Lawmakers in Florida are set to pass a bill that would legalize the death penalty for pedophiles in the State.
The bill will reportedly allow authorities to execute pedophiles who sexually assault children under 12-years old. However, legal experts believe that this would trigger legal challenges, questioning its constitutionality.
On Thursday, the House declared that it is considering its version of the bill (HB 1297) on Thursday, while the Rules Committee cleared the Senate version (SB 1342) on Tuesday, making the way for the former to be presented to the full Senate.
In a report published by New York Post, it was revealed that “the proposed legislation goes against decades of U.S. Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court rulings that have prohibited the execution of defendants in rape and sexual abuse cases. According to a Senate staff analysis, the last time someone was put to death for a non-murder offense in the United States was in 1964.”
The House and Senate bills reportedly argue that the 1981 Florida Supreme Court case and the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case were “wrongly decided,” with the Senate version, claiming that the said cases represent an “egregious infringement of the states’ power to punish the most heinous of crimes.”
Jonathan Martin, a former prosecutor and now a Republican state senator will reportedly sponsor the bill.
Martin claimed that the legislation would allow for “constitutional boundaries by providing a sentencing procedure for those heinous crimes.”
“If an individual rapes an 11-year-old, a 10-year-old, a 2-year-old or a 5-year-old, they should be subject to the death penalty,” Martin said on Tuesday after the Rules Committee approved the bill.
However, the bill has sparked criticism, with Aaron Wyat of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers arguing that although people want “vengeance” against pedophiles, the death penalty would represent an overturning of decades of legal precedent.
“This bill invites a longer, costlier (legal) process for the victim and their family that they will endure. While this crime, anyone convicted of it is vile, heinous, the Constitution itself, the case law, the Supreme Court demands a maximum of life in prison. And so while it’s not the vengeance we all want, it’s the justice that the Constitution demands,” Wyat said.
Slate magazine also echoed Wyat’s argument and said that a “sentence of life without parole is a harsh and severe punishment,” even for those convicted of child abuse.
“Instead of spending millions of dollars to possibly change long-standing precedent, Florida’s resources are much better spent trying to protect our children from the abuse in the first place and ensuring survivors have access to mental health treatment and the proper support following the offense,” the magazine wrote in an editorial.
