(UnitedVoice.com) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (D) signed a bill last year allowing the court to dole out the death penalty to certain child predators. The law is being challenged in court. In the meantime, another state House has now passed a similar bill.
On February 14, Idaho’s House passed HB 515 by a vote of 57-11. The legislation would make rape of a child under the age of 12 a capital offense punishable by death — Republican state Reps. Josh Tanner and Bruce Skaug sponsored the legislation. They acknowledged that it’s likely unconstitutional, but hoped the Supreme Court would review the bill and allow them to expand the death penalty.
The Idaho Capital Sun reported that Skaug said the job of lawmakers is to “protect the children,” and he believes there are times when someone commits a crime that is “so wicked that retribution is appropriate.”
When the lawmaker was asked about the possibility of the law being overturned because of a previous precedent set by the court, he shrugged it off. The Republican stated the decision depends on the makeup of the court. “Well, there’s constitutional and then there’s constitutional,” Skaug said.
Skaug also said that giving the death penalty to someone for a sex crime “would be very rare that a prosecutor would” ask for it. He explained it would only be the worst cases that would warrant the most extreme punishment.
The high court ruled on this particular issue in 2008 in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana. In that case, the court ruled states could not give a sex offender the death penalty. The Supreme Court is the most conservative it has been in decades. This court already showed it’s not afraid to undo previous precedents, as it did when it reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022. Lawmakers are hoping the justices are going to repeat history.
Florida’s law went into effect last fall.
Copyright 2024, UnitedVoice.com
