DES MOINES – The Iowa Supreme Court formed a task force to seek improvements in the state’s juvenile justice system.
The Iowa Supreme Court believes it is time for a holistic review of the juvenile justice system. Iowa’s Juvenile Justice System is decentralized with its governance, services, funding, and data collection divided among four state entities: the Iowa Judicial Branch, the Iowa Department of Human Services, the Iowa Department of Public Health, and the Iowa Department of Human Rights. In the past few years, stakeholders implemented various programs intended to improve the juvenile justice system from their perspective. While well intentioned, those individualized improvements oftentimes have repercussions throughout the system.
The Iowa Supreme Court is establishing a Juvenile Justice Task Force to review the continuum of care in Iowa’s Juvenile Justice System and make recommendations to improve its services, governance, and data collection. Recommendations shall also include options to address the system’s racial and gender disparities. Task force members are made up of Iowans who include service providers, law enforcement, legislators, county attorneys, public defenders, attorneys, youth and family members, law schools, and the four state entities mentioned above.
The court appoints the following persons to serve on the Task Force:
Christensen, Honorable Susan, Chief Justice; Co-Chair of Task Force Jensen, Chad, Director of Juvenile Court Services; Co-Chair of Task Force
Abbott, Andrew, Attorney, Waterloo
Allen, Andrew, Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, Ames
Andrews, Betty, NAACP, Des Moines
Blomme, Emily, Foundation 2 Shelter, Cedar Rapids
Campbell, Terrance, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, Waterloo
Cole, Chris, Chief of Police, Storm Lake Police Department, Storm Lake
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Cournoyer, Chris, State Senator, Le Claire
Dinsdale, Wendi, Juvenile Court Officer, Webster City
Espinoza, Adriana, Orange City
Faircloth, Shirley, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, Marshalltown
Fitzgerald, Lynn, Juvenile Court Officer, Davenport
Forker-Parry, Honorable Stephanie, District Associate Judge, Sioux City
Garcia, Kelly or designee, Director, Department of Human Services and Department of Public Health, Des Moines
Garcia, Patrick, Boys’ Town, NE
Girres, Chris, Juvenile Court Officer, Council Bluffs
Hawkins, John, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, Des Moines
Hernandez, Stephanie, Family Resources, Davenport
Hobart, Scott, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, Davenport
Howe, Erik, Assistant Polk County Attorney, Des Moines
Hutchings, Brent, Woodward Academy, Woodward
Johnson, Kyle, Juvenile Court Officer, Des Moines
Larson, Dan, Polk County Detention, Des Moines
Lebo, Ann or designee, Director, Department of Education, Des Moines Lindner, Leslie, Juvenile Court Officer, Keokuk
Loeb, Ben, Juvenile Court Officer, Independence
Long, Natasha, Burlington
Mailander, Karen, Attorney, Anita
Martens, Mike, Emmett County Sheriff
McGarvey, Cory, Cedar Rapids Police Department, Cedar Rapids McGlynn, Honorable James, Senior Judge, Webster City
Michael, Steve, Department of Human Rights, Des Moines
Minot, Honorable Deborah, District Associate Judge, Iowa City
Mohr, Gary, State Representative, Bettendorf
Nicol, Honorable Linnea, District Associate Judge, West Union
Niles, Gary, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, Sioux City
Ohman, Matt, SHIP, Sioux City
Oliver, Kristie, Coalition for Family and Children’s Services, Des Moines
Ordaz Landeros, Omar, Des Moines
Owens, Honorable William, District Associate Judge, Ottumwa
Pattison, Honorable Brent, District Associate Judge, Des Moines
Ragan, Amanda, State Senator, Mason City
Reed, Tony, Central Iowa Detention, Eldora
Rempe, Michael, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, West Burlington
Ross, Timothy, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, Council Bluffs
Schinstock, Secalee, Juvenile Court Officer, Cedar Rapids
Schmiedt, David, Juvenile Court Officer, Sioux City
Schott, Dawn, Linn County Detention, Cedar Rapids
Schumacher, Honorable Julie, Iowa Court of Appeals, Schleswig
Scorza, Kim, Crittenton Center, Sioux City
Scott, Deanna, Midwest Christian Services, Peterson
Sikorski, Paul, Chief of Police Davenport Police Department, Davenport
Skinner, Doctor Beth or designee, Department of Corrections, Des Moines
Strait, Honorable Scott, District Associate Judge, Council Bluffs
Tabor, Honorable Mary, Iowa Court of Appeals, Des Moines
Thompson, Kathy, Iowa Children’s Justice, Des Moines
Traum, Honorable Cheryl, District Associate Judge, Davenport
Tupper, Michael or designee, Chief of Police, Marshalltown Police Department, Marshalltown
Vander Ploeg, Joshua, Assistant Dubuque County Attorney, Dubuque Weber, Ryan, Woodbury County Detention, Sioux City Wessel-Kroeschell, Beth, State Representative, Ames
Wright, Jeff or designee, State Public Defender, Des Moines
Wyatt, Christopher, Chief Juvenile Court Officer, Cedar Rapids
Shay Bilchik, Founder and Director Emeritus of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University, and Mindy Schweitzer Smith, Senior Research Associate, Center for Criminal Justice Research, University of Cincinnati, will provide technical assistance to the task force.
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A task force report is tentatively scheduled to be publicly released in November 2022.
Task Force members may be reimbursed for necessary and reasonable travel expenses according to Iowa Court Rules 22.16 through 22.2.
