Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis made headlines this week after he pulled the trigger on a set of tough new crime reforms.
According to Breitbart, the measures impose harsher sentences on those who sell fentanyl or provide drugs to children. Other provisions include making child rapists eligible for the death penalty and preventing moves to eliminate cash bail.
Today, I signed legislation that will:
- Makes child rapists eligible for the death penalty with the minimum sentence of life in prison without parole
- Impose additional penalties on fentanyl and drug-related crimes targeted at children
- Protect Floridians from disastrous… pic.twitter.com/sO1mkcfm0a— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 1, 2023
Breitbart noted that during a press conference on Monday, DeSantis drew a contrast between his position on bail reform and the approach taken in Democrat-run jurisdictions.
"One of the worst things that they’ve done in places like New York and in Illinois….they’ve done things like eliminate cash bail," the governor was quoted as saying.
"So what that means is you’ll have somebody commit a criminal offense, they’ll come in to face charges, and then they automatically get released back on the street without having to post any type of bond," he continued.
"And so what you’ll end up happening is those people before they’re even brought to trial on their current crimes, they then commit more crimes. So there’s more people that are victimized," DeSantis complained.
"So what this legislation is doing is it’s having the Florida Supreme Court establish a uniform statewide bond schedule by the end of this year," he explained.
"So that is going to I think prevents some very pro-criminal judges from releasing people back on the street," DeSantis added.
The governor also acknowledged that executing child sex predators will likely be challenged on constitutional grounds as the Supreme Court struck down a similar Louisiana law in 2008.
#BREAKING: Gov. Ron DeSantis announces signing of bills enacting death penalty for child rape, cracking down on fentanyl dealing
"We stand for the protection of children [...] The only appropriate punishment is the ultimate punishment." pic.twitter.com/haFax2wRsz
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) May 1, 2023
"Even though you can have serial offenders who have violated multiple children under the age of 12. And so we think that that decision was wrong," DeSantis declared.
"We think that in the worst of the worst cases, the only appropriate punishment is the ultimate punishment," he insisted.
"We think that the worst of the worst crimes deserve the worst of the worst punishment, and I think that that’s the only thing that’s appropriate," the governor said.
