Florida Bill Extending Death Penalty to Child Rapists Goes Into Effect

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition's fall banquet in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sept. 16, 2023. Bryon Houlgrave/AP Photo

A bill recently signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis extending the death penalty to certain child rapists went into effect on Oct. 1.

The law (HB 1297) will make pedophiles convicted of sexual battery of a child under the age of 12 eligible for capital punishment or life imprisonment.

It also establishes court proceedings and frameworks for prosecutors to pursue the death penalty.

“Florida’s law allowing the death penalty for child rapists is now in effect. The minimum sentence is life in prison without parole. In Florida, anyone who harms children in such a horrific way will never walk free,” Mr. DeSantis wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Oct. 3.

The bill saw bipartisan support in both chambers, with the state House voting 95-14 and the Senate voting 34-5.

However, the law will likely see judicial roadblocks.

In the historic case Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that applying the death penalty to child rapists is barred by the Eighth Amendment’s limit on execution for crimes that did not result in nor were intended to kill the victim, according to Cornell Law.

The Florida Supreme Court also ruled in Buford v. State of Florida (Fla. 1981) that “a sentence of death is grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment for the crime of sexual assault and is therefore forbidden by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment.”

The Florida Legislature hopes to challenge these statutes and allow for capital punishment with “crimes [that] destroy the innocence of a young child and violate all standards of decency held by civilized society,” the bill reads.

“[The federal and state rulings are] an egregious infringement on the state’s power to punish the most heinous of crimes.”

Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a press conference in Miami, Fla., on Jan. 26, 2022. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Mr. DeSantis called out the 2008 SCOTUS ruling in a Miami press conference earlier this year.

“They said the Constitution does not allow capital punishment for anything short of a homicide. And the problem with that is you have some of these sex predators that will abuse these very very young children and do it habitually, and I’m just thinking to myself, you know you’re ruining these kids’ lives, and they’re innocent kids,” he said.

“We believe that precedent was wrong. We do not believe the Supreme Court in its current iteration would uphold it.”

Robert Blecker, New York Law School Professor of Law Emeritus, and expert in constitutional history and criminal law, is not convinced a conservative majority is enough to reverse the 2008 SCOTUS ruling.

“Except for treason, I can’t see a conservative or any other majority allowing states to extend the death penalty beyond murder [or perhaps attempted mass murder].

“And do keep in mind that the present conservative majority includes Justices personally opposed to the death penalty,” he told The Epoch Times in an email.

“They may suppress their personal opposition on separation of powers or state rights grounds, but would they overcome it to reject precedent with which they morally concur? I think not.”

According to the American Bar Association, Justice Amy Coney Barrett stated personal opposition to capital punishment related to her Catholic faith early in her career but has voted to allow executions during her time on the Seventh Circuit.

“In spite of her earlier writing on the subject, it is therefore likely that, if appointed, Judge Barrett will vote on capital cases in alignment with the Court’s conservative majority,” the ABA wrote before Ms. Barrett’s ascension to the High Court in 2020.

Mr. DeSantis previously signed a bill allowing death penalty sentencing without unanimous jury agreement—as long as eight out of 12 jurors are in favor.

The governor pushed for this change in response to the jury verdict in the Parkland shooting case.

Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 people while injuring 17 others, received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after a jury initially agreed unanimously that Cruz was eligible for capital punishment.

The law expanding capital punishment for child rapists was one of three criminal justice bills signed by Mr. DeSantis on May 1.

HB 1627 requires the Supreme Court to create statewide uniform bail bond schedules, prevents certain arrestees from being released until their first court appearance, and redefines “dangerous crimes” to include stalking and DUI manslaughter.

Mr. DeSantis also signed HB 1359, which targets fentanyl and other drug manufacturers creating illicit drugs that look like children’s candy.

Those who traffic such substances will face a minimum 25-year sentence and a $1 million penalty with the possibility of a life sentence.

The law also charges anyone possessing, selling, or manufacturing fentanyl (and other controlled substances) that resembles candy with a first-degree felony.