On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved a new set of anti-crime laws, all of which aim to keep criminals off the streets.
The three legislation boost punishments for fentanyl traffickers, attack leftist prosecutors’ efforts to modify bail laws, and make certain crimes against children punishable by the death penalty.
“Florida is a law-and-order state with a 50-year record low crime rate and double-digit year-over-year decreases in murder, burglary, and overall crime,” DeSantis said in a statement. “For three consecutive legislative sessions we have enacted tough-on-crime policies, and this year we are continuing to implement measures to protect our communities and keep Florida safe, with a particular emphasis on keeping criminals in jail and throwing the book at pedophiles.”
The Florida Supreme Court must create a consistent statewide bond schedule by the end of the year as part of House Bill 1627, which addresses “bail reforms” in a number of ways.
A defendant who has been arrested for a violent or heinous crime cannot be released before making their initial court appearance, and the measure forbids judges from establishing a bail sum that is lower than the minimum state bond. It also adds a number of new crimes to the state’s list of “dangerous crimes.”
House Bill 1359 makes it a first-degree felony to possess, sell, or manufacture fentanyl and other controlled substances that resemble candy. It also increases the criminal penalties for those who traffic “rainbow fentanyl” by making traffickers subject to a life sentence, a minimum 25-year sentence, and a $1 million fine.
The death sentence is applied to pedophiles who “commit sexual battery against children under the age of 12,” according to House Bill 1297, which DeSantis also signed into law, according to the governor’s office.
In order to “overrule judicial precedents which have unfairly shielded child rapists from the death penalty and denied victims and their loved ones the opportunity to pursue ultimate justice against these most heinous criminals,” the governor stated that he is ready to take the fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A statute that DeSantis signed into law last month reduces the number of jurors needed to reach a unanimous verdict in order to execute a convicted felon from 12 to just 8.
In Florida, we believe it’s only appropriate that the worst of the worst crimes deserve the worst of the worst punishment. pic.twitter.com/pOg4UYe92m
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 1, 2023
