Alabama Legislature sends child rape death-penalty bill to governor

Alabama lawmakers have approved legislation to make certain child sex crimes punishable by death, sending the measure to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk where she has pledged to sign it into law. The move makes Alabama the latest state to join a conservative effort to challenge a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars the death penalty for crimes in which the victim does not die.

The Child Predator Death Penalty Act, House Bill 41, would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for people convicted of first-degree rape, sodomy or sexual torture of a child younger than 12. The Alabama Senate gave final passage Feb. 5 after the House approved the measure earlier in the session.