Pedophiles in Florida will now face the death penalty after new laws cae into effect in the state this week.
According to a report by Neon Nettle, new legislation to make child rapists face execution for their ‘sickening’ crimes passed the state’s House and Senate earlier this year.
In May, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed the legislation into state law.
Liberal judges in higher courts have warned that imposing death sentences in these types of cases is a violation of the 8th Amendment.
NN reports: While some say the law is still a measure of protecting children, others say different.
Florida courts now have a green light to send child rapists to death row.
It was a measure that received bipartisan support as it rose through Tallahassee.
Upon signing it into law, DeSantis said:
“These are really the worst of the worst.
“The perpetrators of these crimes are often serial offenders.”
Not everyone agrees with the new law, however.
Maria DeLiberato, the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, argues that execution is not the answer.
“Of course, child sexual battery is one of the most horrific crimes that one can think of,” DeLiberato acknowledges.
However, DeLiberato says the trauma doesn’t end there for the victim.
“You’re also dealing with a living victim who would have to be a part of the inevitable decades-long death penalty process,” said DeLiberato.
“A death penalty case is not quick.
“It doesn’t go away quickly.
“It languishes for years and years and years.”
DeLiberato also points to alarming statistics about sex offenders.
According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, about 90 percent of child sex abuse victims know their abuser.
About 30 percent of children are abused by family members.
“So now, you’ve got this whole dynamic where a child is going to bear the weight of a possible death sentence to a neighbor, an uncle, grandfather, something that someone that they know that everybody in their family is not going to feel the exact same way about,” said DeLiberato.
The new law would still require an 8 to 4 jury recommendation for a death sentence.