Iowa Republicans advance ‘tough on crime’ bills. What they would do

DES MOINES — Republicans in the Iowa Legislature are advancing a pair of “tough on crime” bills that would keep some offenders locked up longer and tighten the state’s sex offender registry.

The proposals would require many offenders to serve at least half their prison sentences before becoming eligible for parole and would impose lifetime registration for those who commit any subsequent sex offense, even if expunged.

Critics and stakeholders warned the proposals could backfire, citing prison overcrowding, sentence-calculation glitches that could trigger early releases or reduce parole supervision, and questions about whether the registry changes are redundant or overly punitive with limited added public-safety benefit.

Mandatory minimums, parole eligibility overhaul

Senate File 2011 would rewrite Iowa’s mandatory minimum sentencing and parole eligibility rules for a range of crimes, generally requiring offenders to serve a larger share of their prison terms before they can be released.

  Buy Photo

A Senate subcommittee panel advanced the bill Tuesday, with Sens. Mark Lofgren, R-Muscatine, and Jeff Reichman, R-Montrose, signing off to move it forward — though both said changes may be needed. Sen. Izaah Knox, D-Des Moines, declined to sign off.

The bill imposes a 50 percent mandatory minimum sentence for several categories of offenses, including forcible felonies involving a weapon, habitual offenders, certain methamphetamine crimes involving minors, some child endangerment offenses, and repeat domestic abuse assault.

Under the bill, a person convicted of a forcible felony involving a dangerous weapon would have to serve at least half the sentence before becoming eligible for parole, replacing the current fixed five-year minimum. The bill also would require habitual offenders to serve half their sentence before parole eligibility.

A person convicted of a first offense for conspiring to manufacture or delivering amphetamine or methamphetamine to a minor would become eligible for parole after serving half the sentence, rather than the current 10-year minimum.

Other provisions increase time served. Some child endangerment convictions would require offenders to serve between half and seven-tenths of their sentence before parole or work release, up from the current three-tenths to seven-tenths.

And for repeat domestic abuse assault, the bill would tighten parole eligibility by requiring a person convicted of a third or subsequent offense to serve at least half the maximum sentence before becoming eligible for parole or work release. Current law requires the person to serve between one-fifth and the maximum term of the sentence.

But parole officials and corrections staff said the bill could have major downstream effects.

Dana Wingert, a former Des Moines police chief and a member of the Iowa Board of Parole, warned that offenders could “get discharged to the street with no parole supervision,” meaning no parole officer tracking them during reentry. That concern, he said, is heightened because the bill targets “very serious” offenses — “the kinds of people that you want on parole supervision when they get out.”

Wingert also cautioned that longer mandatory minimums could worsen crowding. As prisons fill, he said, the system could become “one in, one out” — with officials eventually “picking from the best of the worst” to make room.

Iowa’s prison system already faces significant overcrowding. The Iowa Department of Corrections reported the state’s prison system is about 23 percent over capacity.

  Buy Photo

The Iowa Department of Corrections said it supports the intent of the bill, but raised technical alarms about how sentences would be computed. With a 50 percent mandatory minimum, that can make the maximum sentence (after earned time) shorter than the mandatory minimum, creating a calculation error, Kimberly Kessens, chief records administrator for the Department of Corrections, told lawmakers

In one example, she said, applying the bill to a 10-year Class C felony sentence could produce a maximum time served of about 4.54 years after earned time, while the mandatory minimum would be five.

Kessens said the problem is how the code defaults sentence calculations to the category with the most generous earned time, causing the release date to fall earlier than the mandatory minimum. Jen Rathje, legislative liaison for the Department of Corrections, echoed that point, saying the issue arises because when the code is silent on how to categorize certain sentences, “it defaults to that category A … [and] it allows for that actual release date to be earlier than the mandatory minimum.”

Knox asked whether the bill could be fixed. Rathje said DOC would be willing to suggest changes tied to sentence-calculation statutes.

The hearing ended with lawmakers signaling the bill may advance, but not without revisions. Reichman said he to shift the bill’s tougher parole restrictions for domestic abuse assault from third offenses to second offenses, citing multiple deaths in his district.

Lifetime sex offender proposal raises concerns

House File 2065 would expand lifetime requirements on Iowa’s sex offender registry, mandating permanent registration for anyone already required to register who commits any subsequent sex offense — including any expunged convictions — and permanently barring those individuals from seeking removal or modification of their registration status.

The bill also tightens registry photo requirements, requiring offenders to update photographs at least once a year.

Those provisions were debated Tuesday during a House subcommittee hearing chaired by Rep. Mike Vondran, R-Davenport, who said the bill is aimed at people who continue to reoffend.

  Buy Photo

Opponents questioned whether the bill would meaningfully change current law. Andrew Mertens, with Iowa Association for Justice, said existing statutes already impose lifetime registration for second or subsequent sex offenses in practice.

Mertens also raised concerns about changing the language to “any subsequent” offense, warning it could be misused in plea negotiations when multiple charges stem from a single incident.

Heather Wagner, “a rape-by-gunpoint survivor” and public school educator, told lawmakers that if anyone might be expected to support the bill, “it would be me as a survivor — but I don’t.”

Wagner, president and founder of Iowans United, said she has been married for 25 years to a man who was molested as a child and later convicted of a child pornography offense that she said was “given to him in an adult chat room.” He served his sentence and, she said, has since made “a great comeback in society,” though she described him as troubled.

Wagner called the registry a law-enforcement tool that has expanded into a public system that has “gotten way out of hand,” inflicting collateral damage on families while failing to prevent crimes or invest in prevention, education and treatment.

Lifetime registration, she said, imposes perpetual punishment that severely impedes reintegration into society. Opponents said the registry brands people with an identity that limits job opportunities, fuels housing instability and deepens social isolation. Residency restrictions can bar registrants from living near schools or parks, often pushing them into homelessness or substandard housing.

Grant Hill, a Keota resident and registered offender who is running as a Republican for the Iowa House, said lifetime registration removes incentives for rehabilitation, noting that current risk-assessment tools already keep higher-risk individuals on the registry for decades.

Supporters of the bill said repeat offenses demonstrate an ongoing danger to the public and warrant permanent registration.

Democratic subcommittee member Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, of Ames, said she was unconvinced lawmakers had sufficient data showing a need for the changes and expressed concern about making major adjustments without a broader review of sex offender laws.

Despite the concerns, Vondran signed off on the bill, advancing it to the full committee for further consideration.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com