Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a proposed change to his state’s criminal code, raising the minimum sentence for pedophiles to life in prison
DeSantis also said capital punishment should be brought back for child sex offenders but noted that it would require the Supreme Court to reverse its decision on using the death penalty.
“They said the Constitution does not allow capital punishment for anything short of a homicide,” DeSantis began.
“The problem with that you have some of these sex predators that will abuse these very very young children, do it habitually, and I’m just thinking to myself, you’re ruining those kids’ lives– those are innocent kids,” he added.
He then suggested the current Supreme Court would “not uphold” the previous ruling, and signaled his administration would begin “exploring ways to facilitate” capital punishment for such criminals.
DeSantis’s proposition was met with a round of applause.
“We understand it’ll be a challenge,” he continued, “but I think it’s ripe for us to challenge a decision that wasn’t well thought out.”
“What we know we can do regardless of how the Supreme Court stuff shakes out, is we do wanna ensure that the minimum sentence for these predators who are raping these young kids, that they do at least get life in prison because they will re-offend if you put them back on the streets.”
Watch
“These people don’t care,” DeSantis said of pedophiles, referring to them as “the worst of the worst.”
“They are unrepentant, they don’t care about these children; they will do whatever they can do to satiate themselves at the expense of very very vulnerable people.”
The governor also included a plan to address the “battle against fentanyl.”
Under his proposal, it would become a first-degree felony to possess, sell or manufacture fentanyl to look like candy, with a minimum life sentence and $1 million penalty for people who are targeting children as customers, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
“We’re going to take action against this, because this is really targeting our youngest and most vulnerable kids,” he said.
READ MORE: John Legend: Ron DeSantis Is ‘A Cruel and Small Individual’
