The Associated Press

AUSTIN—When Texas lawmakers approved the death penalty for some repeat child rapists in 2007, they called it a get-tough measure against worst-case offenders.

They did it despite warnings it would be ruled unconstitutional, with a deaf ear to objections by victim advocates that families would not report crimes if it meant a loved one could be executed or that offenders might kill victims who were the only witness to the crime

On Wednesday, a divided U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law, ruling the death penalty in child rape cases violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

“The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority in the 5-4 decision.

The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, a statewide nonprofit victim advocacy group representing 80 rape crisis centers, applauded the ruling.

“Most child sexual abuse victims are abused by a family member or close family friend,” the group said in a statement. “The reality is that child victims and their families don’t want to be responsible for sending a grandparent, cousin or long time family friend to death row.”

Texas was one of six states that allowed the death penalty in some cases of child rape. The Texas law had allowed the death penalty for offenders twice convicted of raping children under 14.

Wednesday’s ruling involved a case from Louisiana, the only state with a child rapist on death row.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, said the state must abide by the court ruling, but added Texas would keep pushing for tough sentences for child molesters.

The law still allows prosecutors to seek life in prison without parole.

The death penalty provision was championed by Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. He invited Mark Lunsford, a Florida man whose daughter Jessica was killed by a registered sex offender, to the Capitol to drum up support.

“Jessica’s Law” passed the House and Senate with large majorities. Sensing a constitutional problem, however, the law was written in a way allowed the courts to strike down the death penalty provision without damaging other tough sentencing measures.

Dewhurst said Wednesday most Texans believe the death penalty is “an appropriate form of punishment for repeat child molesters. Our top priority remains protecting our most precious resource — our children.”

The Supreme Court banned executions for rape in 1977 in a case involving an adult female victim. Wednesday’s ruling involved a man sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter.

Writing for the majority, Kennedy said while the crime can inflict years of anguish on a victim, the death penalty should not be expanded to cases where the victim did not die.

The ruling will have little practical effect on Texas’ death row. Prosecutors in the Lone Star State had shown little, if any, appetite for using the death penalty in child rape cases.

Shannon Edmonds, spokesman for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said he knew of no child rape where a prosecutor considered seeking the death penalty.

But Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office criticized the Supreme Court ruling, noting that two other crimes in which victims may not be killed—treason and espionage—are subject to the death penalty.

“Today’s decision marks a setback for Texas’ efforts to punish repeat child rapists,” Abbott spokesman Jerry Strickland said. “A criminal convicted of multiple brutal acts of child rape will be treated less severely than one who commits treason or espionage.”

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat, was the only senator to vote against the bill.

He said the law played on the emotions of an awful crime. Ellis said the state should not expand use of the death penalty at a time when dozens of inmates in Texas have been exonerated of their crimes with DNA testing.