Tonight, we the people of the State of Florida executed Glen Rogers for the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs.
Long before he ever committed a crime, Glen was beaten, trafficked for sex, repeatedly raped by adult women, and forced by a child predator to pose for sexually explicit pictures—all before he was a teenager.
For decades, the public has been fed a one-dimensional narrative about his sensational crimes. This false narrative does a disservice to both Glen and his victims. It reduces his victims’ lives to the singular moment of their violent deaths and ignores the heartbreaking truth of a child who became a danger to others because no one protected him.
For the entire 2025 legislative session, our lawmakers and Governor DeSantis have been claiming that their highest calling is to protect victims of childhood sexual abuse and sex trafficking. How can the same state that claims to champion the rights of child trafficking victims turn around and kill one?
Unfortunately, you cannot separate the victimization from the victimizer. This is not to suggest that every victim of sexual abuse will turn towards violence. But you cannot ignore the undisputed link between untreated childhood trauma and the commission of future harm. Just because not everyone who smokes cigarettes gets lung cancer doesn’t mean that smoking doesn’t dramatically increase the risk of lung cancer.
It’s easy to label those on death row as “monsters” and focus only on the gruesome details of their crimes. What’s far harder, and far more uncomfortable, is addressing the root causes of violence.
Tonight, Florida executed a man they once should have saved. His execution did nothing to prevent future victims or future offenders. It is simply one final act of violence to an already devastating story.
Glen’s state-sanctioned murder was the ultimate hypocrisy: Florida’s “commitment” to victims of sex trafficking is nothing more than a sound bite to score political points.
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