Analyst: Data doesn't support Iowa sex offender rule

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By Todd Dorman | Tuesday, February 6, 2007 12:07 AM CST | () comments

DES MOINES – A state analyst told Iowa lawmakers Monday that there is no data to support the argument that Iowa’s law barring sex offenders from living near schools or day cares is reducing the number of crimes against children.

“The legislature thought it was going to do something that would help make Iowa safer,” said Paul Stageberg, director of Iowa’s office of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning, after testifying at the Statehouse. “But it doesn’t appear that’s been the case.”

But the law has resulted in more charges against offenders who violated the state’s sex offender registry law, Stageberg said. And there are more registered offenders whose whereabouts are unknown.

The figures were presented to a legislative panel considering changes to the law, which prohibits offenders whose victims are children from living within 2,000 feet of schools or day cares. Local officials started enforcing the law in 2005.

Numerous groups representing victims, prosecutors and law enforcement have called for the law’s repeal. But Statehouse leaders are wary of scrapping the politically popular, get-tough law.

“I support the 2,000-foot rule,” Gov. Chet Culver said last week on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. “I think public safety and protecting our children needs to be a high priority.”

But some contend there is little evidence the law improves public safety.

Stageberg said there were 445 convictions in Iowa for sex offenses against minor victims between September 2005 and August 2006. That’s compared to 433 convictions during the previous year.

Stageberg said the number of offenses against children has remained relatively steady since 2000. The 2,000-foot law, he contends, had no effect.

One reason, Stageberg said, is that the crimes the law seeks to target are rare.

Between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, Stageberg said, only one person in Iowa was convicted of a sex offense against a minor in which the offender was a stranger to the victim. No such offenses have occurred since July 1, 2006.

The vast majority sex offenses against minors, according to experts, are committed by family members, acquaintances or others known to the victim.

“I guess you could say it might have been overkill to some extent,” Stageberg said of the 2,000-foot law.

Dudley Allison, a probation officer in eastern Iowa’s Sixth Judicial District, agrees.

“I think, historically, we’re worried about the wrong people – the bad strangers,” said Allison, who argues the law has made it harder to track offenders.

“We’re going to move people to the country where they’re not supervised at all,” Allison said.

More offenders are violating Iowa’s sex offender registry law after being uprooted by residency restrictions. Seventy-two registry violations were reported during Fiscal Year 2006 compared to 48 the year before.

Since July 1, 54 violations have been reported -- a 49 percent increase over the same period a year ago, Stageberg said.

Jeri Allen, who is in charge of electronically monitoring 54 offenders in the Sixth Judicial District, said the 2,000-foot law has made her job tougher by forcing offenders to move into rural areas.

Satellite offender monitoring systems, like cell phones, don’t always work well in remote areas, Allen said.

As of Jan. 24, 324 of Iowa’s 6,111 registered sex offenders are unaccounted for, according to state figures. That number is up from 145 in June 2005, although officials say more aggressive enforcement efforts also contributed to the increase.

Todd Dorman can be reached at (515) 243-0138 or at todd.dorman@lee.net.