Texas sex offenders who are twice convicted of raping children...

Texas sex offenders who are twice convicted of raping children under 14 could get the death penalty under a bill given final approval by state lawmakers and sent to Gov. Rick Perry.
House lawmakers approved Texas’ version of "Jessica’s Law," a crackdown on sex offenders who prey on children. The Senate approved it Thursday.
The bill is named for Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who was abducted and killed in 2005. More than a dozen states have passed versions of Jessica’s Law, and Perry, who has said he was open to the idea of the death penalty in child sex cases, deemed passage of a child sex offender bill a legislative emergency.
Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said the governor will wait to read the final version of the bill before deciding whether to sign it into law.
Texas would be the 6th state to add the death penalty for some child rape cases, although legal experts debate whether the punishment would be unconstitutional in cases where the victim did not die. Louisiana has an inmate on death row in a child sex crime, but the case is still subject to appeals in state and federal courts.
The bill also creates a new category of crime — continual sexual abuse of a young child or children, carrying a minimum penalty of 25 years to life in prison. The Jessica’s Law bill is HB8.