Florida Governor DeSantis Signs Bill Allowing the Death Penalty for Child Rapists

A week doesn’t go by without Florida Governor Ron DeSantis making the news. Will he run for President, or won’t he run for President? Did he really eat pudding with his fingers? All pressing questions for the mainstream media.

This week is no different, with the signing of a bill that directly conflicts with a 2008 Supreme Court ruling.

So is the latest move merely a chance to make headlines and rack up a legislative win to tout on the campaign road? I’m sure it does check some of those electability boxes.

Still, it’s also a sound decision, and when you can both do the right thing and pad your campaign strategy, you’ve had a good day as a politician. So let’s look at Governor DeSantis’ latest move to protect those who require the most protection.

Death Is Too Kind

The bill Governor DeSantis signed this week allows Florida to impose the death penalty for criminals convicted of sexual battery against children younger than 12. However, the legislation has other requirements. For example, ensuring that, at a minimum, child rapists receive a life sentence for their crime without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors who wish to seek out the death penalty have to identify at least two aggravating factors, including these two:

1. A history of sexual predation
2. The accused holds a custodial position over the child

Governor DeSantis pointed out that:

“The perpetrators of these crimes are often times serial offenders.”

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According to the Department of Justice, 40% of released child sex offenders attacked a new victim within a year of their release from prison.

The Governor went on to state:

“We really believe that part of a just society is to have appropriate punishment. And so, if you commit a crime that is a really, really heinous, you should have the ultimate punishment.”

Death may be too kind for monsters who snuff the innocence from defenseless children, but I’ll personally take what I can get.

Erosion Of Decency

Within the bill is the following line regarding the sexual battery of children:

“Such crimes destroy the innocence of a young child and violate all standards of decency held by civilized society.”

This used to be a widely, universally held belief in this country. But like all things grounded in common sense and tradition, this is slowly getting chipped away by the radical left.

Just recently, Elon Musk permanently banned an account on Twitter that posted a “Youth Attracted Person” or YAP pride flag in celebration of a holiday called ‘Alice Day.’ Yup, you read that right; pedophilia is getting a rebranding, its own pride flag, and its own holiday.

But this isn’t new; the push to normalize pedophilia versus ostracize it has been around for a few years. Like most things rooted in evil it began in higher education.

Professor Allyn Walker, formerly of Old Dominion University and now of John Hopkins University, advocated for the de-stigmatization of pedophilia by labeling pedophiliacs “Minor Attracted People” or MAPs. 

According to the Young Women’s Christian Association, 25% of girls and one in six boys will be “sexually abused before they turn 18 years old”. What do you think will happen to those numbers if YAPs or MAPs become normalized?

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Doing The Right Thing

It’s important to note that this Florida bill received reasonably broad bipartisan support in a legislature currently held by a Republican super majority. So we should feel some solace that not everyone on the left has lost their minds on all issues.

Having this bipartisan bill in his pocket is an obvious win for the Florida Governor as he chews on a possible run for the White House. But the truth is, it’s the right thing to do anyway.

DeSantis points out:

“They (sexual predators) will do whatever they can to satiate themselves at the expense of very, very vulnerable people.”

Children are not only physically unable to defend themselves against predators but mentally and emotionally unable to comprehend such an assault on their bodies and souls. Rape and sexual assault are brutal at best and impossible at most to reconcile as an adult, let alone a child.

Additionally, the fact that 90% of child sexual abusers are adults the child knows is even more nightmarish. Being sexually assaulted or raped by an adult you should be able to trust shatters a child’s psyche and ability to develop a sense of self and safety properly. 

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However, this bill is set to hit some pushback since it directly violates a Supreme Court verdict.

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Forcing The Conversation

Governor DeSantis knows precisely what he’s doing signing this bill, as he highlights below:

“We understand that it will be challenged, but I think it’s right for us to challenge…a decision that wasn’t well thought out, was very narrowly decided.”

The decision DeSantis alludes to is Kennedy v. Louisiana. In this case, Patrick Kennedy was found guilty of raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter.

The state of Louisiana allowed for the death penalty for Kennedy, but when the case made it up to the Supreme Court a 5 to 4 ruling found that the sentence was unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment’s ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’ clause.

In the decision, the Supreme Court wrote:

“The death penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim’s life was not taken.”

Interesting wording. I suppose it depends on how you define having one’s life taken from them.

Raping a child kills the youth of that child, which I would argue is a sort of death. Whether DeSantis runs for the highest office in the land or not, I applaud him for utilizing his authority to force a debate in the highest court in all the land.

And he did it with support from the left. So hat tip to you, DeSantis; perhaps there is hope for this mad world after all.