MIAMI – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that reforms aimed at fighting crime and drug trafficking will be promoted during the state’s next legislative session, and remarked that he is working to ensure that juries are unanimous. It shall not be necessary to impose the death penalty.
DeSantis took advantage of an event organized by the Miami Police Charitable Association to promote the “Protection of Law and Order in Florida” initiative aimed at making the southeastern US state safer.
Wants a change in how the death penalty is carried out
This Thursday’s announcement comes days after he went public that Florida does not require a unanimous jury to impose the death penalty.
In 2017 Florida’s then-governor Rick Scott signed a law that aligned state law with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that deemed it “unconstitutional” to impose the death penalty by a simple majority vote and for Consensus is required. Jury. ,
DeSantis mentioned the case of Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14, 2018, recalling that the inmate was able to avoid the death penalty because the jury Unanimity failed.
Republicans said they did not believe justice was served in the case, so they promised to work with the state legislature to reform that rule.
Possible measures to be publicized
DeSantis insisted that Florida was a “law and order” state, noting that, in his opinion, using social services to fix crime problems was a “disastrous” effort in other parts of the country, Rather than allowing the police to do that work. ,
He also noted how Florida is working to increase penalties for those who smuggle the drug fentanyl, especially when the drug looks like candy, making possession, sale or possession of it a first-degree offense. Involves committing a felony.
Those who commit this offense face life imprisonment and a fine of $1 million.
He speculated that Florida’s bail laws would be strengthened, making those eligible for release prior to a first appearance before a judge.
Other legislative changes include requiring convicted child rapists to serve life in prison and making them eligible for the death penalty.
In addition, the punishment for offenders who commit offenses of a sexual nature would normally be harsher.
Finally, law enforcement will be required to report missing and unidentified persons to the National Missing Persons System. Currently, they are only required to report it to the Florida Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center.
