For Immediate Release: June 15, 2023
Contact: Katlyn Toelle at katlyn@catholicsmobilizing.org
Website: catholicsmobilizing.org Twitter: @CMNEndtheDP
WASHINGTON, DC – Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB) are speaking out against Florida’s death penalty amid an uptick in executions under Governor Ron DeSantis. The state is scheduled to execute Duane Owen today, Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.
“With today’s scheduled execution of Duane Owen, Gov. DeSantis is once again signaling that he is bent on making Florida one of the most aggressive death penalty states in the country — all while calling himself a ‘pro-life’ Catholic,” said CMN Executive Director Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy. “In light of the governor’s recent presidential bid, this reckless pursuit of executions should be of grave concern to Catholics not just in Florida, but nationwide..”
Under Gov. DeSantis’ leadership, Florida recently restarted executions for the first time in nearly four years. Since then, Gov. DeSantis signed a bill into law that eliminates the requirement of unanimous jury for death sentences, giving Florida the lowest bar for death sentences in the country. Three of the four men executed in Florida this year were sentenced to death by non-unanimous juries.
The USCCB, who convened today for a Plenary Assembly in Orlando, about two hours from the prison which houses Florida’s death row, lamented Mr. Owen’s execution in their publicly-read “Message to the Holy Father”:
“Sadly, on this very day as this assembly meets, the state of Florida is set to execute a convicted man,” wrote the bishops. “We share in your opposition to the death penalty. Capital punishment is indeed a false answer that does not solve the problem for which it is invoked and introduces new elements of destruction. We pray for the victims of heinous crimes and for the protection of the inalienable dignity of every human being.”
More than 800 Catholics and people of faith have taken action with Catholic Mobilizing Network to urge Gov. DeSantis to stay Mr. Owen’s execution. At least a dozen Catholic prayer services, vigils, Masses, and holy hours opposing the execution are scheduled throughout the state.
The FCCB also requested that Gov. Ron DeSantis stay the execution of Mr. Owen with a public statement:
“...Taking Mr. Owen’s life will not restore the lives of the victims. Intentionally ending his life will do nothing but perpetuate violence in a society steeped in it. Justice does not demand state-sanctioned killing that disrespects the dignity and sacredness of human life.”
Florida’s death penalty system is famously riddled with wrongful convictions and racial bias. Of the 192 U.S. death row exonerations since 1973, the largest portion of exonerees (30) come from Florida.
The state’s backslide into executions is widely considered out of step with the rest of the country, which has been trending away from the use of capital punishment for decades. To date, 23 states have formally abolished the death penalty. More than two-thirds of U.S. states have either outlawed capital punishment or otherwise have not carried out an execution in at least 10 years.
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Catholic Mobilizing Network is a national organization that mobilizes Catholics and all people of goodwill to value life over death, to end the use of the death penalty, to transform the U.S. criminal justice system from punitive to restorative, and to build capacity in U.S. society to engage in restorative practices.
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