Capital punishment in Florida

Capital punishment is legal in U.S. state of Florida. Florida was the first state to reintroduce the death penalty after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all statutes in the country in the 1972 "Furman v. Georgia" decision, and the first to perform a post-"Furman" involuntary execution in 1979. The only person until then who had been executed during the post-"Furman" period was Gary Gilmore, who volunteered to be executed in Utah, in 1977, effectively ending the national moratorium on the death penalty which had been in effect since 1967.

Since "Furman" 65 people have been executed by the State of Florida, all at Florida State Prison, which possesses the state's sole remaining death chamber. 396 are currently awaiting execution.

Crimes punishable by death

In the pre-"Furman" period, murder was not the only capital crime. People were also sentenced and executed for rape (until the end of the pre-"Furman" period), and in earlier years also for aiding runaway slaves [http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/FLORIDA.htm] .

Currently, Florida's capital crimes are: [ [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=144&scid=10 Crimes Punishable by the Death Penalty ] ]
* First-degree murder
* Felony murder
* Capital drug trafficking
* Capital sexual battery

Due to the Supreme Court case "Coker v. Georgia" in 1977, only those convicted of murder may receive the death penalty. Coker's holding however was specific in that the eight amendment prohibited the death penalty for rape of an adult. The United States Supreme Court remained silent on the issue of death for rape of a child. The Florida supreme court however held that under the reasoning of Coker, death was a disproportionate penalty for rape of a child; the court in doing so relied on the cruel or unusual punishment clause of the Florida State constitution which could have had a different meaning than the Constitution of the United States. Florida voters however approved an initiative that amended the Florida constitution to state that the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments found in the Constitution of the state of Florida has the same meaning and effect as the eight amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Thus Florida is watching "Kennedy v. Louisiana", a pending case where the state of Louisiana seeks to execute a man convicted of raping an eight-year-old child. However, the US supreme court struck down the death sentence for Kennedy, and so affirmed the Florida supreme courts decision.

Method of executions

Florida used public hanging under a local jurisdiction, oversaw and performed by the sheriffs of the counties where the crimes took place. However, in 1923, the Florida Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with the electric chair and stated that all future execution will be performed under a state jurisdiction inside prisons. [ [http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/timeline/1922-1924.html Timeline: 1922-1924 - A History of Corrections in Florida ] ] ["Espy files" (to download at http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org]

A total of 223 people were electrocuted through 1964 [ [http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/regional_studies_south.htm Regional Studies The South ] ] , all of whom were men. Before that, 117 were hanged. 44 were electrocuted after 1979.

Until 1941, sheriffs of the counties where the crimes were committed would perform the executions. Later, a black-hooded executioner, a private citizen who is paid $150 per execution, took over. This gave anonymity to the actual executioner. [http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/deathrow/index.html Death Row Fact Sheet - Florida Department of Corrections ] ] [http://www.sptimes.com/News/92599/news_pf/State/The_story_of_Old_Spar.shtml State: The story of Old Sparky ] ]

Florida's response to "Furman"

Florida performed its last pre-"Furman" execution in 1964 (Sie Dawson). After the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all states' death penalty procedures in the "Furman v. Georgia" ruling, essentially ruling the imposition of the death penalty at the same time as a guilty verdict unconstitutional, Florida was the first state to draft a newly-written statute on August 12, 1972. [ [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state/ Death Penalty Information Center ] ] This statute mandates a separate penalty phase in cases where prosecutors seek the death penalty. Due to the "Furman" ruling, the death sentences of 95 men and one woman were commuted.

Today, the only death chamber in Florida is located at Florida State Prison in Starke. When sentenced, male convicts who receive the death penalty are incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution next door to Florida State Prison, while female convicts who are sentenced to death are incarcerated at Lowell Correctional Institution north of Ocala. Inmates are moved to the Death Row at Florida State Prison when their death warrant is signed.

Florida performed the first involuntary execution after the Supreme Court, in the 1976 case "Gregg v. Georgia", permitted the death penalty once more. John Arthur Spenkelink was electrocuted on May 25, 1979. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946245,00.html At Issue: Crime and Punishment - TIME ] ]

Transition of execution methods

The electric chair became a subject of strong controversy in the 1990s after three botched executions (Jesse Tafero in 1990, Pedro Medina in 1997, and Allen Lee Davis in 1999). While most of states switched to the lethal injection, many politicians in Florida opposed giving up "Old Sparky", seeing it as a "deterrent" [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1997/vp970412/04120007.htm] . After Medina's execution, the Florida Senate voted unamiously to keep the chair, and the Florida House of Representatives concurred with only a few opposing votes, despite Governor Lawton Chiles and Attorney General Bob Butterworth suggestions to introduce injection. [ [http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/26/execution/index.html CNN - Botched execution prompts more electric-chair scrutiny - Mar. 26, 1997 ] ] Lethal injection was introduced as a backup method if chair be ever found unconstitutional.

Finally, after Davis execution, lethal injection became the primary method. [ [http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/timeline/1999.html Timeline: 1999 - A History of Corrections in Florida ] ] Inmates, however, may still choose electrocution. [ [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=245 Methods of Execution ] ]

Clemency

The Governor of Florida has the right to commute the death penalty, but only with positive recommendation of clemency From a Board, where he or she sits. [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=126&scid=13 Clemency ] ]

Since 1979, six commutations have been granted, all under administration of Governor Bob Graham.

Women

Two women have been executed in Florida, both post-Furman. The first to be executed was Judy Buenoano, executed in 1998 for killing, at different times, her husband (1971) and son (1980). The second was Aileen Wuornos, a serial killer who was executed in 2002 for seven murders committed in 1989 and 1990.

Controversy

Like many other states with capital punishment, there is concern about the execution of innocent persons, especially since the advent of DNA-based evidence has made it possible to re-examine evidence in older cases with blood and tissue evidence still intact. Some believe that Jesse Tafero, Leo Alexander Jones and Pedro Medina may have been wrongly executed, but their cases were not re-examined prior to their executions. [ [http://www.justicedenied.org/executed.htm Executed Innocents ] ]

List of individuals executed since 1979

References