I recently wrote an op-ed for the Pensacola News Journal pointing out the many shortcomings of Florida’s death penalty system. Today, capital punishment is dysfunctional in every state that still has it on the books, but Florida is perhaps the worst of all at administering the program. I said,
Florida is a leader in many ways, but its death penalty system is one of the worst in the nation. It is horribly inefficient, wrongly convicts more people than any other state, fails to keep Floridians safe, and harms murder victims’ family members. It’s time to discuss whether we, as conservatives, can justify the human and fiscal cost of the death penalty especially when it violates our central principles.