MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A bill that would make punishable by death the rape, sodomy or sexual torture of children younger than 12 advanced in the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday amid questions about constitutionality and possible unintended consequences.
A vote on the same legislation was delayed in the Senate Judiciary Committee because the sponsor said she needed more time to address concerns from colleagues.
House Bill 41 by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, and Senate Bill 17 by Rep. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, have been called priorities by House and Senate leadership following law enforcement’s discovery last year of a child sex trafficking ring involving multiple victims and adult predators in Bibb County.
During the House committee’s debate, Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said that a capital punishment case would require the victim and victim’s family to participate in a death penalty decision, which could be traumatizing. And, predators, who are often family or trusted adults of their child victims, could threaten the child into silence by telling them the abuser could die if the abuse was reported.
“Some people need to die,” Simpson responded. “… This is the worst of the worst offenses. These are people who take advantage of children who cannot defend themselves.”
Simpson’s bill passed the House last year but died in the Senate. It has renewed support — more than 50 co-sponsors — after the Bibb County discovery.
Gov. Kay Ivey in her Tuesday state of the state address said she supports the legislation.
“When it comes to safeguarding our state there is no higher priority than protecting Alabama’s children,” Ivey said in a statement Wednesday. “The passage of the Child Predator Death Penalty Act will provide the strongest legal shield possible for the most vulnerable of our society, our children. Their precious lives, and Alabama’s future, depend upon their preservation and we must not let them down. I call on lawmakers to pass this urgently needed legislation as soon as possible so I can sign it into law.”
England and Rep. Patrice McClammy, D-Montgomery, also questioned the conditionality and potential cost of the legislation.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana that the death penalty for crimes involving the rape of a child where the victim did not die constituted cruel and unusual punishment, given that at the time, only five states had such laws on their books. Since then, five more states — Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Idaho and Oklahoma — have adopted similar laws. Simpson has argued that if Alabama and more state’s do the same the 2008 ruling could be overturned.
McClammy asked Simpson how much it might cost the state to defend his proposed law in court.
“I do not have an answer but it’s worth every penny,” Simpson said.
“I have to disagree,” McClammy said.
Weaver’s version of the bill, which has 23 GOP co-sponsors, is expected to be back in that committee next week.
Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said he’d like more information on the definition of “sexual torture.”