A Tennessee bill that would allow the death penalty as a punishment for child rape advanced after heated debate in the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 1834 (SB1834), introduced by Republican Sen. Jack Johnson, would allow the death penalty as a punishment for “rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, or especially aggravated rape of a child.”
The bill was introduced in committee by Republican Sen. Ken Yeager, and committee members introduced two amendments to the bill, neither of which passed.
During the meeting, Democratic Sen. London Lamar, who was pushing the amendment, argued that imposing the death penalty on child rapists would put “tremendous pressure” on victims.
Teenage sexual assault survivor reacts to judge’s decision to overturn her attacker’s conviction
The Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced a bill that would allow the death penalty in child rape cases in Tennessee. (Tennessee General Assembly)
“It’s already a sensitive issue for a child to come forward knowing they’re being assaulted and that the person they’re accusing is going to die,” Lamar said.
“I think this is friendly. It’s not confusing the bill or anything. It’s just asking for mental health counseling to be provided to children throughout the process. It’s simple and shouldn’t be too controversial.” Mr. Lamar explained the reason for this bill. Fixed.
Yeager pushed back against Lamar, saying he “couldn’t disagree more” and believed the amendment was unfriendly and would confuse the bill.
“A child’s mental health is damaged at the time of the rape, not during the trial, and that’s when the horrific act of rape is committed, usually by someone they may know,” Jaeger said. said in detail.
Nurse who helped Americans in alleged Bahamas attack was ‘scared’ by what she saw: ‘It could have been my daughters’
Pictured is a stretcher in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Lamar went on to explain that she felt this could discourage children from speaking up.
“This is a lot of pressure that we are putting on our children to speak out about the violations they have experienced, knowing that someone will die in response,” Lamar said. .
After lengthy testimony from the district attorney’s office, several attorneys, and child advocates, Mr. Lamar made a motion to send the bill to summer training so that the information submitted could be further investigated and considered in more depth. .
During testimony, District Attorney General Stephen Crump fired back at Lamar, who argued that passing the bill would still harm victims.
“It’s not our place for child victims to put them to death. If someone were to put them to death, it would be the rapist who asked for it,” Crump said.
New York City man accused of raping 10-year-old girl he met online at home: police
Texas authorities announced that 28 people were arrested and 19 children were rescued after an operation targeting the online distribution of child sexual abuse material. (Arne Dedert/Photo in partnership with Getty Images)
“I am against that. The perpetrators deserve to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, and perhaps sentenced to life in prison, but there are no circumstances where children are forced to kill someone. “They may not be able to come out now because they know that their loved ones who were close to them are going to die,” Lamar said.
Ultimately, the committee voted against sending the bill to summer training and proceeded to vote on the bill itself.
In their final statement, Republican Sen. Kelly Roberts and Chairman Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga, 10th District) said that a vote against the bill means lawmakers oppose the death penalty in rape cases. Rather, they pointed out that it meant that they were against the death penalty. I am against the bill itself as written.
Mr. Roberts said he was fully in favor of imposing the death penalty as punishment for these charges, but argued that many of the cases were based on circumstantial evidence and could not be supported.
The bill was passed with five votes in favor and four against. Voting against the bill were Sens. Gardenhire, Lamar, Roberts and Sarah Kyle (D-Memphis, 30th District).
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The bill is now referred to the Senate Calendars Committee.
Tennessee is one of 27 states that allow the death penalty, but it currently does not allow it for crimes other than murder. Only seven other states allow the death penalty for certain child rape crimes.
