A bill that would allow the death penalty in certain cases of child rape, sodomy or sexual torture has passed its first hurdle as lawmakers have prioritized the bill for the 2026 session.
House Bill 41 by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, would allow for the death penalty in cases where an individual has been convicted of the rape, sodomy or sexual torture of a child under 12 years of age.
“Some people need to die,” Simpson said during discussion of the bill. “That is exactly the point. This is the worst of the worst offenses. These people are taking advantage of children who cannot defend themselves. These are the absolute victims of society.”
This would be the first crime in Alabama punishable by the death penalty that isn’t murder. Alabama is joining other states in seeking to challenge a 2008 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that the death penalty is only Constitutional as a punishment for murder convictions.
Simpson first filed the bill last session, but could not get it fully through the Legislature in time. The passage of the bill through House committee Wednesday gives this bill a much earlier start to reach full approval.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, echoed the sentiments of the 2008 Supreme Court ruling in arguing that establishing the death penalty in these cases could have an adverse effect on victims.
“In pursuit of the death penalty in that particular situation, you would not only require the person to be courageous enough, and the family to be courageous enough, to come forward, and say, ‘We want this person prosecuted,’ but the victim and the victim’s family would also have to participate in the decision to ultimately kill that person too,” England said. “The victim, in that situation, would be less likely to come forward knowing that prosecuting that person means that coach, pastor, aunt, uncle, mom, dad, whoever, would not only be prosecuted, but they would also be put to death.
“Imagine you being an abuser, and the law hands you the ultimate tool to abuse a victim by not only saying, ‘You will destroy our family if you turn me in, but you will also kill me too.”
The 2008 ruling came in a case titled Kennedy v. Lousiana that struck down a similar Louisiana law that the high court found “unusual” and therefore in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
“What they are doing is showing that it is not unusual, and this is a nationwide push to show that this is not an unusual punishment, and therefore the rationale in Kennedy is no longer valid,” Simpson said.
The committee also passed another bill, HB20, by Simpson that would extend the death penalty to individuals who commit murder while creating “a great risk of death to multiple persons.”
There have been several instances in the past few years in which altercations at large events have turned to gunfire in the midst of large crowds. In some of those cases, multiple people were killed, but this bill would allow for the death penalty simply for creating the dangerous situation.
Both bills now advance to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
