Death penalty for child rapists approved, DeSantis expected to sign into law

[Kale]

Death penalty for child rapists approved, DeSantis expected to sign into law

The Florida Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow the death penalty for people who commit sexual batteries on children under age 12, sending the issue to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

www.cbsnews.com

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow the death penalty for people who commit sexual batteries on children under age 12, sending the issue to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Lawmakers hope the bill (HB 1297) will ultimately lead to the U.S. Supreme Court reversing a 2008 decision that barred the death penalty for people who rape children. The state House passed the bill last week.

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Davie Democrat who was sexually abused as a child, implored senators Tuesday evening to vote for the bill. She said people who sexually abuse children are "called predators for a reason, because they stalk and hunt down their prey."

"There is no statute of limitations on this crime (for victims)," Book said. "There is no end. It's always with you."

The Senate voted 34-5 to pass the bill, with the dissenting votes cast by Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton; Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami; Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach; Sen. Rosalind Osgood, D-Fort Lauderdale; and Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Windermere. The House voted 95-14 to approve the bill, which DeSantis is expected to sign.

So what do you all think?

 

[passenger]

Okay with me.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Wow it's the only decent thing Ron DeSantis has done. See these are the true child groomers, but he's still too blind to understand that the other laws he keeps passing are doing harm to children... One right and many wrongs still doesn't make him a good person in my book.

 

[Duskpire]

This is great. Hope the other states follow and do the same.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Webster]

Death penalty for child rapists approved, DeSantis expected to sign into law

The Florida Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow the death penalty for people who commit sexual batteries on children under age 12, sending the issue to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

www.cbsnews.com

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow the death penalty for people who commit sexual batteries on children under age 12, sending the issue to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Lawmakers hope the bill (HB 1297) will ultimately lead to the U.S. Supreme Court reversing a 2008 decision that barred the death penalty for people who rape children. The state House passed the bill last week.

Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Davie Democrat who was sexually abused as a child, implored senators Tuesday evening to vote for the bill. She said people who sexually abuse children are "called predators for a reason, because they stalk and hunt down their prey."

"There is no statute of limitations on this crime (for victims)," Book said. "There is no end. It's always with you."

The Senate voted 34-5 to pass the bill, with the dissenting votes cast by Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton; Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami; Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach; Sen. Rosalind Osgood, D-Fort Lauderdale; and Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Windermere. The House voted 95-14 to approve the bill, which DeSantis is expected to sign.

So what do you all think?

This'll be an eventual question for SCOTUS at some point; at the crux of it are two points: (1) should the death penalty only be used in cases of murder or be expanded as it was pre-Furman in 1972 and (2) can a death sentence be handed down by a jury without a unanimous vote of all 12 jurors.

On the first question, the Court's current consensus is that the death penalty can only be used in cases of murder (as opposed to in pre-Furman years, where it could be used in cases involving rape or in recent years where the death penalty's scope was narrowed (only individuals 18 or older were subject to it, the mentally deficient were ineligible for the death penalty, etc.).

On the second question, the bill's intent is a clear challenge to the 2008 Kennedy decision, which prohibits the death penalty for cases outside of murder, and the 2020 Ramos decision, which requires a unanimous vote in order to implement the death penalty. While I understand why they're doing this, I myself could never vote to sentence a child rapist to a death sentence because while its' one of the most heinous of crimes to commit, a prison sentence is far more appropriate because once the other inmates find out why the child rapist is there, that individual's life expectancy is going to be very low because inmates despise sex offenders inside prison and child sex offenders are even more despised.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

I don't agree with capital punishment in general. But I have to admit, if I had a choice between all the recent laws that I know of he's passed (regarding medical discrimination, gender reforms) I'd choose to vote on this and against the other 2