Once the word got out that Iowa Governor, Terry Branstad was looking into strengthening the domestic violence laws of the state and incorporating the use of GPS devices to keep track of offenders and protect their victims, Sheila Lynch could not be more ecstatic.<\/p>\n
Lynch’s daughter had been kidnapped and murdered by her ex-husband. Last February, Lynch appeared at a news conference with Branstad to show her approval and enthusiasm over the prospective legislation. However, once the legislative session concluded, nothing happened with the bill.<\/p>\n
Lynch’s daughter, Terese-Ann Lynch Moore who was 30 years old was kidnapped by her<\/p>\n
ex-husband from a Des Moines mall in November 2009. This was despite the fact she had a restraining order against him. She was forced into his apartment where he fatally shot her.<\/p>\n
According to Lynch, if a tracking device was placed on Randall More at the time, her daughter would still be alive. This is the reason that Lynch has been pushing for GPS tracking devices for domestic violence offenders for over two years.<\/p>\n
She along with other people are now working with Des Moines Senator, Matt McCoy on a motion to be put in place that would require that alleged domestic abusers be assessed by law enforcement when they are arrested.<\/p>\n
Any offender who was thought to be a possible fatal risk to their victim would have a tracking device put on them.<\/p>\n
Lynch said that something will be done this time to protect victims regardless if the governor approves or not. Believing the governor did not deliver on his promises, she says she only wants to help present and future victims.<\/p>\n
The Iowa Senate passed more than seven bills last year intended to strengthen the state laws on sexual and domestic violence abuse. Only one stuck in the House Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n
Not only was Branstad’s proposed legislation delayed, but also a bill which would require habitual violent offenders to be denied any possible good behavior release and actually serve out their entire sentence. There were concerns about imprecise language as well as the costs that the proposal would incur by certain lawmakers.<\/p>\n
This year, Lynch hopes will be different.<\/p>\n
Her hopes are that alleged offenders be assessed on their mortality by risk law enforcement officers to determine if offenders could be ordered by a judge to wear tracking devices like ankle bracelets, for example.<\/p>\n
There have been too many cases where threatening individuals have been ordered by the Iowa courts to stay away from their victims, but have these orders violated and authorities notified too late. With GPS monitoring, both victims and the authorities will know if and when an offender is nearby.<\/p>\n
According to information obtained from the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver, as of now, there are 19 states that have authorized the use of pretrial tracking devices for offenders, especially in domestic violence cases. Essentially, these monitors would prohibit offenders from going to where a victim works or lives. If they get too close, both the victim and law enforcement would be notified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once the word got out that Iowa Governor, Terry Branstad was looking into strengthening the domestic violence laws of the state and incorporating the use of GPS devices to keep track of offenders and protect their victims, Sheila Lynch could not be more ecstatic. Lynch’s daughter had been kidnapped and murdered by her ex-husband. Last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_description":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-applications"],"yoast_head":"\n