By Mike Cason
A Republican legislator and prosecutor wants to change Alabama law to allow the death penalty for rape or sodomy of a child younger than 6.
Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne has pre-filed the bill in advance of next year’s legislative session.
“I think these crimes are some of the worst crimes that are possibly out there,” Simpson said. “I think when you injure and take the innocence of an individual that young, there’s no rehabilitation for someone like that.
“This is not something that, ‘Oh, I’ve learned my lesson. I raped a 5-year-old, so I’ve learned my lesson.’ No, this is a situation that these are the worst of the worst crimes. And sometimes the worst of the worst crimes deserve the worst of the worst punishments.”
Simpson’s bill would add first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy of a child younger than 6 to Alabama’s list of 21 capital offenses. The others are all murder offenses with aggravating circumstances.
Alabama law already mandates a sentence of life without parole for first-degree rape or sodomy when the victim is younger than 6.
Simpson’s bill says the sentence would be either death or life without parole. Offenders younger than 18 would be sentenced to life without parole or life with the possibility of parole.
Simpson said changing the Alabama law to allow the death penalty and similar bills in other states could lead to a successful challenge to a 2008 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that prohibited the death penalty for child rape.
In that case, Kennedy vs. Louisiana, the defendant was sentenced to death for aggravated rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter.
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence. The opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, noted that Louisiana was one of only six states to authorize the death penalty for child rape. Kennedy wrote that there was a “social consensus against the death penalty for child rape.”
Kennedy noted that no person had been executed for rape of an adult or child in the United States since 1964, and that no execution for any other non-homicide crime had been done since 1963.
The opinion concluded that the death penalty for child rape violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.
Simpson said the Supreme Court has changed since 2008 and noted that other states are passing laws similar to his bill. Florida passed a law calling for the death penalty for child rape in 2023. A Florida prosecutor sought the death penalty under that new last year, although the defendant made a deal to receive life without parole.
Simpson has handled cases with child victims during his career as a prosecutor in Baldwin and Mobile counties. He said those victims and their families relive the experience for the rest their lives.
“I think the death penalty would hopefully be able to send a message to the community and send a message to the individuals that Alabama is serious about crime,” Simpson said. “Especially if you’re taking advantage and doing horrific things to little ones.”
Simpson’s bill has 11 co-sponsors. The legislative session starts Feb. 4.
