SpabSFW
09-13-2005, 05:49 AM
A couple of interesting things going on in Iowa on how they are dealing with child molesters.
The first legislation has to do with where child molesters may reside:
Iowa law could be the test case for sex-offender buffer zones
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- As communities around the country move to restrict where child molesters can live, legal experts are closely watching the fate of an Iowa law working its way through the federal courts.
The Iowa law, one of the most restrictive in the nation, bars convicted child molesters from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care center.
In April, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying the restrictions on sex offenders' freedom to live where they choose were "narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest" -- public safety.
The ruling marked the first time a federal appeals court anywhere in the country had taken up a sex-offender buffer-zone law...
http://www.detnews.com/2005/nation/0506/25/natio-227489.htm
The second relates to funding, prison sentences and taxes:
Iowa's new sex offender law is tough — but costly
Cost of new measures expected to double in five years
Iowa is about to start enforcing some of the strongest laws in the nation to protect children from pedophiles, but the effort is going to cost millions of dollars a year.
The expense of the new law, signed Tuesday by Gov. Tom Vilsack, is projected to more than double over the next five years, topping $12.4 million in 2010.
The sweeping anti-crime legislation, which takes effect July 1, was spurred by the rape and slaying of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage of Cedar Rapids in late March.
"Millions of dollars will be committed to this effort . . . next year and each year thereafter," said Vilsack, a Democrat, in signing House File 619.
"It is, indeed, the toughest sex offender bill in the country, and it needs to be," he said.
The measures - including longer prison sentences, more supervision of convicted child molesters, improvements to the state's sex offender registry and DNA testing of all felons - come at an initial cost of $5.2 million in the next budget year.
The expense is expected to climb steadily through the remainder of the decade and beyond as the number of sex offenders in prison or on parole continues to grow, according to a cost analysis done for the Legislature...
Gov. Tom Vilsack has signed a bill that covers about $4 million in corrections and public safety costs next year related to a new package of laws dealing with sex offenders, including:
• Sex offender treatment - $1.6 million.
• DNA testing - $929,000.
• Electronic monitoring - $879,000.
• Sex offender risk assessments - $227,000.
• Sex offender registry staff - $125,000.
• Sex offender treatment, supervision study - $75,000.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050615/NEWS10/506150342/1011
The first legislation has to do with where child molesters may reside:
Iowa law could be the test case for sex-offender buffer zones
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- As communities around the country move to restrict where child molesters can live, legal experts are closely watching the fate of an Iowa law working its way through the federal courts.
The Iowa law, one of the most restrictive in the nation, bars convicted child molesters from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care center.
In April, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying the restrictions on sex offenders' freedom to live where they choose were "narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest" -- public safety.
The ruling marked the first time a federal appeals court anywhere in the country had taken up a sex-offender buffer-zone law...
http://www.detnews.com/2005/nation/0506/25/natio-227489.htm
The second relates to funding, prison sentences and taxes:
Iowa's new sex offender law is tough — but costly
Cost of new measures expected to double in five years
Iowa is about to start enforcing some of the strongest laws in the nation to protect children from pedophiles, but the effort is going to cost millions of dollars a year.
The expense of the new law, signed Tuesday by Gov. Tom Vilsack, is projected to more than double over the next five years, topping $12.4 million in 2010.
The sweeping anti-crime legislation, which takes effect July 1, was spurred by the rape and slaying of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage of Cedar Rapids in late March.
"Millions of dollars will be committed to this effort . . . next year and each year thereafter," said Vilsack, a Democrat, in signing House File 619.
"It is, indeed, the toughest sex offender bill in the country, and it needs to be," he said.
The measures - including longer prison sentences, more supervision of convicted child molesters, improvements to the state's sex offender registry and DNA testing of all felons - come at an initial cost of $5.2 million in the next budget year.
The expense is expected to climb steadily through the remainder of the decade and beyond as the number of sex offenders in prison or on parole continues to grow, according to a cost analysis done for the Legislature...
Gov. Tom Vilsack has signed a bill that covers about $4 million in corrections and public safety costs next year related to a new package of laws dealing with sex offenders, including:
• Sex offender treatment - $1.6 million.
• DNA testing - $929,000.
• Electronic monitoring - $879,000.
• Sex offender risk assessments - $227,000.
• Sex offender registry staff - $125,000.
• Sex offender treatment, supervision study - $75,000.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050615/NEWS10/506150342/1011