What the Research and Survivors Need Lawmakers to Know
What’s happening in Alabama around the death penalty and why it matters nationally
Alabama lawmakers are advancing a bill to make the rape or sodomy of a child a capital crime, openly aiming to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), which barred the death penalty for child rape where the victim did not die. Similar measures in Florida and Tennessee signal a coordinated test of that precedent.
If Alabama passes such a law, it will likely trigger immediate constitutional challenges. In Kennedy, the Court held the Eighth Amendment prohibits the death penalty for non-homicide offenses like child rape and warned of unintended harms to victims and public safety.
Does the death penalty deter sexual violence against children?
Short answer: There’s no reliable evidence it does. The National Research Council’s comprehensive review concluded existing studies do not provide useful evidence that capital punishment deters crime beyond long prison terms. Summaries from death-penalty researchers similarly find no clear deterrent effect.
Policy takeaway: If the goal is preventing child sexual abuse, the empirical case for capital punishment as a unique deterrent just isn’t there.
What does the evidence say about reoffending and rehabilitation?
The most rigorous national data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (tracking people released in 34 states) show: over nine years, about 7–8% of those imprisoned for rape/sexual assault were arrested for a new sex crime; about 50% were arrested for any new offense. Sex-crime recidivism is lower than many assume, though still deeply concerning given the harm.
On treatment, modern cognitive-behavioral programs following risk-need-responsivity principles reduce sexual recidivism by 5–8 percentage points (for example, 11% treated vs. 17–19% untreated across large meta-analyses). That’s a meaningful public-safety gain when scaled across systems, especially alongside robust supervision and prevention in youth-serving settings.
Policy takeaway: Evidence-based treatment and management reduce reoffending; investing there yields safer communities than symbolic penalty escalations.
Unintended harms: how the death penalty can hurt kids who disclose
Most children know the person who abuses them. Severe penalties against a family member can complicate disclosure: children may fear “destroying” their family or causing extreme punishment for someone they still depend on. Researchers and victim-advocacy briefs—cited by the Supreme Court in Kennedy—warn that making child rape death-eligible can reduce reporting and even increase the risk of victim murder (to silence the primary witness), because the penalty equals that for homicide.
More broadly, survivors routinely cite fear of consequences, shame, and not being believed as barriers to reporting; strengthening survivor-centered pathways increases disclosures and accountability.
Clinical reality: Children who do speak up can carry profound guilt and shame when punishments are framed as “ultimate.” Centering their safety, healing, and agency, not political theater, should guide policy.
The last thing we want policy to do is give offenders more manipulation power over children.
What actually protects children right now
If lawmakers want to prevent abuse and support survivors, the evidence points to:
- Comprehensive prevention in schools and youth programs (body safety skills, grooming awareness, and consent education), plus stringent adult-screening and one-on-one monitoring policies.
- Survivor-centered reporting pathways (immunity for minor substance use when reporting, confidential advocates, trauma-informed interviewing) that reduce barriers to disclosure.
- Specialized investigation and prosecution units paired with evidence-based treatment/supervision for offenders to reduce reoffending risk.
And whenever someone is ready to talk, we are here to listen and provide trauma-informed lawyering and resources. 1-866-753-5458