Writer: Viktor Sakman
Editor: Catherine Donohue
April 5th, 2023
On February 14, 2018, a gunman walked the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 students and teachers in Parkland, Florida. That same day, everyone learned the shooter's name: Nikolas Cruz. Police apprehended Cruz within an hour. His face was all over the news, with the shooting making national headlines for weeks. Cruz was also caught on camera committing the act. He was arrested near the scene wearing the same clothes. Many eyewitnesses also placed him at the location.
Despite the overwhelming evidence against Cruz, the book was not closed until November 2022. Almost five years after the Parkland shooting, he was finally sentenced to life in prison without parole [1]. It took four and a half years for the Parkland victim's families to get their day in court because the prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty against Cruz. Given that Cruz pled guilty to his crimes, the court tasked a Florida jury with deciding between two options: handing Cruz the death penalty or making him serve life in prison. Of 12 jurors, three voted against the death penalty and had no plans to switch their votes, preventing it from being imposed [2].
Many surviving victims and the families of late victims expressed anger over the jury's decision. Ilan Aldadeff, who lost his daughter, Alyssa, in the Parkland massacre, stated that he is "...disgusted with our legal system. I am disgusted with those jurors… That you can allow 17 dead and 17 others shot and wounded and not give the death penalty. What do we have the death penalty for? What is the purpose of it? You set a precedent today. You set a precedent for the next mass killing, that nothing happens to you. You'll get life in jail [3]."
The life-in-prison verdict for Cruz also received bi-partisan condemnation. Florida's Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis, thought that "if you have a death penalty at all, that this is a case where you're massacring those students with premeditation and utter disregard for basic humanity, that you deserve the death penalty." Even DeSantis' Democrat opponent, Charlie Crist, echoed the same sentiment, "There are crimes for which the only just penalty is death … The Parkland families and community deserved that degree of justice [2]."
The death penalty debate is one of the most controversial debates when it comes to the law. Some feel that the government should have no right to be the executioner or to "play God," arguing that the death penalty is immoral. Others believe that the death penalty serves as a deterrent for severe/violent crimes, such as the Parkland massacre, sending a message that "if you do this, you will be put to death."
The argument also exists that instead of spending millions of taxpayer money on housing violent criminals such as Nikolas Cruz for several decades, it is quicker and less costly to execute those who commit mass murder, especially those caught on camera. However, people against the death penalty often argue that executing prisoners is expensive, too. Also, individuals who receive the death penalty often appeal their sentences, costing more time and money.
Whether the death penalty has any benefits for the victims, their families, and society as a whole can be debated one way or another. However, it is possible that if there are any benefits to the death penalty, the fact that just the use of the death penalty, which can delay justice by many years, outweighs those benefits--costing time and money. For example, not only did the friends and family of the 17 victims killed in the massacre have to wait almost five years for justice, but it also cost 2.5 million dollars to house and supervise Nikolas Cruz, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office [4].
Not only can the death penalty delay justice due to a more extended trial, but the death penalty itself isn't usually carried out until many years after the sentence. According to the Pew Research Center, prisoners executed in 2019 spent an average of 22 years on death row [5]. In 2022, the U.S. put 18 prisoners to death. The average age difference between the age of the offense and the age of execution was around 26 years [6]. Would it be worth it for the victims and their families to wait decades for a death penalty sentence to be carried out? The answer remains unclear.
There are many factors to consider when debating whether the death penalty makes sense in 2023. Even though many surviving victims of the Parkland massacre and their families wanted the judge and jury to sentence Nikolas Cruz to death, some did concede that it may have taken too long to carry out the sentence. Linda Beigel lost her son Scott in the Parkland massacre, and she was supportive of the death penalty but also said that "I'd certainly be dead and buried before [Cruz] would be [7]."
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