Making capital punishment easier: Four states abolish unanimous jury requirement in death sentencing

This past April, Florida joined Alabama, Missouri, and Indiana to become one of only four states that do not require a unanimous jury decision in death penalty sentencing. Now, only 8 out of 12 jurors are needed to send a person to Florida's death row.

Since 1973, Florida has exonerated 30 people—17 Black people, eight white people, and five Latino people—sentenced to death for all charges related to the wrongful convictions that had put them on death row. With Gov. Ron DeSantis using Florida as an incubator for U.S. authoritarianism, the risk of the state executing an innocent person has only increased.

Like many other things in this country, capital punishment is used as a political cudgel. While Americans across the political spectrum increasingly oppose this barbaric practice, whitelash to calls for justice have spurred proponents to wield their power. As MAGA Republicans fight their unsubtle culture war battles, efforts to enact jury verdicts that are not unanimous in death penalty cases are re-emerging, threatening to plunge us back into a dark chapter of our history and exacerbating systemic injustices.

Sign the petition: Demand a system that upholds justice for all, not just the selected few. End the lack of a unanimous jury in death penalty sentences.