Establishing a criminal penalty for violent repeat offenders and providing for risk assessments

Description

Senate File 586 establishes a criminal penalty for a violent repeat offense and provides for risk assessments. Under the Bill, a violent repeat offender is any person convicted of a felony offense under any of the following Iowa Code chapters and sections, who has been convicted twice before of any of those same offenses:

• Iowa Code chapter 707 (homicide), 708 (assault), 709 (sexual abuse), or 710 (kidnapping), or
• Iowa Code section 711.2 (robbery in the first degree), 711.3 (robbery in the second degree), 713.3 (burglary in the first degree), 713.4 (attempted burglary in the first degree), 713.5(1)(a) (burglary in the second degree), or 713.6(1)(a) (attempted burglary in the second degree).

The Bill provides that an offender who is serving a violent repeat offender sentence is only eligible for a reduction of sentence equal to fifteen eighty-fifths of a day for each day of good conduct by the offender.

Background

Currently, most offenders are eligible for a reduction of sentence equal to one and two-tenths days for each day the offender demonstrates good conduct. The fifteen eighty-fifths of a day for each day of good conduct by a violent repeat offender equals the same rate of reduction of sentence for an offender who is serving a 70.0% sentence under Iowa Code section 902.12 or 902.13. The offenses listed in the Bill have penalties ranging from a Class D felony to a Class A felony.

Assumptions

• The following will not change over the projection period: charge, conviction, and sentencing patterns and trends; prisoner length of stay; revocation rates; plea bargaining; and other criminal justice system policies and practices.
• A lag effect of six months is assumed from the effective date of this Bill to the date of first entry of affected offenders into the correctional system.
• Marginal costs for county jails cannot be estimated due to a lack of data. For purposes of this analysis, the marginal cost for county jails is assumed to be $50 per day.
• Marginal daily prison cost for one offender is assumed to be $20.38 per day.

Correctional Impact

Senate File 586 would result in longer prison sentences for those who qualify as a violent repeat offender. The Bill would not increase the number of convictions of any of the qualifying offenses. The impact would likely occur five years or more after implementation of this Bill. In FY 2019, there were 76 offenders who entered prison as new admissions on a most serious Class B, C, or D felony who would qualify as a violent habitual offender under this Bill. Table 1 shows the FY 2019 average length of stay in prison for each offense class and the estimated additional stay in prison that would result from a violent habitual offender classification under SF 586.

Table 1 — Sentencing Estimates and Length of Stay (LOS) Refer to the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) memo addressed to the General Assembly, Cost Estimates Used for Correctional Impact Statements, dated January 16, 2020, for information related to the correctional system.

Minority Impact

In FY 2019, there were 76 offenders who entered prison as new admissions who would qualify as a violent habitual offender under this Bill. Table 2 provides the demographics of the 76 offenders in relation to the Iowa population as of July 1, 2018.

Table 2 — Demographics by Percentage Refer to the LSA memo addressed to the General Assembly, Minority Impact Statement, dated January 15, 2020, for information related to minorities in the criminal justice system.

Fiscal Impact

Senate File 586 is estimated to increase the Department of Corrections (DOC) supervision costs by $1.6 million per fiscal year. This estimate is based on the number of offenders in FY 2019 who met the eligibility criteria for a violent habitual offender. The impact would likely occur five years or more after implementation of this Bill. Table 3 provides the total additional supervision cost by offense class type.

Table 3 — Estimated Additional Annual Supervision Costs In addition, the changes to the computation of earned time calculations may require programming changes to the DOC’s Iowa Corrections Offender Network (ICON). While the

Conviction

Offense Class

FY 2019 Avg. LOS (months) SF 586 Additional LOS (months) Class B Felony 95.4 108 Class C Felony 38.4 44 Class D Felony 17.3 22

Demographic

Qualifying FY19

New Admissions

Total Iowa

Population

White 76.0% 90.2% African-American 23.0% 3.6% American-Indian 1.0% 0.4%

Conviction

Offense Class

SF 586 Additional LOS (months)

Marginal

Daily Cost

FY 2019

Qualifying

Offenders

Additional

Cost

Class B Felony 108 $20.38 5 333,417$ Class C Felony 44 $20.38 24 659,334$ Class D Felony 22 $20.38 47 646,556$ Total 1,639,307$ ICON programming necessary to capture the new earned time computations established by this Bill may already exist, additional work may be required. Minimal programming costs are estimated to be approximately $16,000, but if greater programming changes are required, the DOC estimates the expenses to range from $37,000 to $65,000.

Sources

• Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Division, Department of Human Rights
• Department of Corrections