US Rep backs death penalty for child rapists
Abdullateef Fowewe
United States Representative, Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, has expressed strong support for imposing the death penalty on anyone convicted of raping a child.
In a post share on X, Mace wrote, “We want the Death Penalty for anyone who rapes a child.”
The statement sparked intense debate online, with several prominent replies referencing the Jeffrey Epstein files and sharing images of Epstein alongside President Donald Trump.
The responses reflected wider public arguments about accountability, high-profile sexual-abuse allegations and the treatment of powerful figures.
Mace’s position would face a major constitutional hurdle.
In its 2008 decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty could not be imposed for the rape of a child when the crime did not result in, and was not intended to result in, the victim’s death.
The Court held that such punishment violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Mace has previously backed legislation seeking to authorise capital punishment for certain child-sexual-abuse offences under federal law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
The proposed measure would challenge the legal precedent established by Kennedy v. Louisiana.
