Question
had been mostly peaceful, lawmakers needed to take
action to avoid violence seen elsewhere.
"What you have to have is clear and predictable
penalties," he said at a news conference, flanked by
uniformed sheriffs and police chiefs. "I look at what goes
on in Portland, and they'll have people, they arrest
them--these are all scraggly-looking, antifa types--they
arrest them, they get their mugshot taken, and they get
released, and it's like a carousel."
Republican legislative leaders filed a bill similar to
DeSantis' proposal the same day a pro-Trump mob
attacked the U.S. Capitol. DeSantis and legislative leaders
said in statements then that they wanted to prevent
similar violence in their states.
The 60-page bill would create new second-degree felony
"aggravated rioting" and
I "aggravated inciting or
encouraging a riot" offenses. It also would create new
misdemeanor crimes of "mob intimidation" and "cyber-
intimidation," defined as publishing people's personal
information online to threaten them.
The bill would increase penalties for crimes such as
assault and theft during a riot -defined broadly to mean
three or more people behaving in a way likely to harm
people or damage property--and up the penalties for
vandalizing or destroying monuments and memorials. And
it would require people arrested for riot-related offenses
to be held in jail until their first court hearing, rather than
allowing them to post bail,
The law also would allow residents to appeal cuts to local
police budgets to the governor and the cabinet, and it would
allow people to avoid civil lawsuits if they harm those
involved in a riot.
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#summaries
Answer
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed a bill that would increase penalties for crimes committed during riots and create new offenses such as "aggravated rioting" and "cyber-intimidation." The bill would also require those arrested for riot-related offenses to be held in jail until their first court hearing and allow residents to appeal cuts to local police budgets. DeSantis and legislative leaders said they wanted to prevent violence similar to the attack on the U.S. Capitol from happening in their state.