Idaho Expands Death Penalty for Certain Child Sex Crimes as Firing Squad Becomes Primary Execution Method

Idaho has expanded capital punishment to cover certain aggravated sex crimes against children age 12 and younger, while a separate law now makes the firing squad the state’s primary method of execution.

Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 380 in March 2025, creating a new offense of aggravated lewd conduct with a young child and allowing prosecutors to seek a death sentence in qualifying cases.

The law took effect July 1, 2025, and applies to defendants who are at least 18 years old and are convicted of aggravated lewd conduct involving a child age 12 or younger.

A death sentence is not automatic. Prosecutors must file formal notice that they intend to seek capital punishment, and Idaho law requires a separate sentencing process after a qualifying conviction.

For aggravated lewd conduct, the jury must find at least three statutory aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt before the death penalty can be imposed under the new framework.

Those aggravating factors can include repeated abuse, prior sex-offense convictions, kidnapping, trafficking, torture, use of force or coercion, being armed, or occupying a position of trust over the child.

If the required aggravating circumstances are established but jurors conclude that mitigating circumstances make death unjust, Idaho law provides for life imprisonment rather than a mandatory execution sentence.

House Bill 380 passed the Idaho House without a dissenting vote among members present, while the Senate approved the measure 30-5 before it was sent to Little.

Supporters said the measure was intended to impose severe penalties for the most serious sexual offenses against young children and to strengthen mandatory minimum sentences for other qualifying offenses.

Opponents and legal observers emphasized a constitutional obstacle: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy v. Louisiana in 2008 that the death penalty cannot be imposed for child rape when the victim did not die.

Idaho lawmakers who backed House Bill 380 openly acknowledged that precedent and said they expected a future prosecution could create a case asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its earlier ruling.

That means the statute is on Idaho’s books, but whether a death sentence imposed under it would survive federal constitutional review remains an unresolved legal question under current Supreme Court precedent.

Separately, Idaho enacted House Bill 37 in March 2025, changing the state’s execution method so that firing squad, rather than lethal injection, became the primary method beginning July 1, 2026.

Under the current statute, the Department of Correction must certify whether a firing squad is available after a death warrant is issued; lethal injection becomes the alternative if that method is unavailable.

The two laws are related only through Idaho’s broader capital-punishment system: House Bill 380 expands which crimes may carry death, while House Bill 37 determines how an authorized execution would ordinarily be carried out.

Idaho’s Department of Correction has been retrofitting the execution unit at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, including space designed for firing-squad procedures, witness areas, ballistic protection and related security measures.

In June 2026, correction officials released procedures requiring firing-squad members to be volunteer law-enforcement officers with firearms experience, accuracy testing and recurring training before any scheduled execution.

Idaho has never carried out a firing-squad execution in the modern era, and the new protocol has already become the subject of litigation by death-sentenced prisoners challenging aspects of the state’s procedures.

The social-media claim that Idaho simply authorized firing-squad executions for anyone convicted of abusing a child under 12 therefore leaves out important legal requirements, separate statutes and unresolved constitutional questions.

As of September 2026, Idaho law permits prosecutors to seek death in narrowly defined aggravated child-sex-offense cases, while firing squad is the default execution method when available, subject to continuing judicial review.