As reports of sex crimes against children continue to rise across the state—including within government schools—Texans are recommending harsher penalties for child sexual predators.
Some are ready to consider the harshest penalty for the worst offenders: death.
Six states have already enacted laws making child rapists eligible for the death penalty in certain circumstances: Florida, Tennessee, Idaho, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi.
The state laws are currently unenforceable under a 2008 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Court narrowly decided that the death penalty is unconstitutional when the rape of a child does not result in the child’s death.
But officials in several Republican-run states are ready to challenge that precedent.
Florida
“We believe in death penalty for pedophiles,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a July 3 interview. “The Supreme Court said you couldn’t do that 10, 15 years ago. We’re challenging that. I think this court would let us do it, and it’s an appropriate punishment for some of the worst criminals we have.”
Florida was first to enact a death penalty option for child rape.
DeSantis signed a law in 2023 making “sexual battery” of a child under the age of 12 a capital offense punishable by death if at least two aggravating factors are proven.
In May of this year, a Florida court filed notice that it intends to seek the death penalty against a 41-year-old suspect indicted for 47 separate felonies, including 12 counts of sexual battery of a 10-year-old girl.
“This kind of criminal depravity demands only one response from the State,” said Bill Gladson, state attorney for Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit. “We are seeking to prematurely end this defendant’s life because the crimes he committed are so heinous that no other punishment is fitting.”
Tennessee
Tennessee lawmakers passed a similar measure in 2024, authorizing the death penalty for rape of a child under the age of 13. Legislation passed in 2026 expanded the law to add specific aggravating factors.
Idaho
Idaho Gov. Brad Little approved the death penalty for pedophiles in 2025 after lawmakers passed the measure with near-unanimous support.
The law creates a new death penalty-eligible offense of aggravated lewd conduct with children age 12 or younger, and adds mandatory minimums for other sex crimes against children under the age of 17.
“The sexual abuse of children is sickening and evil, and perpetrators convicted of these crimes deserve the ultimate punishment,” stated Little, adding that Idaho also made death by firing squad the state’s primary method of execution.
The measure’s floor sponsor, Idaho Rep. Bruce Skaug (R–Nampa), noted that the Supreme Court last ruled on the issue almost 20 years ago, in a 5-4 decision.
“I don’t think that would be the case today,” said Skaug, who is an attorney. “That’s my professional opinion. That’s the opinion of many other attorneys.”
Oklahoma
Oklahoma also enacted a death penalty option in 2025 for rapists who victimize children under the age of 14.
“There should be no second chances for an individual so depraved to rape a child,” stated the bill’s author, Oklahoma Sen. Warren Hamilton (R–McCurtain), calling child sex offenders “monsters among us.”
“For individuals who commit these types of horrific acts—there is no form of effective rehabilitation, and there is no amount of therapy or programming to make them better or make up for this crime,” added Hamilton.
Alabama
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the “Child Predator Death Penalty Act” into law in February, making rape, sodomy, and sexual torture of a child under the age of 12 capital offenses.
“For too long, the most vulnerable of our society have lacked the most stringent legal protection from child predators,” said Ivey. “Those who target the youngest among us for the vilest crimes will soon be met with the harshest punishment under the law.”
Mississippi
In April, Mississippi lawmakers created the crime of capital sexual battery, which applies to victims under the age of 12 and authorizes a sentence of death if at least two aggravating factors are proven.
“Such crimes destroy the innocence of a young child and violate all standards of decency held by civilized society,” the bill’s intent states.
Texas
At least one Texas lawmaker is ready to support similar child rape legislation.
State Rep. Mitch Little (R–Lewisville) says he is “supportive” of capital punishment for rapists of children under the age of 12.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also signaled support.
In a September 2025 letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, Paxton and 14 other Republican attorneys general said they would urge their state legislatures to authorize capital punishment for child rapists, and they sought federal help to overrule the Kennedy decision and uphold the death penalty in child-rape prosecutions.
“Child rapists should be sentenced to death,” concurred State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston), the Republican nominee to succeed Paxton as attorney general. “Deterrence works and we must protect Texas kids from harm, especially the evil of child sex predators.”
State Rep. Andy Hopper (R–Decatur) is a step ahead.
Hopper filed a bill in 2025 to make certain sex crimes capital offenses if the victim is under the age of 14. The measure drew 19 co-authors but never received a hearing in the House Criminal Jurisprudence subcommittee on Juvenile Justice.
Texas Scorecard is contacting other state officials for their thoughts on the issue.
The next Texas Legislative Session convenes on January 12, 2027. Bill filing begins on November 9.
A federal Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act was introduced in the U.S. House in February but is stalled in committee.
