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Florida Conservatives Should Back Rejection of the Death Penalty

March 27, 2017 - 3:00pm

As a conservative who holds governments accountable for a living, I support Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s announcement to suspend the death penalty’s use. Our political beliefs may differ, but when it comes to capital punishment, the State Attorney and I are in perfect alignment.

Ayala is correct in saying Florida’s death penalty system is broken. And conservatives should agree. The indisputable fact, regardless of your politics, is that the state’s record on capital punishment is abysmal.

Whether the issue is innocence, the impact on murder victim’s families, or the high cost, Florida’s death penalty system has failed – especially when we as conservatives apply our core principles of individual liberty and limited government to capital punishment.
 
Florida has wrongly convicted and sentenced more people to die than any other state. Twenty-six people, some of whom spent decades facing execution at the hands of their own government, have been set free since the state resumed capital punishment in 1972. Liberty-loving Florida conservatives are increasingly deciding that the very real prospect of letting the government kill innocent people is unacceptable.

Limited government?  I don’t think so. Government run amok is more like it.
 
To keep the machinery of death operating, the state is violating the spirit of its open government “sunshine laws.” As sources for Florida's lethal-injection mix have dried up, the Department of Corrections has refused to say how it is obtaining the drugs and won’t reveal how much the state has stockpiled. I don’t know about you, but the mere thought of government operating in secret – with no oversight or accountability – when lives are on the line sends a chill down my spine.

Florida taxpayers are also paying a high price for the state’s irreparably broken death penalty. More than a dozen states have discovered that capital cases are up to 10 times more expensive than other similar noncapital cases due to up front defense and prosecution costs, appeals, and incarceration. But even with nearly 400 death row inmates, Florida has never made a serious attempt to determine the fiscal impacts. Legislative quick fixes in the wake of court rulings have just ratcheted up the costs. Fiscal conservatives should be appalled.
 
One stunning fact is that most Florida counties have already stopped using the death penalty. Just six of Florida’s 67 counties account for more than half of the state’s 89 executions. Four of those counties have been branded as “outliers” for their overuse of capital punishment. Orange County, prior to Aramis Ayala’s election, was among them. (Miami-Dade, Duval, and Pinellas are the others.)
 
In reality, more than half of all Florida counties have never performed a single execution. The death penalty has been dying a slow death in Florida, but taxpayers keep getting the bill for the few counties that still cling to it.

To make matters worse, in most cases, a death sentence is only a false promise of closure for murder victim’s families, who are re-traumatized by years of court appearances and publicity.
 
Conservative lawmakers nationwide are becoming increasingly concerned about the death penalty. During the past two years, Republicans have sponsored bills to repeal capital punishment in a dozen states. Conservative Republicans have been turning against the death penalty because they understand that the same power-hungry, error-prone, and wasteful government that we constantly rail against should not be entrusted with the power to put people to death.
 
As conservatives, we should applaud the decision of the new state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties to stop using the death penalty. Nothing could be more conservative than putting a stop to a wasteful and disastrous government program.
 
Drew Johnson is a senior fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and a contributor to The Daily Caller. He also founded and served as president of the Beacon Center of Tennessee.  

Comments

The Death Penalty is a MUST to help prevent crime. Every criminal in the country knows to not commit murder in Florida unless they have a death wish. I know what happens in a state that waters down its justice system. We moved out of California 2 years ago after living there for 25 years and trying to do business in that state. We've seen what happens in a state that promotes lawlessness. I lived in Florida for 9 years in the 80s and noted that some people in Florida seemed to be "California wannabes". Very bad idea. I was born and raised in California so I also experienced California in the 40s, 50s and 60s when we had schools and roads and other infrastructure that was the envy of the nation and crime was dealt with in a sane manner that benefited our communities. I know it isn't PC to want to keep the death penalty. It takes guts to fight for what you know is right against the tide of liberal drivel. I was at UCLA when the Black Panthers were being formed and thought they had the right idea. So, I've lived with the entire spectrum of social justice. We all need to take a breath and start thinking sanely again for the greater good.

Study after study indicates that there is no correlation between a state having the death penalty & violent crime rates. In fact, there appears to be an inverse relationship -- states without the death penalty experience fewer violent crimes per capita than states with the death penalty. Lynn, your argument has been completely disproven. The death penalty DOES NOT DO ANYTHING AT ALL to deter or prevent crimes.

I do not care if it deters crime. The death penalty serves as justice for the victims.

So what if so-and0so agrees with you --- that does NOT make it right! The rule of law, and of the Bible, does not condemn Capital punishment. We're HUMAN - we do the best we can.

Where have you read that thé Bible autorités to kill ? Read it again and care full. Thanks

When someone is put away for life without Parole there is a chance that down the road some lawyer will say no chance of Parole is cruel an unusual punishment an out they go. The death penalty must always be there.

Sane humans over the age of 12 know right from wrong, and that killing another human is wrong. When this act occurs, in the State of Florida, aside from the definition of majority being applied, the sentence can only be death for first degree murder, until the State Constitution is changed. There is no proof of rehabilitation, only recitivism. I only regret that there is no immediate dispatch, so that the damaged soul in this life can go to the next in order to redeem self.

Accurate, but you left out the faith based component. Those who support life, should support life. Destructive acts committed by persons are, not in full but in part, redeemable acts. The State allows for the death penalty, and nothing should come off the table, but like nuclear weapons, it should be used as a last resort, not a quick retort. The fact that death penalty cases are long fought in the courts is precisely an effort to restrict Death penalties use, and the effort is admirable, still, when you are elected to follow the law, you are not to pick and choose. When a state elected official decided not to issue marriage licensees to gays, conservatives cheered. This is the same thing.

OH, I DO support LIFE;... for innocent souls awaiting release from the womb... BUT people who kill indiscriminantly for "gain", in anger, or police officers (who keep us safe in our beds at night), I FIRMLY SUPPORT the DEATH PENALTY (short of any attendant mitigating circumstances). The Court's job is NOT to "restrict" the death penalty, but to examine all available 'evidence' in order to enforce mandatory law: Anything short of this creates societal disorder, disruption, uncertainty and insecurity; YOU, my friend, do not get to "pick and choose" (as you state), THAT is EXACTLY the problem with today's media complex: THEY promote "majority rule" and "inciteful news", just like "hanging posses's" of the "old west".... and THAT'S NOT JUSTICE or "news", (it's "creative writing" which is akin to bad Judges "creating law" rather than enforcing mandatory, Legislatively created LAW, upon which this country is based) !

Not the same thing. An amendment to the FL Constitution passed in 2012 (?) made it clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. The elected official was following state law. The US Supreme Court's opinion that people of the same sex can get married applied to only those five states which were part of the lawsuit. Florida was not one of those states.

Then you will need to get the Florida voters to amend the Florida constitution which specifically allows for the death penalty, Article 1, Section 17. Until then, your feelings don't carry much weight in a properly prosecuted Florida court of law.

Sorry, but when a person who knows right from wrong then goes out and commits murder especially of a first responder. The death penalty is more than appropriate. Keeping someone locked up for life at the taxpayers expense is ridiculous!

I wonder what costs less. Multiple appeals then the cost of the sentence carried out. Or, life in prison.

That's kinda like "I wonder how many dead people voted for Hillary.." OR "I wonder if the Russians liked Trump better because of Hillary's silly "Reset Button" she carried around with her as Sec.State.." OR "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin.."? At some point, even "What If" adults have to "grow up"! ! !

Then if that is how you feel you should lobby and convince the electorates for the deletion of Capital Punishment form Florida law But she is refusing to execute the job she was voted in to do and HID her opposition during the campaign IMHO She should be fired for false pretenses

Interesting perspective...I have mixed feelings about the death penalty. Every time I put myself in someone's shoes who has had a loved one murdered by some creep and I know of the circumstances involving the case, it reconfirms to me that the death penalty is the right way to go.

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