Capital Punishment in Florida

Capital Punishment In Florida

Capital punishment is legal in the U.S. state of Florida. Florida was the first state to reintroduce the death penalty after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down all statutes in the country in the 1972 Furman v. Georgia decision, and the first to perform a post-Furman involuntary execution in 1979. The only person until then who had been executed during the post-Furman period was Gary Gilmore, who volunteered to be executed in Utah, in 1977, effectively ending the national moratorium on the death penalty which had been in effect since 1967.

Since Furman, 73 people have been executed by the State of Florida, all at Florida State Prison, which possesses the state's sole remaining death chamber. As of June 10, 2012, 401 inmates are awaiting execution.