Iowa is one of the states the still uses the Felony Murder Rule. Iowa laws are a bit confusing , on one hand they can be extremely open minded by legalizing gay marriage and showing the rest of the world that we’re not just a bunch of country folk who are behind in the times; than on the other hand we hold on to the felony murder rule even though it is an unjust and archaic law that can be used to send someone away for life for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In some cases you don’t even have to be present you just need to be friends with the wrong person at the wrong time.

So why is the felony murder rule unjust? First let look at the law as it is in a normal murder case. In order for there to be a first degree murder conviction there must be a willful, deliberate, premeditated or planned attempt to kill someone. In other words you must have the intent to murder someone before the actual crime takes place. For second degree murder to take place it simply has to be in the act of an assault or malicious act where any prudent person would realize that someone could get hurt.  This is the way the law was written and the way the law was indented to be implemented.

The felony murder rule completely does away with this distinction. Say you go into a gas station to rob it with someone, should a prudent person realize that someone could get hurt or even killed even if they don’t know that the other person has a weapon on them, of course; and that is why it is second degree murder and not first degree. Most felony murder cases strictly meat the definitions of second degree murder not first. If we have a problem with what should qualify as first and second degree murder then we should rewrite the definitions not just make up a rule that let us bypass the law at the whim of a prosecutor.  In order for us to have a just legal system we must treat everyone the same with disregard to race, sex, or geographical location.

A new study just came out stating that more and more people are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. In 1984 there were 34,000 people serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. Today that number has more than quadrupled to over 140,000 people out of the total 2.3 million people incarcerated in this country. Two thirds of the people service life sentences are either Latino or Black.

There are five other states besides Iowa along with the federal prison system that do not allow people serving life sentences the possibility of any type of parole or early release. The other five states are Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. Most of these states are facing financial problems due to that lack of revenue coming in because of the current economic recession, and the ever growing prison population is straining state budgets.

The majority of Iowa inmates that are serving life sentences committed violent crimes resulting in someone’s death, but there are others who are serving life sentences because of the felony murder rule that did not commit a violent crime or at least were not the ones how actually murdered someone. It’s obvious that a number of states including Iowa are going to be unable to house the growing prison population over the coming years and will have to start looking for ways to decrease the number of people serving life sentences. Some states and a number of countries have already banned the use of the felony murder rule because of the fact that it is an unconstitutional law that has been unjustly used by prosecutors to imprison non violent criminals for life. It not only makes sense to stop using this law because it is the right thing but because it will help decrease the number of Iowa inmates doing life sentences and decrease the overall population.

Here’s a little article about the Iowa Justice System

By Lee Rood

The Des Moines Register July 18, 2007

A national study released today ranks Iowa No. 1in the nation in the ratio of blacks to whites in prison, a statistic that many advocates say underscores a failure to address one of the state’s most serious problems.

The study by the Washington D.C. based Project found Iowa incarcerates blacks at a rate 13.6 times that of whites more than double the national average. Across the country, blacks are imprisoned at nearly six times the rate for whites. Latinos are imprisoned at nearly double the rate for whites nationally.

The study by the criminal justice advocacy research group recommended several remedies for all states, including drug sentencing reform, more judicial discretion in sentencing and better standards for indigent defense.

But black leaders say Iowa which has been among the nations leaders in the incarceration of black men for years needs to make much more comprehensive changes. Reps Ako Abdul-Samad and Wayne Ford, two of the state’s four black lawmakers, called for all Iowans to work together on the issue and for the Legislature to make the disproportion a top priority in 2008.

“What really makes this challenging is that I know we can do something about it,” said Abdul-Samad, who heads Creative Visions, a Des Moines nonprofit organization that tries to steer black youth away from crime. “We have such an opportunity on several levels… to go over this problem aggressively.”

Ford said if community, corporate, religious and academic leaders focused with legislators on the problem as they have on other issues. “I would bet my career” the statistics would change. The Des Moines Democrat said he would like to see existing agencies work together to help convicts transition out of the corrections system, get jobs and build more productive lives.

A 1999 Des Moines Register investigation found the proportion of Iowa’s blacks in prison, on parole or probation had reached 1 in 12 – a ratio that far surpassed those of most other states. At the time, one-quarter of all prison beds in the state were filled by blacks, a figure that has scarcely budged since.
Later in 1999, then Gov. Tom Vilsack established a committee to examine factors in the education, employment and justice systems leading to the disproportion.

Some strides, particularly in education, have een made since then. Shrinking class sizes and expanding early childhood education both approved in recent years by the Legislature were two of the 2001 recommendations of the task force.
But many of the group’s other suggestions sat largely idle until this May, when Gov. Chet Culver appointed a new committee to put the plans into action and make new recommendations.

The group is expected to present its proposal to Culver in August for consideration in his 2008 legislative agenda.
The governor has also convened a task force to look specifically at the detention of minority youth, because research shows it is a leading predictor of future incarceration.

Abdul-Samad, who serves on the incarceration disproportion committee with Ford, said he thought the biggest areas to be addressed were the lack of availability of drug treatment through the courts, lack of job opportunities for minority youth, and racist sentencing practices in the state justice system. Past studies have shown, for example, that minority youth are detained far longer than whites.

“Whats dangerous is that we don’t think we as a state have an issue with that.” Abdul-Samad said of racism. “I believe that exists, and until we face some of that, we will continue to have this high incarceration rate.”