Idaho legislators advance bill to execute child rapists

[revelarts]

‘Complete waste of taxpayer dollars’: Idaho legislators advance bill to execute child rapists in gamble that Supreme Court will uphold similar Florida law

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...r-florida-law/

Republican lawmakers in Idaho have proposed a new law that would allow certain sex crimes against children to be punishable by death. The move positions the state to join Florida in adopting a controversial measure that conflicts directly with Supreme Court precedent saying such executions would violate the Eighth Amendment.

Passed 57-11 mainly along party lines Tuesday, House Bill 515 amends the statute covering lewd conduct with child under age 12 with aggravating circumstances to carry a penalty of capital punishment. Co-sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Republican, has said that the death penalty would be used only for the most heinous cases such as repeat offenders. The bill next heads to the Idaho Senate for committee review.

....

ACLU of Idaho spokesperson Rebecca De León said that litigating the constitutionality of House Bill 515 was “a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“I highly doubt it will reach the Supreme Court because the Supreme Court has already ruled on this,” De León continued. “We already have laws in place that punish people that don’t violate their Eighth Amendment rights.

[Gunny]

‘Complete waste of taxpayer dollars’: Idaho legislators advance bill to execute child rapists in gamble that Supreme Court will uphold similar Florida law

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...r-florida-law/

Republican lawmakers in Idaho have proposed a new law that would allow certain sex crimes against children to be punishable by death. The move positions the state to join Florida in adopting a controversial measure that conflicts directly with Supreme Court precedent saying such executions would violate the Eighth Amendment.

Passed 57-11 mainly along party lines Tuesday, House Bill 515 amends the statute covering lewd conduct with child under age 12 with aggravating circumstances to carry a penalty of capital punishment. Co-sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Republican, has said that the death penalty would be used only for the most heinous cases such as repeat offenders. The bill next heads to the Idaho Senate for committee review.

....

ACLU of Idaho spokesperson Rebecca De León said that litigating the constitutionality of House Bill 515 was “a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“I highly doubt it will reach the Supreme Court because the Supreme Court has already ruled on this,” De León continued. “We already have laws in place that punish people that don’t violate their Eighth Amendment rights.

How does capital punishment violate the Eighth Amendment? Logically, if the means of death are cruel and unusual for child rapists, the method itself would be cruel and unusual for all.

Anyone who thinks such punishment is excessive given the crime, needs to go pound sand. There is no reason for a scumbag as low as to commit such a crime against a child under the age of 12 to continue breathing, IMO.

I will caveat that with my usual: given the current state of our judiciary and its political and social nature, any and all death penalty cases should be ironclad, smoking gun, bloody knife, fingerprints, etc or err on the side of caution. Can't say whoops and bring back somebody wrongfully executed.

[SassyLady]

I'm totally for death penalty for pedophiles.