MONTGOMERY, Ala. — On Tuesday, Alabama legislators moved forward with a bill that aims to impose the death penalty on individuals convicted of child rape, a strategy some Republican supporters believe could persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its previous ruling against such punishment.
The Alabama House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the measure with a vote of 86-5, allowing prosecutors to seek capital punishment for adults convicted of raping or sodomizing a child under the age of 12. The bill will now proceed to the Alabama Senate for further consideration.
Similar legislation has been enacted in Florida and Tennessee over the past two years, with at least six other states also introducing comparable bills during that timeframe, as reported by the Death Penalty Information Center.
Currently, capital punishment for child sexual assault is deemed unconstitutional due to existing Supreme Court rulings. In a landmark 2008 decision, the Court declared that the death penalty for such offenses does not meet the standard of “proportional punishment,” thus violating the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments.
Rep. Matt Simpson, the bill’s sponsor and a former prosecutor, emphasized the intention behind the legislation is to provoke the Supreme Court into reassessing its stance. “This is the worst of the worst offenses you can commit,” Simpson stated after the vote, asserting that severe crimes warrant severe penalties. “That’s something that the child has to live with for the rest of their life.”
Conversely, several Alabama lawmakers voiced their concerns regarding the legislation, citing moral objections to the death penalty. Some questioned the prudence of establishing a potentially unconstitutional law that would likely lead to costly litigation.
“It seems fiscally irresponsible to pass something that we’re going to have to ask taxpayers to defend yet again when people are struggling, at least in my district, to pay for gas and milk,” remarked Rep. Phillip Ensler, a Democrat from Montgomery.
This legislative strategy mirrors successful efforts by conservative states that effectively prompted the Supreme Court to revisit the Roe v. Wade decision, which once ensured nationwide access to abortion services.
Simpson noted that if multiple states implement capital punishment for child rape, the Supreme Court may no longer consider the matter an outlier. The majority opinion in the 2008 ruling indicated that merely six states possessed laws allowing the death penalty for child rape, while most states with the death penalty did not sanction such an extreme form of punishment. The justices believed the definition of “excessive” punishment should evolve in accordance with a shifting national consensus.
Despite attempts to expand the death penalty to include additional offenses, usage of capital punishment in the United States has been declining. Recent reports indicate that executions in 2024 remained at or near historical lows, primarily occurring in a limited number of states, including Alabama, which recently initiated nitrogen gas as a new execution method.
In 2023, Florida prosecutors sought the death penalty for an individual accused of sexually attacking a minor under 12, but the accused ultimately entered a guilty plea and received a life sentence instead. This case is recognized as the first to be pursued under Florida’s updated law.
“I’d love for Florida to be able to say, ‘Look at what Alabama has done as well,’ to aid in strengthening their case,” said Simpson.
