New Arkansas law mandates a capital charge for rape of someone under 13
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A bill signed into law on Thursday creates rape of a minor as a death penalty offense.
Senate Bill 375 was signed into law by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders after passing the legislature on April 10, making Arkansas one of the few states in the nation with a law allowing the death penalty for the rape of a minor.
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If the person committing the rape is over 18, they can receive either the death penalty or life without parole, according to the act's language. If under 18, the mandatory sentence is life with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
The law states that if it is found unconstitutional, the capital rape charge reverts to a Class Y felony with a minimum 25 year sentence.
It remains rape even if the victim consented, according to the act.
In the act's 'Legislative Findings' section, it states: 'The United States Supreme Court gravely erred in Kennedy v. Louisiana when it held that the Eighth Amendment prohibited imposition of the death penalty for rape of a child when the crime did not result in death of the victim.'
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Kennedy v. Louisiana was a 2008 case where the court found that the death penalty for child rape where the victim did not die was a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, overturning a Louisiana law and a similar law in five other states.
Lawmakers maintain in the bill's findings section that if more states had a capital rape law the Supreme Court would have been less likely to make its ruling. The legislation had 25 sponsors across both chambers.
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Since the Supreme Court's ruling, Florida, in 2023, Tennessee, in 2024, and Idaho, in 2025, have signed into law provisions to allow the death penalty for rape of a minor.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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