The State of Utah just approved a proposal last Tuesday that allows the state to execute someone convicted of human trafficking if he or she causes death to the victim.
UK's the Daily Mail reports that Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield, Utah filed a bill that was approved last Tuesday. The bill metes out the death penalty if the convicted trafficker recklessly disregards the victim's life.
The Clearfield Republican representative states that the death penalty sentence could include situations where a trafficking victim dies due to hunger or thirst or is killed when being sold to another person.
Associated Press' the Big Story reports that lawmakers voted 6-3, last Tuesday, to advance Ray's proposal on the death penalty to human traffickers . It must go through the full House of Representatives , Utah's Senate and the governor for approval before it becomes a law.
According to ABC News, Ray is no stranger to death penalty proposals. A year ago he ushered a law allowing his home state to use firing squads if execution by lethal injection is not available. His current proposal was slammed by critics as being so broad and bordering on unconstitutional by allowing small fishes in a trafficking operation to be eligible for execution.
To appease his critics the lawmaker revised the proposal before the vote last Tuesday afternoon, making it fall in line with Utah's other capital punishment laws.
Opponents of the Death penalty were still not satisfied and found the proposal unjust and costly.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah believes that although human trafficking is a very serious problem, the state should focus on helping the victims rather than the perpetrator. The ACLU further said that to cost of killing a convicted felon is very expensive and excessive. It pointed out a 2012 study that each death penalty could cost about US$1.7 million more than a life sentence, assuming each death row inmate lives on appeal for 20 years before finally being executed.
Ray said he believed that somebody serving a life sentence could cost more because the taxpayers pay for his incarceration for the rest of his natural life while he keeps filng court appeals. He argues that his proposal for death penalty of human traffickers cost less because the inmate can only appeal so much before finally being executed.
