Unanimity - Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

MYTH: Unanimity results in less death sentences.

FACT: Death sentences and executions have consistently declined nationally. Even still, since Florida instituted its current capital sentencing statute requiring a jury’s unanimous recommendation for death, Florida has led the country on the number of death sentences imposed. Florida is also a leader in executions.

Death Sentences — Florida maintains the highest death row population in the country of states that continue executions.

After Florida passed unanimity in 2017, Florida led the nation in death sentences for 4 of the next 5 years.
2018: Florida tied with Texas for the highest number of death sentences
2019: Florida led the nation with 7 death sentences.
2020: Florida led the nation with 7 death sentences.
2021: Because of COVID, there were fewer trials in 2021. That year, Florida sentenced 2 people to death, only 2 fewer than Alabama and Oklahoma.
2022: Florida again led the nation with 4 death sentences.

Executions

As of March 9, 2023, Florida was 1 of only 4 states to have completed an execution.
In 2019, Florida completed 2 executions. It was 1 of only 7 states to complete an execution that year.
As of September 1, 2020, Florida had the 15th highest per capita execution rate in the country.

FACT: Non-unanimity will increase the risk of wrongful convictions

The vast majority of Florida’s 30 death row exonerees were either sentenced to death by non-unanimous juries or sentenced to death by judges who rejected a jury’s recommendation of a life sentence and imposed death instead.

Annibal Jaramillo (Unanimous for Life)
Anthony Brown (Unanimous for Life)
Robert DuBoise (Unanimous for Life)
Juan Ramos (11-1 for Life)
Rudolph Holton (7-5)
Robert Cox (7-5)
Derral Hodgkins (7-5)
Ralph Wright (7-5)
Carl Dausch (8-4)
Bradley Scott (8-4)
Andrew Golden (8-4)
Herman Lindsey (8-4)
Joseph Green (9-3)
Joseph Brown (9-3)
Anthony Peek (9-3)
Willie Brown (9-3)
Larry Troy (9-3)
Juan Melendez (9-3)
Joaquin Martinez (9-3)
John Ballard (9-3)
Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin (9-3 and 7-5)
Robert Hayes (10-2)
Frank Smith (Unanimous for Death)
Seth Penalver (Unanimous for Death)

DPIC Analysis: Exoneration Data Suggests Non-Unanimous Death-Sentencing Statutes Heighten Risk of Wrongful Convictions. 2020. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/dpic-analysis-exoneration-data-suggests-non-unanimous-death-sentencing-statutes-heighten-risk-of-wrongful-convictions
FADP: Florida Innocence List. https://www.fadp.org/fl-innocence-list/
Witness to Innocence: The Innocence Epidemic. https://www.witnesstoinnocence.org/innocence
Death Penalty Information Center 2018 Year End Report 2018 Sentencing Data.
Death Penalty Information Center 2019 Year End Report 2019 Sentencing Data.
Death Penalty Information Center 2020 Year End Report 2020 Sentencing Data. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/dpic-reports/dpic-year-end-reports/the-death-penalty-in-2020-year-end-report
Death Penalty Information Center 2021 Year End Report 2021 Sentencing Data.
Death Penalty Information Center 2022 Year End Report 2022 Sentencing Data.

The Death Penalty in 2022: Year End Report, Death Penalty Info. Ctr. (Dec. 16, 2022), https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/dpic-reports/dpic-year-end-reports/the-death-penalty-in-2022-year-end-report.
Death Sentences in the United States Since 1977, Death Penalty Info. Ctr., https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/sentencing-data/death-sentences-in-the-united-states-from-1977-by-state-and-by-year (last visited Mar. 11, 2023).
Execution List 2023, Death Penalty Info. Ctr., https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/2023 (last updated Mar. 9, 2023).
Execution List 2019, Death Penalty Info. Ctr., https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/2019 (last updated Dec. 11, 2019).
State Execution Rates (through 2020), Death Penalty Info. Ctr., https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/state-execution-rates (last visited Mar. 11, 2023).