The crowd clapped in ecstasy for minutes, it is said.
Quellen: CNN; "The New York Times"
