Last April, Florida joined Alabama, Missouri, and Indiana to become only one four countries which does not require a unanimous decision by the jury to impose the death penalty. Now, only 8 of 12 judges are required to send someone to Florida’s death row.
Since 1973, Florida release 30 people—17 black, eight white, and five Latino—were sentenced to death for all the wrongful convictions that put them on death row. And Gov. With Ron DeSantis using Florida as an incubator for US authoritarianism, the risk of the government killing an innocent person has only increased.
Like many other things in this country, the death penalty is used as a political tool. When America crosses the political spectrum more opposition this cruel act, whitelash calls for justice have encouraged activists to use their power. Like MAGA Republicans fighting their own ill-defined culture, efforts to enforce unanimous verdicts in death penalty cases are resurgent, threatening to plunge us back into the darkest chapter of our history and deepening systemic injustice.
A few years ago, Hunter offered this detailed analysis about the death penalty based on the size of the federal government that is working for Florida’s wannabe depot governor today:
Any state-sponsored killing, no matter how justified, is political in nature, and in interpretation. It is the government that is doing the killing, it is the government that has laid down the orders to kill them and in what order they should be killed. As we have seen, who is considered “deserving” of death changes with the political and social winds, but as any power of authority rises in a country, it always changes to include the intentions of the ruler.. And we’ve seen glimpses of this once again as the “independent” right has become less tolerant of right-wing violent police forces and has instead shifted to targeting anti-war activists or antifa phony demons.
The US Constitution requires that people be tried by a jury to protect citizens from wrongful convictions. But judges do not guarantee justice. In Florida, 90% of those killed were removed condemned and the judges disagreed. The death penalty is a cruel, cruel, and indefensible practice. We should do everything we can to reduce errors, not remove barriers.
If you’re on the Daily Kos email list, you’ve probably read in-depth about the criminal justice system, from arrest to prosecution to incarceration. The poor are disabled people—especially Black and brown people—endure systematically racism, possibilityand racism; bad behavior and law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and prison guards; to use useless science; etc.
The families of the victims have begun to speak out against the death penalty they start again they and the government does not provide support to deal with their pain and sorrow. Taxpayers spend millions of dollars to maintain such an ineffective, cruel, and oppressive practice, money that could be better spent on expanding access to trauma care for affected families and avoid effective violence dimensions.
However, it does not end there. Movies like the famous television series “Law & Order” (probably the most effective fake of my life) would have you believe that this appeal process is easy and accessible. If you are convicted of a crime, there is little to no recourse new evidence exist, the extent of the misconduct and the inability to disclose, or the extent to which the case may be frivolous. Criminal law works to keep people in order, the innocent should be punished.
Former prosecutor Marty Stroud once supported the death penalty. That changed after the trial of Glenn Ford, who spent nearly 30 years on death row for a murder he did not commit. The New Orleans Gambit newspaper reported Stroud he said the memory of Ford haunts him, “I hope that when the time comes God will show me more mercy than I did for Mr. Ford. But I really don’t deserve it.”
The lack of consensus among judges on death penalty decisions is also a concern Jim Crow era rule when such laws were clearly written the systematic oppression of Black Americans. All things considered, it is difficult to see the execution as a violation of the legal system. The death penalty is one of the greatest failings of this country. We cannot lightly sentence a person to death.
Let’s keep it 100: Sometimes, the accused is guilty. It’s a cruel, stomach-churning reality that people can do bad things. The reasons behind their actions are inexcusable. However, revenge should not be considered justice.
When it comes to execution, every doubt is great. Borrowing of a John Fortescue word from Coffin v. United States,”[O]It is better for 20 guilty people to escape the death penalty than for one innocent person to be punished and brutally tortured.” The death penalty shows what has gone wrong in our criminal laws.
Ending capital punishment in the US is an uphill battle, and we will lose more lives as we move forward. However, I believe that we will end this brutal practice in my lifetime. Lord (and voters), hear my prayer.
Add your name: Jurors who disagree on death penalty verdicts are wrong.