Relating to child endangerment committed by a sex offender, and providing penalties

Description

House File 710 relates to child endangerment committed by a sex offender. The Bill provides that a person who is required to register as a sex offender under Iowa Code chapter 692A for a sex offense against a minor who knowingly has control of a minor, or who knowingly has unsupervised access to a minor, commits child endangerment. The Bill also provides exceptions. A person who commits child endangerment in violation of this Bill is guilty of a Class D felony.

Background

A Class D felony is punishable by confinement for no more than five years and a fine of at least $1,025 but not more than $10,245.

Assumptions

• The following will not change over the projection period: charge, conviction, and sentencing patterns and trends, prisoner length of stay (LOS), 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.

Correctional Impact

House File 710 expands Iowa Code section 726.6 and the definition of child endangerment to include when a sex offender has control over a minor child. Violation of this provision is a Class D felony. In FY 2019 and FY 2020, there were a total of 869 convictions of child endangerment. Since this is a new provision in the Iowa Code, it is unknown how many of these child endangerment cases would be committed by sex offenders, and an impact cannot be estimated. Table 1 provides estimates for sentencing to State prison, parole, probation, or Community-Based Corrections (CBC) residential facilities; LOS under those supervisions; and supervision marginal costs per day for all convictions of a Class D felony. Refer to the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) memo addressed to the General Assembly, Cost Estimates Used for Correctional Impact Statements, dated January 22, 2021, for information related to the correctional system. Table 1 — LOS and SentencingConviction Offense

Class

Percent

to Prison

Avg Length

of Stay

Prison

(months) FY 20

Marginal

Cost/Day

Prison

Percent

Ordered

to

Probation

Avg LOS

on

Probation

Avg Cost

Per Day

on

Probation

Percent

Sentenced

to CBC

Residential

Facility

FY 20

Marginal

Cost

CBC Per

Day

Percent

Ordered to

County Jail

Avg

Length of

Stay in

County

Jail

Marginal

Cost Per

Day

Avg LOS

on

Parole

FY 20

Average

Cost Per

Day

Parole

Class D Felony

(Persons) 77.0% 16.0 $20.33 47.8% 30.5 $5.38 10.5% $14.78 38.6% N/A $50.00 11.5 $5.38

Minority Impact

Of the 869 convictions of child endangerment in FY 2019 and FY 2020, 73.6% were committed by a Caucasian offender and 18.8% were African American. In CY 2019, African Americans comprised 3.7% of the adult population of the State. The percent of convictions for this offense exceeds the population proportion of the State, which may lead to a racial impact, if convictions and sentences remained consistent. Since this is a new provision, the impact cannot be estimated at this time by the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Division (CJJP) of the Department of Human Rights. Refer to the LSA memo addressed to the General Assembly, Minority Impact Statement, dated January 27, 2021, for information related to minorities in the criminal justice system.

Fiscal Impact

House File 710 adds a new provision under Iowa Code section 726.6, and the fiscal impact cannot be determined due to a lack of conviction data. The average cost to the State per conviction of a Class D felony ranges from $7,700 to $13,500. The cost estimate includes operating costs incurred by the Judicial Branch, the State Public Defender, and the Department of Corrections for one conviction. The cost would be incurred across multiple fiscal years for prison and parole supervision.

Sources

• CJJP, Department of Human Rights
• Department of Corrections
• Judicial Branch
• LSA analysis