Claims Idaho passed a bill to ‘give pedophiles the death penalty’ need context

Legislation proposed in the Idaho state house attracted national attention when a post on X went viral, claiming the bill would “give pedophiles the death penalty.”

Capital punishment for people convicted of child rape has been a topic of national conversation in recent years, with Florida also seeking such executions.

No one has been executed in the United States for a crime other than murder since 1964.

THE QUESTION

Is Idaho considering a bill to give pedophiles the death penalty?

THE SOURCES

• Idaho House Bill 515
• Kennedy v. Louisiana, a 2008 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision
• Idaho Code

THE ANSWER

The bill would allow the death penalty for some specific cases of child sex abuse, not “pedophiles” generally. 

It also would be unenforceable unless the Supreme Court overturned a previous decision that ruled the death penalty cannot be applied except as punishment for first-degree murder.

WHAT WE FOUND

A bill that would allow the death penalty to be used for certain cases of child sex abuse has been proposed in Idaho, but it would not call for the execution of all pedophiles and would currently be unenforceable even if it passes.

The death penalty in America is predominantly carried out by states, which each have their own criminal codes outlining whether and when it can be used.

The current Idaho criminal code only allows the death penalty to be used for certain cases of first-degree murder with at least one aggravating factor, such as a repeat offense or “exceptional depravity.”

On Feb. 8, two Republican state representatives in Idaho introduced House Bill 515.

The bill would amend the criminal code to also allow the death penalty for cases of “lewd conduct with a minor child… under twelve years of age.”

“Lewd conduct with a minor child” is an existing crime in Idaho, defined by the law as “any lewd or lascivious act or acts upon… a minor child under the age of sixteen years of age, including but not limited to, genital-genital contact, oral-genital contact, anal-genital contact, oral-anal contact, manual-anal contact, or manual-genital contact… when any of such acts are done with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust or passions or sexual desires of such person… or third party.”

The proposed bill would limit the use of the death penalty for this crime to cases where the victim is younger than 12 years old, and the crime “was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity.”

That means not all pedophiles could be executed in Idaho under this proposal; only those convicted of these specific crimes.

On Feb. 13, the bill passed the state house 57-11. It has yet to receive a vote in the state senate.

Critics of the bill have pointed out that even if it passes, it will be unenforceable under current federal law, as the U.S. Supreme Court has deemed bills like it unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.

That ruling was issued in 2008, in the case Kennedy v. Louisiana, with the court striking down a Louisiana law to allow the death penalty for certain child sex abusers. It followed a similar ruling in 1977, Coker v. Georgia, which held that the death penalty cannot be used for rape convictions under the 8th Amendment.

The 2008 ruling was a narrow one, 5-4. None of the justices in the majority at the time still sit on the court, and three of the dissenting justices do. That’s given the Idaho bill’s sponsors hope that if the bill passes and is challenged in court, it could make its way back to the Supreme Court, where a more conservative bench could potentially overturn Kennedy and allow the bill to take effect.

Until and unless that happens, however, even if the bill is signed into law, the state of Idaho would remain unable to execute anyone for crimes other than first-degree murder.