IA- Iowa crafts new sex offender bill

4-19-2009 Iowa:

Schools, swimming pools, parks and public libraries would be off-limits to most registered sex offenders under a bill being considered by the Iowa Legislature.

The bill would prevent any sex offender who victimized a child from going inside, working at or loitering within 300 feet of those facilities, as well as other places primarily for children, such as playgrounds.

Though all child sex offenders would be barred from those places, many would no longer be subject to Iowa's nearly four-year-old residency restrictions. Under the bill, only the most serious sex offenders would be prohibited from living near schools or child care centers.

Iowans will have a chance to weigh in before lawmakers debate the bill. A public hearing is scheduled for Monday night at the State Capitol.

The bill is designed to bring Iowa in closer compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. But it's also meant to answer critics of the state's residency restrictions, which have been called ineffective.

What do you think?

Iowans will have a chance to weigh in on proposed changes to Iowa's sex offender laws. A public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday in the House chambers at the State Capitol.

The law dictates where sex offenders can sleep but doesn't tell them where they can go the other 16 hours of the day.

The 2,000-foot rule, as it is known, currently bans sex offenders who have committed crimes against children from living within 2,000 feet of a school or child care center.

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, has been a member of a bipartisan committee that wants to make changes to current sex offender laws, including the 2,000-foot rule, which went into effect in 2005.

"Right now, a sex offender can get in a clown suit and dance in front of the schoolhouse and pass out candy all day long," said Baudler, who worked as a state trooper for 32 years. "They can do it at the swimming pool, do it at the day care, do it at the library, public park, anyplace. But they can't sleep within 2,000 feet of the day care or school when the kids aren't there."

Baudler's concerns have been echoed by law enforcement around the state. The Iowa County Attorneys Association and the Iowa Sheriffs and Deputies Association both have lobbied legislators to adopt exclusionary zones instead of a residency restriction.

The current bill adopts such zones, which would make it illegal for child sex offenders to be near places frequented by children. The bill also would prohibit those offenders from working or volunteering at such places, including fairs and carnivals, arcades, schools, libraries and swimming pools.

The bill that will be discussed Monday is at least the seventh rewrite by the committee, said Baudler. The Iowa Department of Public Safety had asked lawmakers to consider scrapping residency restrictions altogether.

This bill keeps the 2,000-foot rule, but applies it to a smaller group of sex offenders. The residency restriction would apply only to sex offenders who have been convicted of first-, second- or third-degree sexual abuse against a minor.

About 4,300 of the 5,000 registered sex offenders living in Iowa are subject to the residency restriction, said Ross Loder of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. If the law is changed to apply only to the most serious sex offenders, he said, the number would drop to around 1,250.

Not all law enforcement officials are against the residency restrictions.

"It keeps them away from where they don't need to be," said Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope. "Living within 2,000 feet of a day care is a risk, I don't care how much of a risk."

Nebraska passed a similar residency restriction law in 2006. That law does not impose a statewide restriction, but it allows cities to enact their own restriction barring sex offenders from living within 500 feet of a school or licensed child care center.

Iowa's residency restriction law has been blamed for pushing sex offenders underground when they aren't able to find a place to live that complies with the restrictions. Before the law went into effect in 2005, the location of 142 registered sex offenders was unknown. At one point since then, well over 500 of Iowa's 5,000 registered sex offenders were unaccounted for. That number has since dropped to about 300, said Loder.

Billie Taylor-McLaren, the sex offender liaison for the Cass County Sheriff's Office, said the 2,000-foot rule isn't effective. She's seen sex offenders go completely off the radar, moving from place to place in an effort to avoid compliance.

Elizabeth Barnhill, executive director of the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she wants to see the residency restrictions scrapped.

"There's not one shred of evidence they work," said Barnhill.

The bill's future looks promising, said Baudler, who expects strong support for the measure in both the House and Senate. But both Gov. Chet Culver and the public have yet to weigh in.

Culver spokesman Phil Roeder said Friday that the governor will review the final bill before deciding whether to sign it. ..News Source.. by Omaha World Herald