Tennessee’s GOP-controlled Senate advanced legislation on Tuesday allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions as critics raised concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned capital punishment in such cases (article available here).
It must still clear the similarly conservatively dominant House chamber before it can go to the governor.
If enacted, the Tennessee bill would authorize the state to pursue capital punishment when an adult is convicted of aggravated rape of a child. Those convicted could be sentenced to death, imprisonment for life without possibility of parole, or imprisonment for life.
Florida enacted a similar bill nearly a year ago. Supporters in both states argue that the goal is to get the currently conservative-controlled U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a 2008 ruling that found it unconstitutional to use capital punishment in child sexual battery cases.