House Bill hb0951

    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HJR 951

        By the Committee on Crime Prevention, Corrections & Safety
    and Representative Bilirakis





  1                      House Joint Resolution

  2         A joint resolution proposing an amendment to

  3         Section 17 of Article I of the State

  4         Constitution relating to excessive punishment.

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  6  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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  8         That the amendment to Section 17 of Article I of the

  9  State Constitution is agreed to and shall be submitted to the

10  electors of this state for approval or rejection at the next

11  general election or at an earlier special election

12  specifically authorized for that purpose.

13         SECTION 17.  Excessive punishments.--Excessive fines,

14  cruel and or unusual punishment, attainder, forfeiture of

15  estate, indefinite imprisonment, and unreasonable detention of

16  witnesses are forbidden. The death penalty is an authorized

17  punishment for capital crimes designated by the legislature.

18  The prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment, and the

19  prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, shall be

20  construed in conformity with decisions of the United States

21  Supreme Court which interpret the prohibition against cruel

22  and unusual punishment provided in the Eighth Amendment to the

23  United States Constitution.  Any method of execution shall be

24  allowed, unless prohibited by the United States Constitution.

25  Methods of execution may be designated by the legislature, and

26  a change in any method of execution may be applied

27  retroactively.  A sentence of death shall not be reduced on

28  the basis that a method of execution is invalid. In any case

29  in which an execution method is declared invalid, the death

30  sentence shall remain in force until the sentence can be

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HJR 951

    189-903-01






  1  lawfully executed by any valid method. This section shall

  2  apply retroactively.

  3         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be

  4  placed on the ballot:

  5     AMENDING ARTICLE I, SECTION 17 OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION

  6

  7  Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution identical to

  8  a proposed amendment to Section 17 of Article I of the State

  9  Constitution which was approved by a statewide vote in 1998.

10  The Supreme Court of Florida struck the 1998 amendment in a

11  ruling in which four of the seven justices found that the

12  ballot summary was inaccurate. The proposed amendment

13  expressly authorizes the death penalty for capital crimes and

14  expressly authorizes retroactive changes in the method of

15  execution. The amendment changes the prohibition against

16  "cruel or unusual punishment," currently provided in Section

17  17 of Article I of the State Constitution, to a prohibition

18  against "cruel and unusual punishment" to conform with the

19  wording of the Eighth Amendment to the United States

20  Constitution. The amendment prohibits reduction of a death

21  sentence based on invalidity of an execution method and

22  provides for continued force of the sentence. The amendment

23  permits any execution method unless prohibited by the United

24  States Constitution. The amendment requires construction of

25  the prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment and the

26  proposed prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to

27  conform to United States Supreme Court interpretation of the

28  Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The

29  amendment would prevent state courts, including the Florida

30  Supreme Court, from treating the state constitutional

31  prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment as being more

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HJR 951

    189-903-01






  1  expansive than the federal constitutional prohibition against

  2  cruel and unusual punishment or United States Supreme Court

  3  interpretations thereof. The amendment effectively nullifies

  4  rights currently allowed under the state prohibition against

  5  cruel or unusual punishment which may afford greater

  6  protections for those subject to punishment for crimes than

  7  will be provided by the amendment. Under the amendment, the

  8  protections afforded those subject to punishment for crimes

  9  under the "cruel or unusual punishment" clause, as that clause

10  currently appears in Section 17 of Article I of the State

11  Constitution, will be the same as the minimum protections

12  provided under the "cruel and unusual" punishments clause of

13  the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The

14  amendment provides for retroactive applicability.

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16  Specifically, the proposal amends Section 17 of Article I of

17  the State Constitution, to read as set forth below. The word

18  stricken is a deletion; words underlined are additions:

19         SECTION 17.  Excessive punishments.--Excessive fines,

20  cruel and or unusual punishment, attainder, forfeiture of

21  estate, indefinite imprisonment, and unreasonable detention of

22  witnesses are forbidden. The death penalty is an authorized

23  punishment for capital crimes designated by the legislature.

24  The prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment, and the

25  prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, shall be

26  construed in conformity with decisions of the United States

27  Supreme Court which interpret the prohibition against cruel

28  and unusual punishment provided in the Eighth Amendment to the

29  United States Constitution.  Any method of execution shall be

30  allowed, unless prohibited by the United States Constitution.

31  Methods of execution may be designated by the legislature, and

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001                HJR 951

    189-903-01






  1  a change in any method of execution may be applied

  2  retroactively.  A sentence of death shall not be reduced on

  3  the basis that a method of execution is invalid. In any case

  4  in which an execution method is declared invalid, the death

  5  sentence shall remain in force until the sentence can be

  6  lawfully executed by any valid method. This section shall

  7  apply retroactively.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.