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Legislators Apologize For Abuse At Dozier School

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Michael Spooneybarger Reuters/Landov
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

The Florida House is formally apologizing for decades of abuse at a reform school and to the families of four young black men accused of raping a white woman 68 years ago in what's now seen as a case of racial injustice.

The House unanimously passed two resolutions Tuesday acknowledging the state's misdeeds involving the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys and the group known as the "Groveland Four."

Men who were sent to the Dozier school in the 1950s and 1960s have worked to get the state to acknowledge beatings and sexual abuse they endured.

The House separately apologized to relatives of the "Groveland Four." One of the four men was killed during a manhunt and the other three were convicted with dubious evidence.