It’s back again.

Many Iowa State students hear about the controversy surrounding the possibility of reinstating the death penalty in Iowa, but many say they are not aware of the details.

Former Rep. Steve Grubbs, R-Davenport, now the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, said one of the reasons the death penalty has resurfaced this legislative session is public support for it.

With the most recent election bringing a Republican majority to both the Iowa House and Senate, chances are good the death penalty could be reinstated, Grubbs said.

Although death penalty supporters say public opinion favor Republicans, one representative said people start questioning the punishment after they learn more about it.

Rep. Ed Fallon, D-Des Moines, said he has been “letting people know about the death penalty” for several years. In 1993, he organized a tour of various communities to talk to citizens about the issue. Fallon said he has also discussed the death penalty with radio stations, newspapers and churches.

“I know public sentiment tends to support [the death penalty] by about 60 percent,” Fallon said. But once people look rationally and emotionally at the facts and start talking about the death penalty, he said, they “find out it’s not the way to go.”

But supporting lawmakers say they’ve got the weight of the people behind them. “Among citizens, a majority of citizens support reinstatement,” Gov. Terry Branstad said.

Details

Branstad proposes that the state execute criminals who have committed murder accompanied by a Class A Felony, such as kidnapping and rape. This is necessary, he said, “to try to protect the innocent rape and kidnap victims.”

Branstad also supports the death penalty for convicted murderers who commit murder again in prison.

Lawmakers are contemplating a bill that closely resembles Branstad’s proposal. Executions would be carried out through lethal injections, if the bill passes.

The proposal also requires that any death penalty sentence be immediately reviewed by the Iowa Supreme Court.

No one 16 or younger could be executed under the law.

“I think there is a valid reason to have the death penalty under the most heinous reasons,” Branstad said.

Currently, 38 states have the death penalty on their books.

Resurfaced

After it was repealed in 1965, the death penalty debate didn’t appear on the Iowa Statehouse floor until the 1990s, when Branstad pushed the issue.

In 1995, the Iowa House passed a bill to reinstate the death penalty, 54-44.

It failed 39-11 in a Democratic Senate.