The Iowa Supreme Court recently ruled on several juvenile cases where a mandatory minimum sentence was imposed.

District 47 State Representative Chip Baltimore says the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to give a juvenile a mandatory minimum sentence, regardless of what type of crime they had committed. Baltimore explains that those inmates who have a mandatory minimum sentence accrue time off for good behavior at a much slower rate than those that don’t. With the Supreme Court’s ruling last week, Baltimore points out that they argued that those cases who had the minimum sentence reversed, be re-calculated with the correct rate for time off for good behavior.

Baltimore says while he agrees with the Supreme Court’s ruling about allowing inmates to accrue time off for good behavior at a faster rate, he still has some concerns.

“I still remain more concerned with the Supreme Court’s seeming trend that just because people are under the age of 18 when they commit sometimes some very violent and heinous offenses that they can’t be held for a mandatory period of time. I think that part is wrong.”

As head of the House Judiciary Committee, Baltimore says he would like to address the entire juvenile sentencing system with focus on what appropriate sentencing should be imposed to fit what crime was committed.