CRC - 2017                                                  P 36
       
       
        
       By Commissioner Martinez
       
       martinezr-00054-17                                      201736__
    1                         A proposal to amend                       
    2         Section 17 of Article I of the State Constitution to
    3         delete provisions authorizing the death penalty as a
    4         punishment for capital crimes designated by the
    5         Legislature and to provide for prospective
    6         application.
    7          
    8  Be It Proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission of
    9  Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 17 of Article I of the State Constitution is
   12  amended to read:
   13                              ARTICLE I                            
   14                        DECLARATION OF RIGHTS                      
   15         SECTION 17. Excessive punishments.—Excessive fines, cruel
   16  and unusual punishment, attainder, forfeiture of estate,
   17  indefinite imprisonment, and unreasonable detention of witnesses
   18  are forbidden. Life imprisonment without the possibility for
   19  release is the maximum penalty allowable The death penalty is an
   20  authorized punishment for capital crimes designated by the
   21  legislature. Except for the death penalty, which is prohibited,
   22  the prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment, and the
   23  prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, shall be
   24  construed in conformity with decisions of the United States
   25  Supreme Court which interpret the prohibition against cruel and
   26  unusual punishment provided in the Eighth Amendment to the
   27  United States Constitution. Any method of execution shall be
   28  allowed, unless prohibited by the United States Constitution.
   29  Methods of execution may be designated by the legislature, and a
   30  change in any method of execution may be applied retroactively.
   31  A sentence of death shall not be reduced on the basis that a
   32  method of execution is invalid. In any case in which an
   33  execution method is declared invalid, the death sentence shall
   34  remain in force until the sentence can be lawfully executed by
   35  any valid method. This section does not shall apply
   36  retroactively.