Florida House Bill 1297 went into effect on Sunday, which would make pedophiles convicted of raping children under the age of 12 years old eligible for the death penalty.
The bill, named “Capital Sexual Battery” outlines that “A person 18 years of age or older who commits sexual battery upon, or in an attempt to commit sexual battery injures the sexual organs of, a person less than 12 years of age commits a capital felony,” where they can now be subject to “death or life imprisonment.”
Likewise, there would only need to be a supermajority (2/3) death sentence recommendation from the jury and not a unanimous one, as previously enacted in Florida Senate Bill SB 450.
With any death penalty verdict, it will be automatically be reviewed by the state supreme court.
Speaking at the Never Back Down super PAC in Greenville, South Carolina, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis noted that “There are times where some people will commit really bad crimes, maybe heat of passion, and it doesn’t excuse. They need to be held accountable. But I just think these people that are serial pedophiles, the amount of evil that goes into that is something that it’s a proper expression of our community to say that they deserve the ultimate punishment,” according to Florida Politics.
