A convicted sex offender is being freed from prison in Iowa because he now identifies as a woman and the state says that the transgender criminal is no longer a threat because of the sex transition procedure.
Official have determined that 23-year-old Joseph Matthew Smith is to be released because the reduction in Smith’s testosterone levels due to the transitioning to a female put him at a lower risk of re-offending.
The Des Moines Register reports that state’s expert, Dr. Jeffrey Davis, believes Smith molested as many as 15 victims, ranging from ages 1 to 13, before being sentenced to prison in December 2015.
According to the paper:
Smith has received treatment for gender reassignment over the past two years at Newton Correctional Facility. She first expressed a desire to “get started on transgender classification” in October 2017 and started using female pronouns.
Smith has expressed a preference to identify as Josie, according to court documents...
The report found the likelihood of re-offending within five years of release exceeded 20% because victims were of both genders, and because Smith was under age 25 and never had a long-term relationship.
The Blaze reported the Iowa Sex Offender Registry shows Smith was convicted of 2nd degree sexual abuse against a female victim in 2012, and lascivious acts with a child against a male victim in 2014.The registry does not give the victim’s ages; they are listed as children under the age of 13.”
Iowa’s Attorney General office says “we don’t believe we have evidence sufficient to prove Smith has a significant chance of reoffending.Smith will be subject to strict sex-offender reporting required of those who commit the crimes [they] did. [They’ll] be subject to supervision for the rest of [their] life.”