Missouri bill seeks to make rape, child sex trafficking punishable by death
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A bill in the Missouri General Assembly seeks to expand the use of the death penalty beyond murder.
State Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, sponsored the measure, which would allow capital punishment in cases of first-degree statutory rape and first-degree sex trafficking of a child. It would apply to crimes committed after Aug. 27.
The measure contradicts a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits capital punishment for crimes where someone did not die. But according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a handful of states still have such laws on the books.
Last year, Florida passed a new law permitting the death penalty in child rape cases, the Associated Press reported. Prosecutors in Lake County, Florida, announced in December that they will seek the death penalty for a man indicted on six counts of sexual battery of a child under age 12.
Moon did not respond to a call seeking comment.
State Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, said she has serious concerns about trafficking and abuse, especially when it comes to children. But she said, “the death penalty does not deter that sort of behavior.”
In recent years, the Legislature has moved in the opposite direction, she continued, and there is growing support to limit the use of the death penalty or eliminate it altogether.
Elyse Max, co-director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, said the organization would track the legislation, but that it was viewed by most as radical.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of mainstream support or conservative support for this bill,” she said.
Support for limiting death penalty
Support for reducing the use of the death penalty extends across party lines in the Missouri General Assembly.
Three House bills propose abolishing capital punishment. They are sponsored by two Democrats and one Republican.
A fourth measure, sponsored by Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Jefferson County Republican, would change a sentencing loophole. Missouri and Indiana are the only two states that allow a judge to impose capital punishment when a jury cannot make a decision.
In a 2006 murder trial, a jury could not reach a sentencing decision and a judge handed down a death sentence for Amber McLaughlin. She was executed a year ago in Missouri.
When a jury deadlocks and a sentence is left to a judge, Coleman’s bill would take the death penalty off the table.
Max said the push to repeal the death penalty has gained momentum in Republican circles.
On Tuesday, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty will hold a news conference at the Missouri Capitol. In a news release, Demetrius Minor, the national manager for the organization, said the group supports ending the death penalty.
“It does not align with our conservative principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and valuing life,” Minor said. “The death penalty gives an often-incompetent government too much power, it wastes enormous resources that could be used to make us safer like solving cold cases, and it puts innocent lives at risk.”
Missouri was one of five states that carried out executions in 2023.
There is one execution scheduled so far this year in Missouri. The execution warrant for Brian J. Dorsey, who was convicted in a double murder, will go into effect at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9.
