Tennessee has joined Florida in allowing judges and juries to sentence child rapists to death.
State Assembly Majority Leader William Lamberth
House Bill 1663 Republicans passed the bill in both chambers in January despite Democratic opposition.
State Rep. Aftyn Behn of Nashville, one of the bill’s Democratic critics,
Claimed “The death penalty is incompatible with the right to life,” Behn argues. Pro-abortion“This violates the Constitution’s prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment, as well as due process guarantees and equal protection under the law,” it said.
Behn also suggested that victims may be less likely to report crimes if they know their perpetrators face the death penalty.
Lamberth responded to Behn: “I heard it directly from one of the victims: ‘My sister and I were abused by our father from a young age. I want you to know that I appreciate your stance on the death penalty. I don’t think the death penalty will stop people from speaking out about abuse.’ … She experienced it. I believe her.”
Florida Republicans faced similar opposition from the left over death penalty legislation for child rapists.
Left-wing blog “TruthOut” Condemned He suggested the law was the result of an “anti-LGBTQ” legislative drive and argued that the death penalty is “one of the most blatant and deadly expressions of systemic racism and oppression.” HIV resource blog TheBody also wrote: was suggested This law could be dangerous for LGBT people. Seattle Gay News expressed concern The law could pave the way for the death penalty for those who perform “sex-reassignment” genital mutilation on children, as well as those deemed “child breeders.”
After Tennessee Republicans overcame opposition from Vane and other Democrats, Governor Bill Lee ratified the bill on May 9.
“If someone rapes our child, he or she will lose their life.”
Previously, adult pedophiles convicted in the state of raping a child between the ages of 8 and 13 faced a Class A felony sentence of 15 to 60 years in prison. Adult pedophiles convicted of aggravated rape of a child under the age of 8 inevitably face life in prison without parole.
Now, for a first offense of child rape, the sentence should necessarily be death, life imprisonment without parole, or life in prison. For a second offense of aggravated child rape, the sentence should necessarily be death or life imprisonment without parole.
If the jury cannot agree on a punishment, the judge will sentence the child rapist to life in prison.
The law also provides that defendants with intellectual disabilities cannot be sentenced to death.
“We’re going to protect the children of Tennessee. If someone rapes our children, they lose their life,” Lamberth said ahead of the bill’s passage.
report The Tennessean.
“Life in prison is far too cheap for these evil people,” Lamberth added.
The law went into effect on Monday but has been in a state of limbo due to Governor Lee’s moratorium on executions. In May 2022, Governor Lee announced that the state had not properly tested lethal drugs for bacterial contamination.
It is called for an independent investigation. However, Lee suggested that any fines would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4
Kennedy v. Louisiana The Eighth Amendment prohibits states from executing child rapists if the crime did not result in or intend to result in the death of a child. Justices Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito and the late Justice Antonin Scalia dissented.
In his dissent, Justice Alito wrote, “Today, the Court holds that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the death penalty for child rape. According to the Court, the death penalty cannot be applied no matter how young the child is, how many times a child is raped, how many children the perpetrator rapes, how brutal the crime, how great the physical or psychological trauma, or how heinous the perpetrator’s criminal record.”
Justice Alito emphasized that two reasons given by the court’s liberal majority to support this conclusion — that there is a “national consensus” that the death penalty is an unacceptable punishment for child rape, and that such a punishment runs counter to “evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society” — were “without merit.”
After questioning the majority opinion, Justice Alito emphasized that the Eighth Amendment is not a “unilateral restriction prohibiting Congress from enacting new death penalty laws to address new problems,” and that “child rapists epitomize moral depravity” and cause “grave harm to their victims and to society at large.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (Republican)
House Bill 1297 Last year, he sentenced a pedophile to death for sexually assaulting a child under the age of 12. Got ready “We will take this legislation all the way to the United States Supreme Court to overturn judicial precedents that have unjustly spared child rapists from the death penalty and denied victims and their families the opportunity to seek ultimate justice against these most heinous criminals.”
Tennessee Republican Senator Jack Johnson also expressed confidence in April that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of a death penalty bill he supports for child rapists.
“Given the current composition of the courts,
Kennedy v. Louisiana It could be overturned.” I have written “The Supreme Court believes that states have a strong duty to protect children, and I am confident that this court will support Tennessee’s approach,” Johnson said.
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