BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
The House voted Tuesday on two bills dealing with harsh penalties for crimes against children.
Representatives approved a bill to allow the death sentence to be recommended in some cases of lewd conduct with a minor, and OK'd another bill to allow prosecutors to levy charges of sexual exploitation of a child when images of children are generated by artificial intelligence.
Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, co-sponsored both pieces of legislation.
DEATH PENALTY FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF A CHILD
HB 515 would allow the death penalty in cases when the lewd conduct was against a minor under 12 and was “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity.”
Skaug acknowledged that in 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that it was unconstitutional to impose the death penalty in a child rape case when the victim did not die.
“I believe that was the wrong decision,” Skaug said.
Because the five justices in the majority ruling of that decision — Anthony Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer — are all no longer on the court, Skaug said he thought there was a chance the decision could be overturned.
Two of the dissenting justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, are still on the court.
Skaug said he thought it was worth it for Idaho to take on the potential constitutional challenges.
“It would be a long battle,” he said. “It’s one I'm encouraging all of us to take on.”
Bill co-sponsor Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, agreed that Idaho should join Florida, which passed a bill last year that allows the death penalty for sexual abuse of a child.
“At some point we have to be able to say, ‘no, enough is enough,’ with the most severe ones,” Tanner said.
Both sponsors said they thought the death penalty would only be rarely used in these cases. The bill adds language to Idaho’s first-degree murder penalties in which the death penalty may be used if there are aggravating circumstances.
Idaho hasn’t carried out an execution since 1994, according to data gathered by Boise State University. The state had a scheduled execution for Gerald Pizzuto Jr. in March 2023, but a judge granted a stay when the state was unable to obtain the chemicals. This month, the state Supreme Court also heard arguments for the stay of execution of Thomas Creech, who is scheduled to be executed on Feb. 28. The court denied the motion to stay his execution.
Last session, the Legislature approved a law that allows the use of a firing squad to carry out death sentences if lethal injection chemicals can't be obtained. The state had indicated it obtained chemicals for Creech.
Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, R-Idaho Falls, said during debate she felt the Legislature should wait to see what happens in the courts with Florida’s law before opening Idaho up to potentially costly legal challenges.
Mickelsen originally voted against the bill but later asked to be able to change her vote to a yes.
Rep. Chris Mathias, D-Boise, argued that the death penalty would not be a harsh enough penalty for perpetrators of these types of crimes. He noted that these types of criminals are among the “least favored” inmates in prison.
“We are going to relieve the worst people in our society of the burden that they should carry for the rest of their life,” Mathias said. “I say let them suffer. Let them rot, and let’s save the taxpayers a lot of money while we’re doing it.”
With Mickelsen’s changed vote, the members approved the bill 57-11, with all of the Democrats and Rep. Jack Nelsen, R-Jerome, voting against it.
AI CHILD EXPLOITATION
Skaug and Rep. Dori Healey, R-Boise, sponsored HB 465, which adds to Idaho’s penalties for child pornography to include AI-generated images that appear to be real children.
“This technology is being used to create thousands of images of children across the world and in Idaho,” Healey said.
She said prosecutors don’t have options when the images were artificially created.
It would be a felony crime to knowingly use AI to create obscene images of an “identifiable child” punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of up to $5,000. It wouldn't be required that the child depicted actually exist.
It would be an affirmative defense to have five or fewer of these images, and to have taken reasonable steps to destroy the images or report them to law enforcement.
Skaug said he worked with the Idaho Attorney General’s Office and the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association on drafting the legislation.
There was no debate on the bill and it passed 69-0 with one member absent.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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