Governor Terry Branstad wants repeat domestic abusers to face tougher sentences, as outlined in a plan submitted to the state legislature this week.

According to the plan, anyone who is convicted of a third or subsequent domestic abuse offense would be required to serve a mandatory 85 percent of their sentence.  In addition, “time served credit” would only be awarded if the abuser is enrolled in a treatment program and GPS tracking would be required for high-risk offenders.

District 10 State Senator Jake Chapman says he supports the stricter sentences for those who commit these “unfortunate crimes”. According to Chapman, last year there was close to 2,500 convictions of domestic assault in Iowa and well over 10 percent of those suspects were charged for the third time.

“The Governor, in his State of the State Address, pointed that out as one of his priorities to increase the minimum mandatory sentence for these habitual offenders.  I’m very supportive of that, I think it’s a crime that’s happening far too often here in Iowa and so we need to make sure that those individuals are held accountable for their actions.  Part of that is increasing the penalties associated with committing that kind of crime.”

So far the issue has not yet come up for a vote in either the House or Senate.