Apparently, research at the Iowa Capitol is a thing of the past.
Senate File 397 passed the Iowa Senate and House with a total of two[1] “nay” votes between the two chambers and is waiting for the governor’s signature. SF 397 is a bill that enhances penalties for assault on people employed in certain occupations. The list of those occupations (included below) adds “juvenile detention staff and employees of the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) who conduct investigations or inspections to the long list of occupations.” The floor manager in the House made a remark that the bill added a “protected class,” as if this is class warfare.
.A Legislative Fiscal Note issued by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimates there will be an increase “penalties for assaults on persons in certain occupations.” The Fiscal Note also believes there “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.” If you don’t care, you should. America has a higher incarceration rate than any other civilized country in the world[2].
In FY 2024, there were 27 individuals admitted to prison, 9 individuals admitted to parole, and 125 individuals admitted to probation for the most serious offense under Iowa Code section 708.3A. Under the Bill, the DOC estimates that prison and parole admissions and LOS (length of stay) would be increased. The probation counts would be redistributed given the enhancements, since some individuals would be ordered to prison under the Bill.
The list of occupations affected by this legislation includes:
-
- peace officer
- jailer
- correctional or juvenile detention staff
- member or employee of the board of parole
- health care provider
- employee of the department of health and human services
- employee of the department of inspections, appeals, and licensing who conducts investigations or inspections
- employee of the department of revenue
- national guard member engaged in national guard duty or state active duty
- civilian employee of a law enforcement agency
- civilian employee of a fire department, or fire fighter, whether paid or volunteer
That’s a lot of Iowans. You could be charged with a class “C” felony if you should assault[3] someone who worked in one of those occupations. However, the law does not state that the assault must occur while the person in the occupation is “on the job.” It’s just another “flaw in the law.” That means that a dispute between you and your neighbor, who happens to be a “health care provider,” may lead to you being charged with a class “C” felony, punishable by “no more than ten years, and in addition shall be sentenced to a fine of at least one thousand three hundred seventy dollars but not more than thirteen thousand six hundred sixty dollars.” That’s pretty steep for slapping your neighbor (ala Will Smith v. Chris Rock). But wait, you don’t even need to slap her. Iowa Code section 708.1(1)(b) defines an assault as “Any act which is intended to place another in fear of immediate physical contact which will be painful, injurious, insulting, or offensive, coupled with the apparent ability to execute the act.” [Emphasis mine.] So, just raising your hand to slap your neighbor will contain the necessary elements of the crime under subsection (1)(b). I am not an attorney, but it seems to me that it may be the case for most instances while using the plain language of the law[4], especially when the law emphasizes that a member of the National Guard must be “engaged in national guard duty or state active duty,” but requires no “on-the-job” requirement for other occupations.
The bill also adds saliva to the list of offensive objects resulting in an “employee’s contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, or feces [] that is intended to cause pain or injury or be insulting or offensive and that results in blood, seminal fluid, urine, saliva, or feces being cast or expelled upon an employee of the jail or institution or facility under the control of the department of corrections.” This part of the bill could have stood alone.
Back to the lack of research
Enhancing penalties for these crimes is counter-productive.
“Research on crime deterrence shows that increasing punishment severity does little to prevent crime. This is partly because criminals seldom know the legal sanctions for specific crimes.[5]” But it’s more than that; assaulting a person in an occupation that deals with the public on a continuous basis is usually the result of rage, impairment, mental issues, miscommunication, or some other factor lacking in logic or rationale[6].
I have always called this type of legislation an “Animal Farm” bill[7]. I know it wouldn’t hold up in court, but I like to believe that laws such as this violate Iowa’s Constitution, Article 1, section 1: “All men and women are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights – among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.”
These assault laws protect no one. There can be no preventive measure to the law because someone who is going to strike another rarely weighs the consequences. There can be only two results to this madness. Time in prison can mean the incarcerated individual learns from other inmates about better ways to commit crimes[8]. Also, it can satisfy the person in a certain occupation to know that their attacker is going to be punished more than if they were an “average” Iowan. That is known as revenge. Archie Bunker said: “What’s wrong with revenge, Edith. It’s the best way to get even with someone.” Is that what Iowans want – revenge?
Unfortunately, enhancing penalties do very little but provide prosecutors additional options to offer in plea bargains. Iowa legislators need to perform more research and prevent passing bills that may seem to make sense and provide a comforting election brochure item, but only add to more senseless incarceration and crime statistics.
[1] Representatives Elinor Levin (D-Iowa City) and Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D-Ames).
[2] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country
[3] https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/708.1.pdf
[4] “We do not search for legislative intent beyond the express language of a statute when that language is plain and the meaning is clear. Voss v. Iowa Dep’t of Transp., 621 N.W.2d 208, 211 (Iowa 2001).” McGill v. Fish, 790 NW 2d 113 (Iowa 2010).
[5] https://gigafact.org/fact-briefs/does-increasing-the-penalties-for-a-crime-reduce-the-incidence-of-that-crime/
[6] https://www.osha.gov/workplace-violence/
[7] ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’ https://interestingliterature.com/2020/05/a-summary-and-analysis-of-george-orwells-animal-farm/
[8] https://www.npr.org/2013/02/01/169732840/when-crime-pays-prison-can-teach-some-to-be-better-criminals
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