Evidence for change already exists

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Gov. Terry Branstad has charged a working group with reviewing Iowa's sex-abuse laws in the wake of a high-profile case in which a convicted sex offender is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at the Pomeroy nursing home where they lived.

Officials from state departments of human services, aging, corrections, and inspections and appeals will work with the governor's staff to determine what the state can do to better protect potential victims of abuse. That's a necessary step.

But this governor-ordered review should include more than small legal tweaks that might prevent similar incidents in the future. It's high time for a more comprehensive review of Iowa's sex-crime penalties.

This most recent case is startling: About a year ago, a judge ordered sex offender William Cubbage to be transferred from the state civil commitment unit for sex offenders to the Pomeroy nursing home. Now the man is charged with sexually assaulting a 95-year-old fellow resident of the home.

Branstad said the previous administration didn't ensure the nursing home had a written plan to deal with potential threats the man might pose to other residents.

His suggestion - that there should be, at minimum, a requirement to notify care center residents and their families before a convicted sex offender is allowed to move in - deserves consideration, as does his questioning of the appropriateness of allowing convicted sex offenders to live in care centers at all.

But working group members must resist knee-jerk recommendations. Instead, take advantage of the data and expert advice already gathered on the issue.

They must resist the kind of emotional response that led legislators to pass laws in 2005 that subject vastly different types of offenders to the same, intensive restrictions and supervision.

For years, law enforcement leaders, attorneys, treatment specialists and others have called for changes to modify those laws, passed in response to the horrifying case of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage.

Members of the Iowa Sex Offender Research Council have repeatedly pleaded for legislators to look at the evidence about how those laws are working - and not working - and to amend them.

The special sentences and extra supervision required under current law, for example, are often unnecessary, and can make it more difficult for minor offenders to rehabilitate. And the cost of enforcing those laws is exploding - expected to reach $15 million a year in additional probation costs, alone.

So far, legislators haven't had the political will to make necessary changes. We hope that changes with this review. Working group members should make recommendations based on the evidence at hand.

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