Source: idahostatesman.com 2/13/24
The Idaho House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow the death penalty for anyone convicted of certain sex crimes against preteen children Tuesday, even as its sponsor acknowledged that such a law would be unconstitutional.
House Bill 515 is designed to challenge decades of U.S. Supreme Court precedent that limited death sentences to defendants who commit murder, said Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle. With the current supermajority of conservative-leaning justices on the nation’s highest court, the hope is that the U.S. Supreme Court will review the Idaho bill if it becomes law and issue a decision that expands the eligibility for the death penalty.
“There is a deep, dark, dark side in our culture, and it’s our job to protect the children,” Skaug said Tuesday on the House floor. “There are times when things are so wicked that retribution is appropriate.”
A deep dark dark side eh? The sexuality of individuals under teenage years seems to be nonexistent for these individuals. Sex offense laws should be indicative as to the context and knowledge of all parties involved in whatever act took place. The inclusion of the death penalty here isn’t exclusive only to those who kidnapped a child and forced them to perform a sexual act. That is the worst of the worst of the deep dark side these lawmakers speak of. To apply such punishment to everyone simply because they don’t like an act is immoral. That’s not to say punishment shouldn’t exist, but it needs to be within context.
Behind a paywall on Firefox (or my Firefox at least)…
This is irresponsible of them to go ahead and press with this given if they know the answer already, then they are spending money on a DOA law if it reaches SCOTUS. While it is in their job to do things such as this, they need to not gamble with the Idaho taxpayer money to see if it would be approved to expand the death penalty pool of eligible law violations and should be wiser to doing real work for the Idahoan.
These fascist pigs make me sick. They’re the scum of humanity.
It’s interesting how these political mouthpieces always want to “save the children” but feel it can only be done by violating the constitution, whether it is a Supreme Court decision restricting the death penalty only to cases involving murder or whittling away at First Amendment protections to engage in anonymous speech. Frankly, civil liberties are more important than the children.
It’s accepted as fact that people who do horrible things to children should be punished, but they should be locked up, perhaps forever depending upon severity of the crime, and receive psychological help if they are amenable to treatment. No one deserves to die for their crime, not even the worst of the human monsters amongst us. I speak as a childhood rape survivor who very much hopes the much older boy, now nearly 70 years old and a repeat offender, is in prison somewhere. I’d check if I could remember his last name. The last thing I would want is for him to die for his crimes.
Of course it’s only a test case to see if the new SCOTUS appointees still buy the old rulings that set case precedent. I always wondered about the thinking process of people who support the death penalty for acts that didn’t even involve death. If someone planned to take liberties on a child in Idaho, and knew they would face certain death for their deed, wouldn’t that motivate them to just kill the child to increase the chance of no one ever finding out? Either way, they would get death. No matter how many victims they abused or people they killed, the state can only kill them once
“Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, argued Tuesday during floor debate that the bill would actually less the punishment for those who prey on children because they would be placed in protected isolation on death row rather than face peers in the prison’s general population who don’t take crimes against kids lightly — all at taxpayer cost while they work through their lengthy appeals against being executed.”
This is the Democrat position? Not that execution is immoral, but that death row is too gentle? I know many of you abhor Christianity but I can assure you the Pope can put out a better argument than an Idaho Democrat.
Stuff like this screams “Reelect me to continue doing pretend work!”
During a custody battle a mother accused the father of sexually abusing their kid. The judge dismissed it and said, “25% of my custody cases involve an accusation of sex abuse.”
In unrelated news, the birth rate in the U.S. declined 30% in the past 15 years. Coincidence?
First and foremost, the protection of children is a parental responsibility, not a state one.
Second, how could this proposal protect children? How would it protect the child victim of a person indicted for violating this (proposed) law?
Third, are we to believe that had this proposed law been in effect at the time, all previous child sex crime victims would have been protected?
And finally, if the state is as capable of protecting children as they claim, then what exactly is the “need” for laws like this?
A similar death penalty bill recently died in committee in New Mexico. The eastern side of the state is much like west Texas, but the state overall is blue. Also a bill proposing chemical castration as an incentive for early parole for sex offenders also went nowhere.
I’ve said this many times to people. What’s really happening here is a slow and steady dismantling of the Constitution in the US. And it started full force with sex offense laws. It is by far the easiest thing to use in order to make people relinquish their rights. What is so insidious about it is that it’s accomplished “for the children.” This has become the rallying cry for fascism in this country. What’s more disgusting here is that not a single one of these so called “crusaders” actually wants to really help children. Otherwise there would be only evidence based lawmaking. This is not the case at all.
Be wary people. This country is going down a dark road. And freedom is on the line!