Leading Republican skeptical of sentencing reform

The top Republican in the House is skeptical of broad reform of Iowa’s criminal sentencing laws. House Speaker-elect Christopher Rants of Sioux City says he’s never been enamored with sentencing reform because the people who’ll be released from prison will move back to his neighborhood. Rants says while he realizes a need to make changes because the state can’t afford to build another prison, he wants to be “very careful” about what kinds of crimes might not get a prison sentence. Rants says he might support different sanctions for those who commit small-scale property crimes, but he’s skeptical of letting other criminals who use weapons get off so easy.