Tennessee now second state to allow death penalty for child rape since SCOTUS prohibition
I noted last month in this post that the Tennessee legislature has passed a bill authorizing the death penalty for those convicted of rape of a child. This new AP piece reports that this bill is now law:
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved legislation allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions, a change the Republican-controlled Statehouse championed amid concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned capital punishment in such cases. Lee, a Republican, quietly signed off on the legislation last week without issuing a statement.
The new Tennessee law, which goes into effect July 1, authorizes the state to pursue capital punishment when an adult is convicted of aggravated rape of a child. Those convicted could be sentenced to death, imprisonment for life without possibility of parole, or imprisonment for life.
Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis enacted a similar bill nearly a year ago…. Meanwhile, Idaho’s GOP-controlled House approved similar legislation earlier this year, but the proposal eventually stalled in the similarly Republican-dominated Senate.
While many supporters of Tennessee’s version have conceded that even though the Volunteer State previously allowed convicted child rapists to face the death penalty, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately nullified that law with its 2008 decision deeming it unconstitutional to use capital punishment in child sexual battery cases.
However, they hope the conservative-controlled Supreme Court will reverse that ruling — pointing to the decades long effort that it took to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide but was eventually overruled in 2022. “Maybe the atmosphere is different on the Supreme Court,” said Republican Sen. Janice Bowling last month while debating in favor of the law. “We’re simply challenging a ruling.”
Lee told reporters Tuesday that he didn’t sign the bill hoping it would be “tested” in court. Instead, he said crimes against children are “some of the most heinous that there are.”…
Currently, all executions in Tennessee are on hold as state officials review changes to its lethal injection process.
Prior related posts:
- With new Florida law authorizing death penalty for child rape, how might SCOTUS get to reconsider Kennedy?
- Possible Florida test case for new capital child rape statute now in the works
- First capital child rape charge under new Florida law results in LWOP plea and sentence
- Tennessee poised to become second state to authorize the death penalty for child rape since SCOTUS prohibition