A new Mississippi law added sexual battery of a child under 12 to the list of crimes eligible for the death penalty.
Senate Bill 2821, which took effect July 1, creates the crime of "capital sexual battery" and allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against defendants 18 or older in qualifying cases involving victims younger than 12.
If a defendant is convicted, the jury must unanimously find at least two specific aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt before the defendant is eligible for the death penalty. At least 8 of the 12 jurors must then recommend death. But if the death penalty is not recommended by jurors, the mandatory sentence would be life in prison without parole.
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State Sen. Jeremy England, the bill's author, said the legislation seeks to give the worst punishment for crimes against the state's most vulnerable population.
"That is a crime that, I think, shocks the conscience, certainly. Those are the worst types of crimes against the most innocent of our citizens here in Mississippi," England said, according to WLBT.
But critics question whether capital punishment serves as a deterrent to crimes against young victims or if it could lead to children becoming too afraid to come forward knowing that doing so may end someone's life.
Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, told the outlet he once supported the death penalty but changed his position, arguing that executions are unnecessary when a life sentence keeps an inmate permanently behind bars.
"There is no need for executions when we can throw away the key," Bonowitz said.
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Bonowitz also said extending the death penalty to child sexual assault cases could deter victims from alerting authorities of the abuse they endured.
"Most of those kinds of crimes are by people that the child knows and you’re asking a child to then testify against a relative and try to get them executed," he said.