Penal posturing

The Gazette Editorial Board

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The Legislature is in session. It's an even-numbered year. So it's no surprise that the death penalty is getting a brief moment in the news cycle.

Senate Minority Leader Jerry Behn, R-Boone, has filed legislation that would reinstate “limited” capital punishment, aimed at adults who kill minors while committing rape or kidnapping.

The bill has no chance of being debated in the Senate. Behn's party doesn't have the votes to set the agenda, and there is no discernible public push for reinstating Iowa's death penalty. Iowa's last execution was in 1965, although, in reality, the state still has a death penalty. It's called life in prison without possibility of parole. As along as that penalty is in place for the most serious kinds of crime, there's accountability. A death penalty also adds more legal costs and has not proved to be an effective deterrent.

Behn's bill is really about staking out a political position, with hopes of painting his party's November opponents as weak on crime. It's a common tactic.

But what's also common are the misguided alterations to Iowa's criminal justice system that result from this brand of posturing. What looks good in a campaign ad often turns out to be unwise and costly in the real world of crime and punishment.

It would be refreshing to see an election campaign that addressed real issues facing law enforcement, the judiciary and our corrections system, instead of more testaments to toughness.

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