a Senate panel approved a bill allowing the death penalty for repeat child sex offenders.

a Senate panel approved a bill allowing the death penalty for repeat child sex offenders.
Senate Bill 5, the "Jessica's Law" urged by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, now advances to the full Senate. The law is named for Jessica Lunsford of Florida, a 9-year-old girl who was abducted, raped and killed on February 23, 2005. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee vote was 5-1 with one member abstaining. SB5 would require mandatory 25 years to life sentences for a first-time violent sexual offense against a child under age 14, require lifetime GPS monitoring for child sex offenders, allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for a second sexually violent offense against a child under age 14. Prosecutors and others who testified against the measure fear that families will be reluctant to turn in friends or relatives, who reportedly commit nine out of 10 sexual offenses against children. Others fear that a sex offender who rapes a child would kill the child in order to keep him or her from testifying in a capital trial.