Could the death penalty be used as a punishment in Missouri for people charged with first-degree crimes of statutory rape or sex trafficking of children? It’s a proposal sponsored by Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, who says crime prevention is a priority.
“The worst crimes deserve the harshest punishments,” Moon said. “I think we would all agree with that. Sex crimes against children have long lasting results. I was looking at a study recently that showed that PTSD is one of the results as well as schizophrenia. Those are lifelong symptoms.”
Moon said the state needs to do all it can to protect children from these crimes. He told a Missouri Senate committee that Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida have enacted laws similar to his bill.
“You might remember the Supreme Court has decided that this is unconstitutional and what I’m hoping is that if Missouri will get on board with these other three states that we can cause the Supreme Court to take another look at it and reconsider those options,” he said.
But Sharon Geuea Jones with Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty opposes the bill.
“We are against the death penalty in all cases,” Jones said. “We believe that life imprisonment without possibility of parole is sufficient punishment, even for the most heinous of crimes. So, for those reasons we oppose the bill.”
A provision of the bill stipulates that if the death penalty is not waived by Missouri, the trial will proceed in two stages – determining guilt and assessing punishment. If the defendant is found guilty, the trier will decide the sentence of the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole, with factors to be considered like intellectual disability or severity of punishment.
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