A bill introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) this week would expand the death penalty to certain sex crimes against children in federal cases — but if passed and signed into law could not be enforced without a change in precedent by the Supreme Court.
“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children,” the house member announced on X and other social media Thursday.
It would also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to authorize capital punishment for the rape of a child.
However, if it passed Congress, such a measure would not automatically become enforceable law, several news outlets reported.
As Newsweek put it:
If the law passes, it would challenge Supreme Court precedent established in 2008’s Kennedy v. Louisiana, in which the High Court deemed the death penalty unconstitutional for non-homicide crimes — including the rape of a child — because it violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Mace’s act would likely invite a legal challenge to push the Supreme Court to reconsider or overturn the ruling.
Mace did not address that ruling in her announcement.
Instead, she wrote, “There are no excuses for harming children. We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence.”
She used harsher language on her webpage.
“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” she said. “No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children. This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty.”
While the bill would only apply to federal crimes and the military code, it mirrors state laws passed in Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee that authorize capital punishment for certain child rape convictions. So far, they have remained unenforceable.
In 2023, when such a bill was passed in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said the state would be finding ways to challenge the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision. DeSantis said he believed “that that precedent was wrong. We do not believe the Supreme Court in its current iteration would uphold it.”
Mace, arguably, could be setting up a challenge as well with a federal rape case if she can get the measure through Congress.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child sex abuse in U.S. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
