New juvenile court diversion program gets off ground in ICCSD

A new juvenile justice diversion program for students in the Iowa City Community School District is up and running, though it has only been put to use once in the month since it was introduced.

Students in the school district facing a first-time disorderly conduct charge on ICCSD grounds can now opt to complete a multi-step program in lieu of the simple misdemeanor charge being filed.

The program — a collaboration between local school, police, county and court representatives — is being implemented for the first time this fall semester after a year of planning.

The goal is to address the high number of incidents that school administrators have referred to law enforcement in recent years and the disproportionate contact between police and minorities, said Latasha DeLoach, a worker in Johnson County's Social Services Department who is helping guide the effort.

"What we find through research is that when a kid gets in trouble once with the juvenile justice system, 82 percent of them never come back to the system," said DeLoach, the county's disproportionate minority contact coordinator. "So we figure if can find a way to divert these kids, then the juvenile justice system can deal with the other 18 percent that really need that assistance instead of being distracted by these little one-time simple misdemeanors."

The program's steps include completing a "stop and think" sheet, in which the juvenile spells out how they would react differently if they found themselves in a similar situation again. The student also is required to write an impact statement designed to make them think about the effects of their actions on themselves, their school and the others involved. Another component requires the student to take part in a community service project, such as volunteering at a local animal shelter or taking part in a park cleanup day.

In its first month, just one student has gone through the program — and that's a good thing, said DeLoach, because it indicates students have been staying out of trouble at the onset of the school year. Iowa City schools referred 81 total cases to police during the 2012-13 school year, and 37 cases during the 2013-14 school year, school leaders said at a public forum May 30.

"Our hope is that we don't have to use it, but if a kid does get in trouble, we do want to give them a chance. We want to give them an option," DeLoach said.

The charge is held until the juvenile completes the diversion process, at which point it is wiped before ever being filed. A juvenile can only take part in the diversion program once.

Although there are currently programs available for juveniles after an arrest, such a pre-arrest diversion option would be among the first — if not the only — of its kind in Iowa, DeLoach said.

The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, which is based at Georgetown University, hosted a program last fall aimed at helping agencies reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. Several representatives from Johnson County attended, and the idea for the diversion program was born from that conference.

After successfully implementing the program this fall, the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform has named members of the local contingent who attended the conference to its national Fellows Network. The local organizers include Sara Barron, community relations director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Johnson County; Kevin Bailey, Iowa City police detective; Joan VandenBerg, ICCSD youth and family development coordinator; Deb Minot, Sixth Judicial District judge; and Chris Wyatt, Sixth Judicial District juvenile court supervisor.

Shay Bilchik, director for the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, called the Johnson County program a project of "tremendous value."

"Utilizing appropriate, graduated responses, including community-based diversion, is a key strategy to end the school-to-prison pipeline, reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system, improve outcomes for youth and enhance public safety," Bilchik said in a news release.

Although the pilot program is solely focused on disorderly conduct incidents within the district, DeLoach said the goal is to one day expand it to other simple misdemeanors, including incidents that occur off school grounds.

"It really has an opportunity to be passed through for all simple misdemeanors," DeLoach said. "The programming may look a little different depending on the charge, but the hope is that we can divert some youth from getting these charges and they'll have the opportunity to make better choices in the future, and this won't be something hanging over their heads."

Reach Josh O'Leary at 887-5415 or joleary@press-citizen.com.