From article
Florida lawmakers are poised to pass a measure that would permit the death penalty for pedophiles who sexually assault children under 12 years old, a move that will likely trigger legal challenges and questions about its constitutionality.
The House will consider its version of the bill (HB 1297) on Thursday, while the Senate version (SB 1342) was cleared by the Rules Committee on Tuesday, paving the way for it to be presented to the full Senate.
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.
In a rebuke of legal precedent, the House and Senate bills argue that a 1981 Florida Supreme Court case and a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case were “wrongly decided,” with the Senate version declaring said cases represent an “egregious infringement of the states’ power to punish the most heinous of crimes.”
Jonathan Martin, a former prosecutor turned Republican state senator who is sponsoring the bill, said 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 Tuesday after the Rules Committee approved the bill.
The legislation inevitably has drawn criticism, with Aaron Wyat of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers pointing out 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,” Wayt said. “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.”
Slate magazine, meanwhile, similarly argued 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.
However, the bill has even drawn support from some Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat who was sexually abused as a minor and has since founded the advocacy organization Lauren’s Kids, made the case that “there is no statute of limitations” for the victims of this kind of abuse.
“There’s no statute of limitations that a victim suffers. This is a life sentence that is handed down to young children,” Book said. “I still deal with the very real lasting effects of this crime. It never goes away,” she said, adding, “I don’t get a chance to make it stop.”
Under the proposed legislation, the death penalty may only be imposed if eight out of 12 jurors recommend it. While defendants may face a death sentence, judges will also have the opportunity to choose between the death penalty or life imprisonment. If fewer than eight jurors support capital punishment, then the punishment will be life imprisonment.
In murder cases, judges can only currently impose the death penalty if the jury’s recommendation is unanimous. However, lawmakers may alter this requirement to allow death sentences after the approval of eight of 12 jurors. The Senate has already passed this change, and the House will debate it on Thursday.
Republicans, who now hold supermajorities in both chambers, may have been encouraged by the appointment of more originalist judges in the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2020, the Florida Supreme Court declared that unanimity in jury recommendations was not necessary for imposing the death penalty in murder cases, overturning the 2016 ruling that required unanimity.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely expected to sign off on this legislation, having previously signaled his support for expanding the death penalty to a wider range of crimes. “I believe the only appropriate punishment that would be commensurate to that would be capital,” he said of sex predators back in January. “Everyone feels that way when you see this.”
That's why, as horrible as it it, mere possession of the material shouldn't be a prison offense. It should be mandatory institutionalization. Production, of course, should result in a historical exhibition on the methods of the Spanish Inquisition.
Probably true, but no one is going to make an argument like that without people calling them pedophiles themselves. It's essentially a political death sentence.
But absolutely, even if you're caught possessing it, you should be mandated to be part of a psychiatric evaluation that can move one of several directions.
Honestly, over-use of porn has just caused people to seek out more and more taboo shit because it's different and they're under-sexed (and probably not a part of a loving relationship).
It's possible that a lot of these cases specifically could be resolved with a good mental health program.
But isn't that the rub, the problem? We have all these mental health issues cropping up, and no institutions or systems in place to afford proper care. We stigmatize and attack people who even SEEK proper care too, so the problem only worsens.
And then for those who do offend and abuse a child, our government / politicians / media treat them with kids gloves depending on whether they are right wing or left wing instead of using cruel and unusual punishment to make an example of them.
Invariably you're going to have a lot of abnormals in society. This cannot be disputed, nor easily fixed.
But a message needs to be sent to pedophiles: Get help before you actually abuse a child or fear even the thought of interacting with a child because you'll be marched to the torture chamber for some cruel and unusual justice.
And of course, producers should be given a fair trial and a fair punishment.
It's just that the fair punishment should be so cruel and unusual that it would violate all former conventional human rights agreements.
I know I know, I'm probably breaking several rules by saying how I really feel about pedophiles and the producers of that kind of porn, but this is one subject that I am extremely and vocally emotional about. I firmly believe in protecting the safety and innocence of children and it is one of my primary motivating factors for staying informed.
Shaved heads, tar and feathered, then tortured to death with a blow torch over 10 hours. Seems reasonable to me.