June 8, 2024 - Epoch Times
09:46
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| Earlier this week, the state legislature of Louisiana, they passed a new bill, you can see it up on your screen, which will approve surgical castration as a punishment option for those who are found guilty of sex crimes against kids. | |
| Specifically, quote, Louisiana judges could order surgical castration for people convicted of sex crimes against young children under legislation approved on Monday. | |
| Now, it is worth noting that there are a number of states across the country, like California, Florida, as well as Texas, that already have chemical castration as a potential punishment for crimes against children. | |
| Now, in some of these states, the criminal in question can opt for a surgical castration if that's what they prefer instead of a chemical castration. | |
| However, if and when this new bill in Louisiana gets signed by the governor, it'll make Louisiana the first state where the judges are allowed to impose surgical castration on a convicted criminal. | |
| Now, interestingly, for the past 16 years, Louisiana has been one of those states that have allowed for chemical castration. | |
| Quote, for more than 16 years, judges in Louisiana have been allowed to order those convicted of such crimes to receive chemical castration, though that punishment is rarely issued. | |
| Louisiana's current chemical castration law has been in place since 2008, but officials said that from 2010 to 2019, they could only find one or two cases where it was used, meaning that it's an option that is not frequently invoked. | |
| And just for your reference, at this very moment in the state of Louisiana, quote, There are 2,224 people imprisoned in Louisiana for sex crimes against children younger than the age of 13. | |
| However, these 2,224 criminals will not be qualified for surgical castration. | |
| That's because if and when this bill gets signed into law by the governor, it can only be applied moving forward to those whose crimes occurred on or after August 1st of this year. | |
| Now, interestingly, the votes on this particular bill were split along party lines in the state legislature. | |
| On the one hand, the bill received overwhelming support from the Republican lawmakers, with the votes against the bill mainly coming from Democrat state lawmakers. | |
| And the main reason for the pushback is that some of the lawmakers believed that this was a form of cruel and unusual punishment, while some others were questioning the actual effectiveness of the whole castration procedure. | |
| However, and this is the part that's actually quite interesting, despite the party vote breakdown, the bill itself was actually written by a Democrat state senator, Ms. | |
| Regina Barrow. | |
| In terms of why she decided to author and then push the bill forward, here is what she said. | |
| According to the actual text of the bill, if an offender either fails to appear or refuses to undergo surgical castration after a judge orders the procedure to take place, they could be hit with a failure to comply charge and subsequently they can face an additional three to five years in prison. | |
| And again, as I mentioned at the top of the episode, this bill is currently on the desk of Mr. Jeff Landry, the Louisiana governor. | |
| He has 10 days to either sign or veto the bill, otherwise it'll become law automatically without a signature. | |
| Now, this move by the Louisiana state legislature is actually part of a growing trend across all of America of states looking to essentially up the ante in terms of punishments against pedophiles. | |
| For instance, this time last year, you had Governor Ron DeSantis sign a bill into law which authorized the death penalty for child rapists within the state of Florida. | |
| That bill, which you can see up on your screen, is called HB 1297, and it overwhelmingly passed the Florida State Legislature. | |
| In the Florida House, it passed 95 to 14, and in the Florida State Senate, it passed 34 to 5. | |
| This law, it allows individuals who have been found guilty of raping a child under the age of 12 to be sentenced to execution. | |
| And I should mention that this death sentence does not require unanimous jury decision. | |
| Meaning, in practice, that after a person is found guilty, in the state of Florida, a prosecutor will only need the approval of 8 out of 12 jurors to be able to go ahead with a sentence of capital punishment. | |
| Now, when he was actually signing the bill into law, here is what, at least part of what Governor Ron DeSanta said in a statement. | |
| Quote, This measure is for the protection of children. | |
| Unfortunately, in our society, we have very heinous sex crimes that are committed against children under the age of 12 years old. | |
| These are really the worst of the worst. | |
| The perpetrators of these crimes are often serial offenders. | |
| And indeed, shortly after this bill was passed and then enacted, a Florida state prosecutor used it against this man right here, Mr. Joseph Andrew Giampa. | |
| He was found guilty of six counts of sexual battery against a girl who was under the age of 12. | |
| Citing the new law, the prosecution, they sought the death penalty, capital punishment, against this man. | |
| However, in order to avoid that possibility, Joseph ultimately agreed to instead serve a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole, leading to the state attorney's office in Florida to issue the following statement, quote, This was a huge case for our office. | |
| It was the first case where the death penalty was being sought under the governor's new law. | |
| Resolution in less than 100 days is proof that Florida's capital punishment statute for sexual battery of children is effective. | |
| By passing this law, the Florida legislature and the governor have sent a message that Florida has zero tolerance for those who prey upon our most vulnerable, and that the punishment will be certain, swift, and severe. | |
| Now, despite this apparent success, and despite the overwhelming majority of the Florida state legislature voting in favor of the bill, and even despite the fact that the bill has already been signed into law, well, there's still actually a big question of whether or not it's constitutional. | |
| That's because back in the year 2008, there was a landmark ruling from the U.S. | |
| Supreme Court which specifically outlawed capital punishment in cases of child sexual battery. | |
| For your reference, in that particular case, there was a man named Patrick Kennedy from Louisiana who was found guilty of sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl. | |
| And at the time, there was a Louisiana state law that was on the books which imposed the death penalty for the crime of raping a child. | |
| And as such, Mr. Kennedy was sentenced to death. | |
| However, like a dying man grasping at any potential straw he can, he appealed that decision all the way up to the U.S. | |
| Supreme Court, who ultimately ruled in the favor of this child rapist. | |
| Here is a short summary of the details of that particular appeal. | |
| Quote, "Kennedy challenged his sentence as a violation of the Eighth Amendment based on the rarity of a death sentence for this crime. | |
| No one in the U.S. has been executed for a crime other than murder since 1964. | |
| The court last considered a related issue in 1977 when it prohibited capital punishment for the rape of an adult in Cochrane v. Georgia. | |
| While that case did not specifically address the rape of children under the age of 12, the decision was viewed by some as limiting the death penalty to the crime of murder. | |
| Ultimately, the US Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the Louisiana statute that allowed the death penalty for the rape of a child where the victim did not die. | |
| And more specifically, in the majority opinion of the court back in the year 2008, here is what was written. | |
| Quote, Based both on consensus and our own independent judgment, our holding is that a death sentence for one who raped but did not kill a child and who did not intend to assist another in killing the child is unconstitutional under the 8th and 14th amendments. | |
| As it relates to crimes against individuals, though, the death penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim's life was not taken. | |
| Alright, just to pause here for a super quick moment, with Father's Day right around the corner. | |
| Well, a phenomenal gift, as well as a great way to honor his legacy, is to give him an AMAC membership. | |
| AMAC, which is today's sponsor, is the Association of Mature American Citizens, and it's an awesome organization that champions the values of faith, family, and freedom, and they fight for these values over on Capitol Hill, essentially standing as a bulwark against what they call the socialist storm brewing in America. | |
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| You can actually check out the full list of benefits over on their website. | |
| Just head on over to amac.us forward slash fax F-A-C-T-S and take advantage of their Father's Day special, a two-year membership for just $16, which is basically two years for the price of one. | |
| So again, just head on over to amac.us forward slash fax. | |
| I'll also throw the link down into the description box below. | |
| And so that's all to say that even though this law is on the books in Florida, very likely the first person who's actually given the death sentence will be appealing their case all the way up to the U.S. | |
| Supreme Court trying to overturn the law. | |
| And while based on that 2008 precedent, you would naturally assume that it would be an open and shut case, you frankly never know. | |
| Occasionally, the U.S. | |
| Supreme Court does reverse itself. | |
| They reverse their earlier rulings, such as in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, and more recently in Roe v. Wade. | |
| And furthermore, it's perhaps worth mentioning that all of the justices who were part of that majority opinion back in 2008 are actually no longer on the court. | |
| And so, you never know how it'll actually shake out. | |
| In the meantime, you actually have other states looking to follow suit, such as Idaho, whose state legislature is likewise looking to allow the death penalty for child rapists. | |
| And so that is where we're currently at. | |
| If you'd like to go through anything that we discussed in today's episode, such as what's taking place in Louisiana, Florida, or Idaho, I'll throw all my research notes down into the description box below this video if you want to check them out. | |
| And also, I'd love to know your thoughts. | |
| What do you think about surgical castration and also the death penalty for these types of crimes? | |
| Do you think that they're warranted? | |
| And or do you think that it's a form of cruel and unusual punishment? | |
| I'd love to know your thoughts. | |
| Please leave them in the comments section below. | |
| I'll be reading them tonight as well as over the weekend. | |
| And also, if you enjoy this content, perhaps as you're making your way down there to the description box, take a short detour to smash those like and subscribe buttons so that this video can reach ever more people via the YouTube algorithm. | |
| And until next time, stay informed. |
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