Florida Death Penalty by the Numbers (2024)
30 exonerations of people on Florida Death Row since 1973 due to evidence of wrongful conviction – highest in the nation. [1] Three-fourths (22) of Florida exonerees are people of color: 17 Black, 5 Latino, 8 White [1]
105: Floridians put to death since executions re-started in 1979 [2]
286 people awaiting execution on Florida’s Death Row. [3]
Over $51 million per year: the ANNUAL amount Florida taxpayers pay to try to enforce the Death Penalty, over and above the cost seeking life in prison without parole for these same defendants ($1 million a week). [4]
14,000+ unsolved homicides accumulated in the 30 years since Florida executions resumed (lack of funding prevents most of these homicides from ever being solved. [5]
The Legacy of Lynching: The four youngest juveniles executed in Florida’s electric chair were 16 years old. All four children were Black. Fortune Ferguson (age 13) was arrested, tried, and convicted in 24-hours. [6] 1877-1950: For much of this era Florida had the highest per capita rate of lynchings in the U.S. with more than 300 known lynchings. [7]
Prosecutors are over 3 times more likely to seek the Death Penalty when the victim is white than when the victim is African-American. [8]
3 of the 5 women sentenced to death in the U.S. in 2011 were from Florida. [9] All 3 are women of color. [10]
NEVER in the history of Florida (170 years), has a white person been executed soley for killing an African-American. [11]
80%: 12 of 15 people sentenced to death in Duval County (2009 – 2012) were African-American. 100% 5 of 5 in 2011. [12]
62% of Floridians now favor some form of Life In Prison for convicted murderers, while only 35% of Floridians prefer the death penalty for people convicted of murderer. [13]
How Florida Compared with Other States (2023)
#1 in the number of people exonerated off Death Row since 1973 (30)
#1 in the number of new death sentences (5)
#2 in size of death row
#2 in number of executions (6)
Sources
[1] Death Penalty Information Center, “Innocence and the Death Penalty.”
[2] Florida Department of Corrections, “Execution List: 1976 – Present.” as of 1/1/2024
[3] Florida Department of Corrections, “Death Row Roster.” as of 1/1/2024
[4] “The High Price of Killing Killers,” Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000.
[5] FBI Uniform Crime Reports, Supplemental Homicide Reports: http://www.scrippsnews.com/projects/murder-mysteries/database.
[6] Florida Department of Corrections, “Death Row”
[7] Equal Justice Initiative, “Lynching in America”
[8] Florida Supreme Court Racial and Ethnic Bias Study Commission, 1991.
[9] Death Penalty Information Center, “Women and the Death Penalty.”
[10] Florida Department of Corrections, “Women on Death Row.”
[11] Amnesty International, “Darkness Visible in the Sunshine State. 2018
[12] Florida Department of Corrections, “Death Row Roster.”
[13] Public Policy Polling, February 8, 2016