Jessica’s Law Author Debbie Riddle Issues Statement On Supreme Court Decision Making Execution For Child Rape Unconstitutional

State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball), has issued a statement on the U.S. Supreme Court decision today that struck down the portion of HB 8 giving that allowed the death penalty as a punishment for child rape:

“When I made the decision to author House Bill 8, also known as Jessica’s Law, I did so with the single purpose of making Texas safer for our children, and more dangerous for their predators.  While the majority of the provisions of House Bill 8 will not be affected by today’s ruling, I believe that the Supreme Court has somewhat diluted our effort as a state to provide our children with the strongest possible protection by providing the strongest possible punishment to those who would do them harm.

That’s rather interesting. I don’t think the Court diluted the state’s efforts at all. I think the Legislature should have had the wisdom not to understand that the death penalty wasn’t an appropriate punishment for this offense, as bad as the offense is.

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