FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Contact: D. Michael McCarron
Executive Director
(850) 222-3803
mccarron@flacathconf.org
Tallahassee — "A
bright light of hope and an important step towards protecting all vulnerable
human life is realized with Governor Jeb Bush’s signature of the law which
bans the execution of the mentally retarded in Florida," said D. Michael
McCarron, Executive Director of the Florida Catholic Conference. Florida now
joins 14 other states and the federal government with the enactment of this law.
(AZ, AR, CO, GA, IN, KS, KY, MD, NE, NM, NY, SD, TN, WA, FL)
The Catholic Bishops of Florida have for many years actively supported a ban on
capital punishment for the mentally retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court has said
the death penalty must be reserved for the most blameworthy, and a strong
majority of Floridians believe that it should not be extended to the mentally
retarded. We do not hold children responsible for criminal acts as adults and we
should not hold the mentally retarded to a standard beyond their mental
capacity.
Today is no small victory for those who defend the sanctity of human life. As
always, our prayers are with those whose lives have been destroyed by murder and
our hearts remain united with the surviving families. We express our thanks to
Senator Richard Mitchell (Jasper) and Representative Carole Green (Ft. Myers)
for sponsoring this law, and to all those legislators who voted for it. We thank
Governor Bush for signing it.
| The Florida Catholic Conference is an agency of the Catholic Bishops, established in 1969. It speaks for the Church in matters of public policy, serves as liaison to government and the legislature, and coordinates communications and activities between the Church and secular agencies. The bishops of the seven dioceses in Florida constitute its Board of Directors. |
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