Iowa prosecutors put criminal justice reform into action

These initiatives are welcome first steps. But more fundamental changes are desperately needed to transform a so-called justice system riddled with disparities.

The register’s editors
| Des Moines Register

The Polk County Attorney’s Office, under new management for the first time in over three decades, is doing things a little more just for people accused of minor crimes. Iowa’s other 98 top local prosecutors should watch closely.

Kimberly Graham won a contested 2022 Democratic primary on a clear commitment to rethinking some longstanding practices aimed at reducing unfair outcomes. “Only when you address racial and income disparities will you be able to increase safety and increase faith in the justice system,” she told the Register editorial office.

Two of Graham’s efforts during her first 19 months in office have stood out:

The county prosecutor’s office is neither reinventing the wheel nor breaking new ground with any of the initiatives. During the campaign, Graham often went out of her way to credit jurisdictions elsewhere in Iowa and around the country whose successful programs she wanted to emulate. It has continued; she told Axios Des Moines this year that she wants to copy an “Options” policy in Story County that has been credited with significantly reducing recidivism.

Graham’s office is simply taking steps to more often handle crimes with pragmatism and results in mind, relying less often on a prosecutor’s conventional toolbox of jail time, occasional fines and revoked privileges.

Let low-income defendants pay small amounts and keep driving

Many defendants owe hundreds of dollars even after being sentenced to probation or already serving time in low-profile criminal and traffic cases. The money to be raised helps support the operations of the justice system and funds various state and local programs. It is a way for the criminal justice system to try to ensure accountability and impose some deterrence. But for lower-income defendants, even a few hundred dollars in fees and fines can be a big mountain — all the more so when state law allows suspension of the defendant’s driver’s license if they don’t pay.

So Graham’s office have lowered the thresholds significantly for people to participate in court debt repayment plans.

Without such tools, it is easy to see how debt can create feedback loops. Driving is an unavoidable requirement for many jobs. If a person continues to drive and is pulled over, the person can be charged with driving with a suspended license and face another round of fines. Those who obey the suspension instead may have less opportunity to earn money to pay the fines and get their licenses back. The Register’s William Morris, who wrote about the new Polk County policy, noted that a conservative-leaning think tank found no benefit to public safety or fundraising rates with more conventional license suspension rules.

Polk County now uses a person’s income to determine a required monthly payment, which can approach $1. Participation is high. It is too early to have definitive information from the state Department of Justice or Polk County on whether more money is being raised. But allowing people who have not been convicted of traffic offenses to continue driving is a better outcome regardless of collections.

Low-level marijuana offenders should not go to jail, get permanent records

Hundreds of new case numbers connected to Polk County appear every day in Iowa’s online court records system. The vast majority fly under public notice. Among insiders, many now agree that when a person is charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana for the first time, the potential penalties are disproportionate and the use of public resources is wasteful.

Polk County’s diversion program, which allows defendants to complete several steps and have their records expunged, is a better and still appropriate way to handle such cases. Participants must still undergo a substance abuse evaluation to address the behavior in question. But they face less onerous financial penalties and the involvement of courts, prosecutors and public defenders is greatly reduced. The program is also a first step toward recognizing and responding to stark racial disparities in arrests, convictions, and incarcerations in Iowa.

Kimberly Graham is off to a strong start as county attorney

In comments to reporters this year, Graham has indicated that her office is making progress in improving data collection on criminal suspects, including their race and income, information necessary to develop other policies that could make a bigger difference in reducing injustice. Graham’s initiative is a welcome first step. But more fundamental changes are desperately needed to transform a so-called justice system riddled with disparities that betray its outcomes as far from fair.

She has also cleared misconceptions about her approach, tell us former Register columnist Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck podcast that she had met with Republican lawmakers representing Polk County and taken questions that made it clear they had been told Graham was doing or considering things she actually wasn’t.

If anyone was worried that Polk County voters had installed a “vigilante DA” who would unlock jail cells indiscriminately and attack law enforcement officers for doing their jobs, these first 19 months of Polk County Prosecutor Kimberly Graham’s tenure seem to have dispelled something like that. concept. A progressive approach does not mean leaving the taunts unchallenged. It is about putting more effort into understanding when and if imprisonment and fines make public crimes less likely to be repeated.

Early evidence supports the premise that Graham is less “tough on crime” than she is “smart on crime”. Polk County supervisors should be looking for opportunities to invest in innovation at the law firm, and peers across the country should be calling about what initiatives they can steal or adapt.

Lucas Grundmeier, on behalf of the Register’s editors

This editorial is the opinion of the Des Moines Register editorial staff: Carol Hunter, executive editor; Lucas Grundmeier, opinion editor; and Richard Doak and Rox Laird, editorial members.

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