The Iowa Supreme Court today once again upheld the controversial state law that requires convicted sex offenders to live at least 2,000 feet away from a school or child care center.
In ruling on a Polk County case involving Benjamin David Groves, the court said the state law does not violate his constitutional due process rights.
Court documents said Groves, 29, was convicted of lascivious acts with a child in 1997. In 2002, the Iowa Legislature passed a law prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or child care facility.
In January 2006 Groves was charged with violating the law for living too close to a school.
He filed a motion to dismiss the charge claiming the residency law severely restricted his liberty rights, which he defined as the ``right to reside somewhere that meets basic 21st century living standards.''
District Court Judge Carol Egly dismissed the charge saying Groves' rights to substantive due process were violated by the statute and the ``residency restrictions are a severe restriction of the defendant's liberty rights.'' She defined one of those rights as the right to live somewhere with heat, electricity, sewer or septic and running water.
Opponents of the 2,000 foot rule have said the law has forced many sex offenders to move out of their homes and sometimes live under bridges or in rest stops, where it becomes more difficult to monitor them.
The Iowa attorney general's office and the Polk County attorney appealed.
Cops and county attorneys hate it. The law is costing taxpayers millions. But politicians don't want to repeal it because then they'll look "soft on crime".
Too bad I'm not in the Iowa Legislature. I'd submit a bill indicating that the state needs a Git 'N Ghetto Registry. Anybody convicted of robbing a convenience store would be placed on the list forever.
And that whoever is on the registry cannot shop or live within 2000 miles of a convenience store in Iowa.
Hey, it's for the children. And what are you? Soft on crime?
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