The state of Florida continues a grim pattern: executing prisoners on death row, one after another, as if violence can somehow bring justice or peace. On June 10, yet another execution is scheduled. As a Catholic bishop and a Floridian, I must speak out.
State-sanctioned killing is not justice—it is a failure of mercy and moral imagination. Our modern prisons are secure. Life imprisonment without parole guarantees that no citizen is at risk. The death penalty is not only unnecessary—it is immoral. It denies the possibility of redemption and ignores the God-given dignity that belongs to every human life, even the life of someone who has committed a grave crime.
There is another reason Floridians should oppose this practice: it’s fiscally irresponsible. Time and again, studies have shown that it costs taxpayers significantly more to execute a prisoner than to sentence them to life without parole. The appeals process is long and complex, as it should be when life is at stake—but it also means years of added court costs, legal fees and incarceration expenses. We are spending more to achieve less.
Violence provokes more violence. Executions do not bring healing to victims’ families; they prolong suffering and entangle us all in a cycle of retribution. We must ask ourselves: what kind of society do we wish to be? One that clings to an outdated model of justice rooted in vengeance—or one that chooses life, even when it is hard?
I urge Governor DeSantis to commute this sentence—and all death sentences. Florida must choose life, not death.
Anthony Wainwright was convicted in 1994 for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart. The pain inflicted by his actions is undeniable. Yet, even so, we do not honor her memory—or protect her dignity—by taking another life.
True justice is not found in death. It is found when we affirm, even in the darkest circumstances, that every human being has worth beyond measure.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: OPINION: Justice without killing, a moral imperative for Florida
Reporting by Bishop Emeritus Felipe J. Estévez / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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