Florida did something most states only talk about: it wrote death warrants for child rapists and dared the Supreme Court to stop it.
Story Snapshot
- Florida’s new law makes sexual battery of a child under 12 a capital crime, with life without parole as the floor.
- Governor Ron DeSantis openly framed the law as a direct challenge to the Supreme Court’s 2008 Kennedy v. Louisiana ruling.
- Prosecutors have already brought the first death penalty case under the statute, signaling the state plans to use it.
- Legal experts expect a major Supreme Court fight over whether child rape without homicide can ever be punished by execution.
Florida Writes a New Line in the Sand
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1297 and turned sexual battery against a child under 12 into a capital felony under state law. The statute now says that when an adult rapes a child, the state can seek the death penalty, and must at least impose life in prison without the chance of parole. DeSantis folded this measure into his third straight “anti-crime, pro-public safety” package, making it clear he sees this as core public safety policy, not a side issue.
The law took effect on October 1, 2023, and it is already more than symbolic. Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson announced the first indictment seeking death under the new statute, in a Lake County case against Joseph Andrew Giampa. That step matters. It tells judges, defense lawyers, and the Supreme Court that Florida is not just posturing. It intends to execute child rapists if the courts will let it.
A Direct Collision with Supreme Court Precedent
Everything about HB 1297 aims straight at one Supreme Court case: Kennedy v. Louisiana. In 2008, the Court held that sentencing someone to death for any crime other than homicide or certain crimes against the state violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The justices were blunt: the death penalty is “not a proportional punishment for the crime of child rape,” where the child did not die and the attacker did not intend to kill.
Florida’s law contradicts that ruling on its face. It makes the rape of a child under 12 a capital offense even when the victim survives. DeSantis has said plainly that he believes the Court “was wrong” in Kennedy and that this bill is designed to “set up a procedure to be able to challenge that precedent.” His office has stated he is prepared to take the law “all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court” to overrule decisions that, in his view, unjustly shield child rapists from the ultimate punishment.
How Florida Changed Its Death Penalty Rules
Supporters say the law focuses on the “worst of the worst” offenders who repeatedly prey on very young children. Under the new statute, an adult who commits or even attempts sexual battery against a child under 12 can be charged with capital sexual battery, opening the door to a death sentence. The law also allows Florida juries to recommend death with an 8–4 supermajority instead of a unanimous verdict, a change critics argue lowers safeguards in capital cases.
DeSantis linked the policy to his own young children, arguing that any adult who would violate a six-, five-, or three-year-old deserves the harshest justice the state can give. That framing resonates with many conservatives: evil exists, some crimes destroy a child’s life forever, and government’s first duty is to protect the innocent, not accommodate predators. For that audience, the Supreme Court’s bright-line rule against death for non-homicide crimes feels detached from moral common sense.
The Coming Constitutional Fight and Deterrence Debate
Civil rights groups and many legal scholars call the law blatantly unconstitutional, since Kennedy v. Louisiana is still binding precedent. They argue the Eighth Amendment, as interpreted by the Court, simply does not allow execution where the victim lives, no matter how horrific the assault. Lawsuits already challenge HB 1297 as cruel and unusual punishment, setting up the very test DeSantis wants—but with real defendants’ lives on the line.
Supporters claim the threat of death will deter child rapists. Yet decades of research on capital punishment and crime show no clear, reliable deterrent effect, and some studies suggest states with the death penalty have higher violent crime rates than those without. From a conservative, rule-of-law perspective, that cuts both ways. If the data are muddy, voters and lawmakers may decide that justice for the most monstrous crimes, not statistics, should drive punishment—and then wait to see whether the Supreme Court lets that choice stand.
Sources:
thegatewaypundit.com, lukenewmanlaw.com, facebook.com, cssh.northeastern.edu, deathpenaltyinfo.org, x.com, flgov.com, scotusblog.com, tile.loc.gov, dppolicy.substack.com