The Idaho Legislature voted unanimously in favor of the death penalty for individuals found guilty of child sexual abuse, sending the proposal to the state governor.
The bill, known as House Bill 380, was co-sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug and House Assistant Majority Leader Josh Tanner. It would allow officials to impose the death penalty on adults who are found to have sexually abused children aged 12 years and younger.
Death Penalty for Child Sexual Abusers
It adds a new criminal charge, known as aggravated lewd conduct, with children aged 12 and younger. Additionally, the proposed bill adds mandatory minimum prison sentences for cases of aggravated lewd conduct with minors. The latter would only apply to abuse of children aged 16 years and below.
On Monday, the Idaho Senate passed the death penalty bill on a 30-5 vote, where the opposition were three Senate Democrats and two Senate Republicans. Last week, the Idaho House unanimously passed the bill as well, with 63 votes in favor and seven lawmakers absent, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.
Following its approval by the Idaho Legislature, the death penalty bill is now set to go to Gov. Brad Little's office for signing. He will have five days to decide whether or not he would allow officials to implement the punishment.
In a statement, Skaug said that the state has some of the country's most lenient child rape laws. He added that Idaho lacks mandatory minimum sentences for these sorts of horrific crimes, arguing that judges have the discretion to place the worst offenders on probation.
Growing Number of Cases
The bill comes as the Supreme Court blocked death penalties for child rape in 2018 in Kennedy v. Louisiana. But two years ago, Florida lawmakers passed a child rape death penalty law to address the growing issue, the Idaho State Journal reported.
Skaug noted that five other states in the U.S. are considering child rape death penalty bills. He added that capital punishment would be rarely sought under his proposed bill. It also comes as the Idaho Department of Correction revealed that there are nine people currently on death row in the state.
On the other hand, many organizations, such as the Death Penalty Action, are questioning if the proposed bill is ethical, saying that the state can hold child sexual abuse offenders accountable without having to resort to capital punishment.
Executive director of Death Penalty Action, Abraham Bonowitz, said that letting victims relive their trauma in front of an audience could be detrimental, as per KMVT.
