Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty shooter Nikolas Cruz is escorted from the courtroom following a listening to relating to potential jury misconduct throughout deliberations within the penalty section of his trial, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, on the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Amy Beth Bennett, South Florida Solar Sentinel through Related Press
Final week, a Florida jury advisable that Nikolas Cruz obtain life in jail with out the opportunity of parole. Cruz had pleaded responsible to 17 counts of homicide: 14 youngsters and three adults in a mass taking pictures at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
The jury had been deciding whether or not to condemn Cruz to the loss of life penalty or to life in jail. Florida legislation requires that a jury unanimously sentence the loss of life penalty. 9 of 12 jurors voted for the loss of life penalty whereas three didn't. In response to NPR, a decide can not overturn Cruz’s sentence.
Throughout Cruz’s trial, his protection legal professional Melissa McNeill argued that Cruz may face violence in jail. In response to CNN, McNeill argued in opposition to the loss of life penalty and mentioned within the closing arguments, that Cruz would die in jail of both pure causes or “no matter else may probably occur to him whereas he’s in jail.” Cruz would doubtless go to a jail with different incarcerated individuals who dedicated excessive profile crimes.
McNeill’s trace in the direction of jail violence factors to a actuality in U.S. prisons.
How frequent is jail violence within the U.S.?
Jens Modvig analyzed violence in jail within the World Well being Group’s publication “Prisons and Well being” and located that “About 25% of prisoners are victimized by violence annually whereas 4%–5% expertise sexual violence and 1%–2% are raped.”
Statistics on jail violence don't at all times painting the entire image, nonetheless, as a result of violence is usually underreported attributable to worry of reprisal.
Utilizing information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the nonprofit Jail Coverage Initiative confirmed in a graph how murder, suicide and intoxication are rising in state prisons. State prisons are usually supposed for longer-term holding durations, whereas jails are supposed for shorter holding durations.
In response to the Equal Justice Initiative, probably the most violent jail system on the planet is within the U.S.: the Alabama jail system, which has a excessive homicide fee. Florida additionally has a excessive fee of violence inside its jail system.