Tennessee governor OKs bill allowing death penalty for child rape convictions

[Dos Equis]

I'm cool with this.  What do you think?

Tennessee governor OKs bill allowing death penalty for child rape convictions
KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — 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. A few months after being enacted, Florida prosecutors in Lake County announced in December that they were pursuing the death penalty for a man accused of committing sexual battery of a minor under the age of twelve. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the case is considered the first to be pursued under the new law.

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.”

Democratic lawmakers and child advocates worry that the law may instill more fear into child rape victims that speaking out could potentially result in an execution, warning that many children are abused by family members and close friends. Others have alleged that predators could be incentivized to kill their victims in order to avoid a harsher punishment.

Execution law in the U.S. dictates that crimes must involve a victim’s death or treason against the government to be eligible for the death penalty. The Supreme Court ruled nearly 40 years ago that execution is too harsh a punishment for sexual assault, and justices made a similar decision in 2008 in a case involving the rape of a child.

Currently, all executions in Tennessee are on hold as state officials review changes to its lethal injection process. Gov. Lee issued the pause after a blistering 2022 report detailed multiple flaws in how Tennessee inmates were put to death.

No timeline has been provided on when those changes will be completed.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tennessee-governor-oks-bill-allowing-172921638.html

[illuminati]

I'm cool with this.  What do you think?

Tennessee governor OKs bill allowing death penalty for child rape convictions
KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — 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. A few months after being enacted, Florida prosecutors in Lake County announced in December that they were pursuing the death penalty for a man accused of committing sexual battery of a minor under the age of twelve. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the case is considered the first to be pursued under the new law.

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.”

Democratic lawmakers and child advocates worry that the law may instill more fear into child rape victims that speaking out could potentially result in an execution, warning that many children are abused by family members and close friends. Others have alleged that predators could be incentivized to kill their victims in order to avoid a harsher punishment.

Execution law in the U.S. dictates that crimes must involve a victim’s death or treason against the government to be eligible for the death penalty. The Supreme Court ruled nearly 40 years ago that execution is too harsh a punishment for sexual assault, and justices made a similar decision in 2008 in a case involving the rape of a child.

Currently, all executions in Tennessee are on hold as state officials review changes to its lethal injection process. Gov. Lee issued the pause after a blistering 2022 report detailed multiple flaws in how Tennessee inmates were put to death.

No timeline has been provided on when those changes will be completed.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tennessee-governor-oks-bill-allowing-172921638.html

Great news & as it should be .
No doubt the resident Pedocrat supporters will be fuming

Hope they'll go after Pedo Joe 😊  👊🏻

[Gym Rat]

Hang the pant-shitter in the public square.
Disgusting child-molester...

[falco]

Life in prison yes, not death penalty.

[illuminati]

Life in prison yes, not death penalty.

Fuck spending time & money & good food on them.

[Irongrip400]

I don’t think there is anything worse than a pedo rapist and am for their death. The only thing I’d say, is that it must be in the most extreme circumstances where there is no doubt that they did it, ie caught in the act/with the child or something like that. No going back 30 years and making an accusation about it present day. I don’t mind the death penalty, but only if there is concrete evidence of the crime and no chance of a mistake.

[illuminati]

I don’t think there is anything worse than a pedo rapist and am for their death. The only thing I’d say, is that it must be in the most extreme circumstances where there is no doubt that they did it, ie caught in the act/with the child or something like that. No going back 30 years and making an accusation about it present day. I don’t mind the death penalty, but only if there is concrete evidence of the crime and no chance of a mistake.

Nah get rid of them all start with Pedo Joe & his son 😊👊🏻👍🏻

[Dos Equis]

I don’t think there is anything worse than a pedo rapist and am for their death. The only thing I’d say, is that it must be in the most extreme circumstances where there is no doubt that they did it, ie caught in the act/with the child or something like that. No going back 30 years and making an accusation about it present day. I don’t mind the death penalty, but only if there is concrete evidence of the crime and no chance of a mistake.

That should be the standard in every death penalty case. 

[Irongrip400]

That should be the standard in every death penalty case.

My thoughts on it as well. I’d hate for an innocent man to spend the rest of his life in jail, but I’d be devastated to think an innocent man got put to death.

[Humble Narcissist]

My thoughts on it as well. I’d hate for an innocent man to spend the rest of his life in jail, but I’d be devastated to think an innocent man got put to death.

That could be a real problem. Divorcing women will claim their ex husband raped their kid so he gets cut out of the game entirely. You have to have absolute proof and not just take a woman's word.

[Dos Equis]

My thoughts on it as well. I’d hate for an innocent man to spend the rest of his life in jail, but I’d be devastated to think an innocent man got put to death.

I don't know if we have actually ever executed an innocent person, but we have put about 200 people on death row who were later exonerated. 

[Primemuscle]

Life in prison yes, not death penalty.

Agreed. Life in prison is a greater punishment than the death penalty and it is less costly.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/costs

[GymnJuice]

That could be a real problem. Divorcing women will claim their ex husband raped their kid so he gets cut out of the game entirely. You have to have absolute proof and not just take a woman's word.

The punishment for a false accusation should be as severe as the punishment for the crime they've accused him.

[Primemuscle]

I don't know if we have actually ever executed an innocent person, but we have put about 200 people on death row who were later exonerated.

Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed in South Carolina in 1915 for the murder of a man involved in an interracial affair two years previously but were pardoned 94 years after execution.

[Dos Equis]

Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed in South Carolina in 1915 for the murder of a man involved in an interracial affair two years previously but were pardoned 94 years after execution.

Would not surprise me if we made mistakes over a 100 years ago.

[Sissysquats]

Awesome news. Cali and NY would be the last to adopt this

[Humble Narcissist]

The punishment for a false accusation should be as severe as the punishment for the crime they've accused him.

Agreed.