The 2008 Supreme Court majority opinion notes only six states had laws authorizing the death penalty for rape of a child, and that the majority of death penalty states did not allow the punishment for that crime.
Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday advanced legislation that would allow child rapists to be sentenced to death as some Republicans hope to entice the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the decision banning capital punishment for such crimes.
Justices in the 5-4 decision in the case arising from Louisiana stated that the death penalty is not a “proportional punishment” for the crime and would violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
However, the move to add another death penalty offense comes amid declining use of the death penalty.
The Alabama House of Representatives voted 86-5 for the bill that would allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty when an adult is convicted of rape or sodomy of a child under 12.
