Montgomery, Alaa.. Alabama joins a growing number of Republican-led states seeking to renew the death penalty for child rape, a provision the US Supreme Court banned in 2008.
Alabama on Thursday approved legislation to add rape and sexual torture of a child under 12 to the narrow list of crimes that could lead to the death penalty.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that such sentences did not constitute “proportionate punishment” and that they violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Convincing the Supreme Court to reconsider the constitutionality issue would require taking a test case to the Supreme Court, said Republican Rep. Matt Simpson, a former attorney general who is sponsoring the legislation. He hopes that will happen if enough states pass similar legislation.
“These are the worst crimes. They deserve the worst punishments,” Simpson said.
Five states – Florida, TennesseeIdaho, Arkansas and Oklahoma have passed similar bills in the past three years and have proposed at least five more, according to Death Penalty Information Centerwhich tracks the use of the death penalty across the United States.
Florida Attorney General James Othmeyer in November announced his intention to seek the death penalty for a man accused of multiple counts of sexual assault of a child under 12 years old.
While the Alabama bill passed with broad support, some lawmakers maintained that the death penalty for child rape is unconstitutional and taxpayers would have to foot the bill for any court challenge.
Robin M. said: Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said there are concerns that such laws could harm children rather than protect them.
Writing the majority opinion in 2008, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the prospect of a death sentence for a perpetrator may discourage victims from reporting or “may remove a strong incentive for the rapist not to kill the victim.”
“The court recognized that these laws harm children more than they help them,” Maher said. “In fact, they put them at extreme risk of being killed.”
The Alabama State Senate on Thursday voted 33-1 in favor of the bill. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said she would sign the bill into law because “we must do everything we can to protect Alabama’s children.”
The Alabama legislation came after a headline-making case involving child sex Trafficking ring In Bibb County.
Republican Senator April Weaver, who represents Bibb County, said: “As many as 10 child victims were raped and tortured, some over many years. One of the victims was as young as 3 years old.”