The Alabama Senate passed House Bill 41 Thursday, legislation which would allow for the death penalty in cases of rape, sodomy or sexual torture of a child under the age of 12.
The bill, sponsored by Representative Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, stands in direct opposition to a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision which found the death penalty to be an “unusual” punishment for non-murder offenses under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
However, in recent years several other states—including Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, Oklahoma and Arkansas—have passed various laws allowing for the death penalty in cases of rape or sexual abuse of a child in defiance of the the 2008 ruling. Simpson and others now argue that Alabama should do the same.
Senator April Weaver, R-Brierfield—the sponsor of HB41’s companion legislation in the Senate—said that her and Simpson introduced the bills in response to a recent high-profile case in Bibb County where eight individuals were charged with committing sex crimes against children in an underground bunker.
“I believe that extreme child sexual abuses like this deserve the death penalty,” Weaver said. “Crimes against our precious children are the worst of the worst offenses and deserve the worst of the worst punishments.”
Before the body passed HB41, however, the legislation faced some pushback from Democrats on the Senate floor.
Both Senators Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, and Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, pointed to the constitutional conflicts inherent in the bill, raising questions about passing legislation that would go against established legal precedent. Coleman also called on her fellow senators to not only focus on increasing criminal punishment for perpetrators of sexual abuse against children, but to also pass legislation that would support survivors by expanding their ability to sue abusers civilly.
Senator Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, spoke against the bill more directly, sharing her opposition to the death penalty writ-large.
“I don’t believe that the death penalty actually deters anyone from crime… I think it’s a worse penalty for that person to have to sit in jail every day and think about what they’ve done and not be able to see the light of day, in terms of freedom, after that,” Figures said.
Senator Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, also brought up a concern previously raised by state Representative Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, on the House floor: that the bill could discourage victims who have been abused by family members from reporting that abuse out of fear that they could be responsible for their relative’s death.
Weaver said she did not believe the legislation would discourage any victims from reporting their abuse.
Despite these concerns, the bill ultimately passed the body with overwhelming support. Figures was the lone member to vote against the bill, while Coleman-Madison abstained.
HB41 will now go to Governor Kay Ivey’s desk, where it is almost guaranteed to be signed into law after the governor highlighted the bill as a priority in her final state of the state address.
