Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state ofFlorida.
Since 1976, the state has executed 123 convicted murderers, all atFlorida State Prison.[1] As of November 21, 2025, 253 offenders are awaiting execution.[2]
Prior to 1923, executions in Florida were carried out by county governments, usually byhanging. In 1923, the Florida Legislature madeelectrocution the official method of execution. The new electric chair was originally housed atUnion Correctional Institution, but moved toFlorida State Prison in 1962.[3]
The first electrocution was of Frank Johnson on October 7, 1924. The new electrocution law was challenged by thecircuit court ofUnion County in June 1929 on the grounds that, as he was neither elected or appointed, the prison superintendent could not perform executions; the state supreme court upheld the law, however, in November 1930.[4] Florida performed its last pre-Furman execution on May 12, 1964.[3] After the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all states' death penalty procedures inFurman v. Georgia (1972), essentially ruling the imposition of the death penalty at the same time as a guilty verdict unconstitutional, Florida was the first state to draft a newly written statute on August 12, 1972,[5] and all 96 death row inmates (95 male and 1 female) were commuted tolife in prison.[3]
After the Supreme Court permitted the death penalty once more inGregg v. Georgia (1976), the state electrocutedJohn Arthur Spenkelink on May 25, 1979, which was the second execution in the U.S. since 1967, after that ofGary Gilmore on January 17, 1977, in Utah.[6]
The state allows executions by lethal injection and electrocution, although the default method was lethal injection. A bill was proposed in March 2025 to allow executions by firing squad or nitrogen gas or other methods permitted under the constitution if lethal injection drugs are no longer available.[7]
On July 31, 2025, Florida broke its record of most executions in a year, post-Furman with 9 executions.[8] On September 30, 2025, when the 13th execution of the year was carried out, Florida carried out the most executions in a single year in the state's history.
In Florida, a murderer can be eligible for capital punishment if their crime involves one of the following aggravating factors:[9]
Florida statute 782.04(1)(a)3. specifies that when a person 18 years of age or older unlawfully distributes certain controlled substances, including but not limited to cocaine, opium/opioids, fentanyl, carfentanil, methamphetamine, or analogs thereof, and the use of that substance alone is proven to have caused the death of the user or been a substantial factor in the user's death, regardless of any other substances involved, then the distributor has committed murder in the first degree. First degree murder is a capital felony in Florida, punishable by death or life imprisonment. This statute holds drug dealers strictly liable for deaths resulting from the drugs they illegally provide, and subjects them to the state's harshest penalty if the drugs are proven to be the proximate cause of a user's death.
Florida statute also provides the death penalty for capital drug trafficking and discharging or using a destructive device causing death. A provision for capital sexual battery was found unconstitutional in the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court caseKennedy v. Louisiana. No one is on death row in the United States for drug trafficking.
In May 2023, GovernorRon DeSantis signed a bill that allows the death penalty for defendants convicted of sexually abusing a child under the age of 12. Since the law contradicts theKennedy v. Louisiana ruling, it will likely be challenged in the courts.[10][11][12][13][14] The first attempted use of the law was in the case of Joseph Giampa, who ultimately pleaded guilty and accepted a mandatory life sentence rather than risk possible execution.[15]
In April 2025, a bill was proposed to introduce the death penalty for human trafficking of a child below 12 years of age.[16]
InHurst v. Florida (2014), theUnited States Supreme Court struck down part of Florida's death penalty law, holding it was not sufficient for a judge to determine the aggravating facts to be used in considering a death sentence. The court ruled that this trial process violated the Sixth Amendment right tojury trial underRing v. Arizona (2002).[17][18] The state supreme court later held that this applied only to defendants sentenced by a non-unanimous jury from 2002 to 2014.[19]
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the jury must unanimously find that an aggravating factor found by the prosecution exists, making the defendant eligible for a death sentence. Once this eligibility is established, a supermajority of at least 8 jurors must concur that the established aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors for a recommendation for a death sentence. Should less than eight jurors find that the aggravating factors do not outweigh the mitigating factors, the jury's recommendation shall be a life sentence which shall be the sentence imposed by the trial judge (there is noretrial). Should the jury make a recommendation for a sentence of death, the trial judge shall have the discretion to determine whether a death or life sentence shall be imposed; the trial judge must justify his or her reasoning in a written order.[20][21]
Prior to 2014, the judge decided the sentence alone, and the jury gave only a non-binding advice.[22] In March 2014, the Florida Legislature provided a 10-juror supermajority to issue a sentence of death.[23] This was also challenged and in October 2014, theFlorida Supreme Court struck down the law, finding that death sentences can only be handed down by a unanimous jury.[24] The court later reversed this finding, allowing GovernorRon DeSantis in 2023 to signSenate Bill 450 that eliminated the unanimous jury requirement.[25][26][27]
On June 14, 2013, GovernorRick Scott signed theTimely Justice Act of 2013. The law is designed to overhaul and speed up the process of capital punishment. It creates tighter time frames for a person sentenced to death to make appeals and post-conviction motions and imposes reporting requirements on case progress.[28]
Death sentences are carried out vialethal injection. However, the sentence can be carried out by electrocution if the offender requests it.[29] If lethal injection or electrocution is held unconstitutional, statutes authorize the use of "any constitutional method of execution" instead.[30]
The only execution chamber in Florida is located at Florida State Prison inStarke. When sentenced, male convicts who receive the death penalty are incarcerated at either Florida State Prison itself, or at Union Correctional Institution next door to Florida State Prison, while female convicts who are sentenced to death are incarcerated at Lowell Correctional Institution north ofOcala. Inmates are moved to the death row at Florida State Prison when their death warrant is signed.
Florida used public hanging under a local jurisdiction, overseen and performed by the sheriffs of the counties where the crimes took place. However, in 1923, the Florida Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with theelectric chair and stated that all future execution will be performed under state jurisdiction inside prisons.[31][32] The electric chair became a subject of strong controversy in the 1990s after three executions received considerable media attention and were labeled as "botched" by opponents (Jesse Tafero in 1990,Pedro Medina in 1997, andAllen Lee Davis in 1999). While most states switched to the lethal injection, many politicians in Florida opposed giving up "Old Sparky", seeing it as a "deterrent".[33] Finally, after the Davis execution, lethal injection was enabled as the default method.[34]
During GovernorRick Scott's tenure (2011–2019), Florida executed more inmates (28) than had been executed under any other governor in the state's history.[35][36]
The Governor of Florida has the right to commute the death penalty, but only with positive recommendation of clemency from a Board, where they sit.[37]
Between 1925 and 1965, 57 commutations were granted out of 268 cases.[38] Since 1972, when the death penalty was re-instituted, only six commutations have been granted, all under the administration of GovernorBob Graham.[37]
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