Florida's DeSantis signs controversial law targeting 'rioters,' local police reform efforts
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law controversial "anti-riot" legislation that increases penalties for certain kinds of protests, creates a new crime called "mob intimidation," requires that people arrested at protests remain in jail until their first court appearance, threatens sanctions for local municipalities that reduce or shift funding for law enforcement, and allows businesses to sue cities and local officials if the municipalities are found to have provided inadequate law enforcement protection during protests.
DeSantis, flanked by GOP officials and law enforcement officers, called the new law "strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement measure in the country." Critics called the law unconstitutional and vowed to sue Florida.
"The bill will cost taxpayers millions of dollars, creating new jail beds in a mass incarceration system that is already over-bloated and on the brink of collapse," said Mikah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, and "it shields violent counter-protesters from civil liability if they injure or kill a protester or demonstrator."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Republicans love to talk about the Constitution, but they're shredding it with bills" like this, said Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Florida's lone statewide elected Democrat. "Silencing speech and blocking the vote is what communist regimes do."
DeSantis said the law is necessary to prevent the kind of damage that accompanied some anti-racism protests last summer. "If you riot, if you loot, if you harm others, particularly if you harm a law enforcement officer during one of these violent assemblies, you're going to jail," he said. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held up photographs of people having fun at Disney World and beaches, then warned new residents not to "register to vote and vote the stupid way you did up north." He pointed to Florida's low crime rate and said people "up north" are getting killed and victimized.
Overall crime dropped 12 percent in Florida in the first half of 2020, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported in January, but murders jumped 16.2 percent and aggravated assaults rose 6.5 percent. Homicides were up in all but one Florida county, and they soared 31 percent in Miami-Dade County and 16 percent in Jacksonville, NPR reported. That's on par with national trends for 2020.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Who are undecided voters, anyway?
Talking Points They might decide the presidential election
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Wildlife populations drop a 'catastrophic' 73%
Speed Read The decline occurred between 1970 and 2020
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona kicks off swing-state early voting
Speed Read The voting began with less than a month to go before the presidential election
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'
Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security law
Speed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitution
speed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidence
Speed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulations
Speed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriage
Speed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba have a rough day in defamation court
Speed Read Trump's audible grousing as E. Jean Carroll testified earned him a warning he could be thrown out of court, and Habba showed she 'doesn't know what the hell she's doing'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Anders Breivik to testify in prison isolation lawsuit against Norway
Speed Read Far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in 2011 claims he has received 'inhuman treatment' in custody
By The Week UK Published