Excerpted from Freedom Newspapers
Byline-- Barry Smith

The Senate has unanimously approved a bill that would make raping a child younger than 13 punishable by a minimum of 25 years in prison and require offenders to submit to lifetime GPS monitoring once released from prison.

“It’s like one strike and you’re out,” Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gaston, said of the Jessica Lunsford Act, which he shepherded through the chamber.

The measure is named in memory of Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old girl and Gaston County native who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2005 by a Florida sex offender police had lost track of.

Mark Lunsford, her father, came to Raleigh last year to encourage lawmakers to pass Jessica’s Law. On Wednesday, he said he was pleased that the Senate passed the bill. “I’m tickled to death that North Carolina is taking these steps and that they’re headed in this direction,” Mark Lunsford said.

The law would apply to people at least 18 years old who rape or sexually assault a child younger than 13. Judges would have the discret! ion of sentencing the offender to life in prison or 25 years plus lifetime GPS monitoring upon release.

It would also increase penalties for sexual exploitation of a minor and place more stringent requirements for people who have to register as a sex offender. In addition, it makes it a crime for a person on the sex offender registry to go on the premises of places intended primarily for the use of minors, such as playgrounds, child care centers, children’s museums and schools.

Schools and child care centers would also receive email notification when a registered sex offender moves within a one-mile radius of the center or school.

The measure now returns to the House, where lawmakers must approve Senate changes before it goes to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature.

Rep. Tim Moore, one of the bill's sponsors, said he expects the House to give the bill its final approval. “We worked with the Senate on all the amendments,” Moore said. “We agreed with all the amendments and supported all the amendments.”