In 2012, a landlord in Iowa City was arrested for spying on tenants through peepholes he created in his apartment complex. The landlord, Elwyn Gene Miller, spent a couple weeks in jail, paid fines, and is still a landlord in Iowa City.
On this legislative day edition of River to River, a victim of that peeping landlord, Ruth Lapointe, talks about why invasion of privacy laws need to be strengthened.
"The code currently requires that a perpetrator be aroused by spying on their victim and that their victim be at least partially nude," says Lapointe.
"Because of these complexities, me and the other victims were forced to recount every incidence our landlord appeared 'aroused' around us on the property prior to being caught to the judge to prove his guilt. It was humiliating and degrading for me as a victim of a sex crime to be forced to visualize their landlord being aroused while looking at them without her consent."
While this proposal passed through the Iowa House unanimously, it will not make it through the 2015 session in its current form. The bill was one of several that did not make it past "funnel week," a deadline requiring committee approval to remain alive for more work this legislative session.
Host Ben Kieffer and IPR's statehouse correspondent, Joyce Russell, also discuss a bill that would provide confidential counseling for police officers and other public safety workers who work on difficult and often gruesome cases.
They also talk with lawmakers and transit company representatives about the future of ride share legislation that would regulate alternative transit companies like Uber.
