Does Colorado need another death penalty bill? A Republican-backed bill to allow the death penalty for those who sexually assault children under 12 is advancing in the state legislature.

A Senate committee has approved a bill that would allow the state to execute people convicted of sexually assaulting children under 12 years old. The bill applies to perpetrators who threaten to retaliate against their victims.

Leaving aside questions of the constitutional validity of the bill, do we really want to pay the tab for the exorbitant legal costs of such proceedings? Doubtful. It’s one of the reasons the death penalty is rarely sought and even more rarely attained in Colorado. The bill is expected to fail. What’s next for child molesters, a bill to impose a sentence of life plus cancer?