Death of Cedar Rapids girl spurs action at statehouse

The Iowa House today (Wednesday) will consider a bill that would improve the state’s Sex Offender Registry. The death of a 10-year-old Cedar Rapids girl, allegedly at the hands of a convicted sex offender, has sparked even more action. A proposal to be offered today would re-establish a no-sex-offender zone around schools. In addition, Senator Chuck Larson of Cedar Rapids is trying to get a House member to propose doubling the prison time for those convicted of engaging in lascivious acts with a child. “I would think that this is something that both Republicans and Democrats would be supportive of,” Larson says. While there’s been talk about reinstating the death penalty in Iowa, it’s probably not going to happen. A spokesman for Governor Vilsack says Vilsack opposes it since Iowa “already has a death sentence” because a life prison sentence means the convict will never be released and will die behind bars. Senator Larry McKibben, a republican from Marshalltown, ridicules that statement. “You know, people will tell us life in prison is the deterrent, they’re put away for life, well, when you kidnap someone, rape someone and then you’re really almost incented, and that’s a really horrific thing to say about these animals that do this, but you’re almost incented to kill that victim because that’s the one that all legal data will tell you that’s most likely to convict you in a court of law,” McKibben says. He says it’ll take more pressure from the public to get lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty.McKibben says there are “far too many bleeding hearts” in the legislature who will oppose capital punishment