SENATE AMENDMENT
    Bill No. SJR 124
    Amendment No. 1   Barcode 750096
                            CHAMBER ACTION
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11  The Committee on Criminal Justice recommended the following
12  amendment:
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14         Senate Amendment 
15         On page 2, lines 6-26, delete those lines
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17  and insert:  
18         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be
19  placed on the ballot:
20                     CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
21                      ARTICLE I, SECTION 17
22         UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT INTERPRETATION OF CRUEL AND
23  UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT.--Proposing an amendment to the State
24  Constitution identical to a proposed amendment to Section 17
25  of Article I of the State Constitution which was approved by a
26  statewide vote in 1998. The Supreme Court of Florida struck
27  the 1998 amendment in a ruling in which four of the seven
28  justices found that the ballot summary was inaccurate. The
29  proposed amendment expressly authorizes the death penalty for
30  capital crimes, and expressly authorizes retroactive changes
31  in the method of execution. The amendment changes the
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    9:35 AM   02/07/01                                 s0124.cj.01

SENATE AMENDMENT Bill No. SJR 124 Amendment No. 1 Barcode 750096 1 prohibition against "cruel or unusual punishment," currently 2 provided in Section 17 of Article I of the State Constitution, 3 to a prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment" to 4 conform with the wording of the Eighth Amendment to the 5 Federal Constitution. The amendment prohibits reduction of a 6 death sentence based on invalidity of an execution method, and 7 provides for continued force of the sentence. The amendment 8 permits any execution method unless prohibited by the Federal 9 Constitution. The amendment requires construction of the 10 prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment and the 11 proposed prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to 12 conform to United States Supreme Court interpretation of the 13 Eighth Amendment. The amendment would prevent state courts, 14 including the Florida Supreme Court, from treating the state 15 constitutional prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment 16 as being more expansive than the federal constitutional 17 prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment or United 18 States Supreme Court interpretations thereof. The amendment 19 effectively nullifies rights currently allowed under the state 20 prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment which may 21 afford greater protections for those subject to punishment for 22 crimes than will be provided by the amendment. Under the 23 amendment, the protections afforded those subject to 24 punishment for crimes under the "cruel or unusual punishment" 25 clause, as that clause currently appears in Section 17 of 26 Article I of the State Constitution, will be the same as the 27 minimum protections provided under the "cruel and unusual" 28 punishments clause of the Eighth Amendment of the Federal 29 Constitution. The amendment provides for retroactive 30 applicability. 31 2 9:35 AM 02/07/01 s0124.cj.01
SENATE AMENDMENT Bill No. SJR 124 Amendment No. 1 Barcode 750096 1 Specifically, the proposal amends Section 17 of Article I of 2 State Constitution, to read as set forth below. The word 3 stricken is deleted; words underlined are additions: 4 5 SECTION 17. Excessive punishments.--Excessive fines, 6 cruel and or unusual punishment, attainder, forfeiture of 7 estate, indefinite imprisonment, and unreasonable detention of 8 witnesses are forbidden. The death penalty is an authorized 9 punishment for capital crimes designated by the Legislature. 10 The prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment, and the 11 prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, shall be 12 construed in conformity with decisions of the United States 13 Supreme Court which interpret the prohibition against cruel 14 and unusual punishment provided in the Eighth Amendment to the 15 United States Constitution. Any method of execution shall be 16 allowed, unless prohibited by the United States Constitution. 17 Methods of execution may be designated by the Legislature, and 18 a change in any method of execution may be applied 19 retroactively. A sentence of death shall not be reduced on the 20 basis that a method of execution is invalid. In any case in 21 which an execution method is declared invalid, the death 22 sentence shall remain in force until the sentence can be 23 lawfully executed by any valid method. This section shall 24 apply retroactively. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 3 9:35 AM 02/07/01 s0124.cj.01