TALAHASSEE, FLA — Florida lawmakers have filed bills that would make the death penalty a possible punishment for people who commit sexual battery on a child under the age of 12.

The bill, known as SB 1342 and HB 1297, would allow the death penalty as a possible option, provided that the prosecutor follows several guidelines in the proposal.

Those guidelines also include a provision that would require at least eight of the 12 total jurors to recommend the sentence. If they don’t recommend death, the defendant would be sentenced to life in prison with no parole.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy v. Louisiana that the death penalty as punishment for raping a child under 12 was cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

Additionally, the Florida Supreme Court also ruled on the matter. In Buford V. State, the state of Florida could not pursue the death penalty in similar cases.

Lawmakers behind the bills assert both courts got the decision wrong and want another chance to overturn the ruling. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned weeks ago he wanted capital punishment in child rape cases to be considered by the Legislature and was hoping lawmakers would explore the law change. In a press conference in Miami in January, he urged lawmakers to take action. 

“They (sexual predators) will do whatever they can to satiate themselves at the expense of very, very vulnerable people,” DeSantis said. “I believe the only appropriate punishment that would be commensurate to that would be capital.”