The Iowa legislature passed tougher restrictions for domestic violence offenders this year.

House File 263 requires those who have been convicted three or more times of domestic violence to serve at least one fifth of their prison sentence. Some have argued this new restriction doesn’t have much of an effect on preventing domestic violence. Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) advocate Brad Koenig comments on the law, “I get the mandatory minimums, but to me one fifth of your sentence, it’s a pretty lackluster mandatory minimum.”

Koenig commented that the law is not placing enough restrictions on those who have repeatedly offended, but said the legislature is moving in the right direction. House File 263 also defines stalking as engaging in a course of conduct that causes a person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated or threatened. The law also declares an unauthorized placing of a GPS device on a person as a serious misdemeanor.