Iowa

State Demographics

In 1996, Iowa's youth population under age 18 was approximately 799,300 (Casey Foundation 1998).

Of the State's children, approximately 5 percent were living in families with incomes below 50 percent of the poverty level in 1995. Further, it is estimated that in 1995, approximately 25 percent of Iowa's children under age 13 were living in working-poor families or families where at least one parent was working 50 or more hours a week but the family's income was still below the poverty level (Casey Foundation 1998).

Iowa ranked 7^th in the country in terms of teen birth rate for 1995. This same year, the birth rate in the State was approximately 22 births per 1,000 young women ages 15-17. This was up from 19 births per 1,000 young women in 1985 (Casey Foundation 1998).

During the 1994-95 school year, young women represented 42 percent (2,079) of those students who dropped out (Iowa Department of Education 1996).

Overview of the Juvenile Justice System

Iowa has eight judicial districts, and all cases involving juvenile offenders are handled by the State Juvenile Court, which is a separate court within the judicial branch of State government. Juvenile court judges are initially appointed by the Governor and then elected by the public for subsequent terms (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1997a, p. 30).

The State Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for ensuring public safety and providing appropriate placements for all juvenile offenders. To this end, the State has 10 detention centers with a total of 196 beds available. Further, DHS operates the State's one secure facility, the Iowa Training School for Boys, and a secure cottage of 10 beds for female offenders. DHS is also responsible for a myriad of prevention and intervention services for youth (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1997a, p. 30).

The Formula Grants Program for the State is housed within the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning in the Iowa Department of Human Rights.

Offense Patterns and Processing of Juvenile Female Offenders

The following statistics give an overview of the information available on female offending and processing patterns in Iowa:

• In 1994, young women represented 19 percent (615) of the juveniles held in juvenile detention centers in Iowa. Of this total, 74 percent (456) were Anglo, 13 percent (80) were African-American, and 6 percent (38) were Native American (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1997a).

• In FY1996, about 25 percent (28) of young women held at the Iowa Juvenile Home, the only secure placement for young women, were there for "person offenses." The remaining 75 percent (83) of the young women were referred for "nonperson" offenses. Of this total, 34 percent (38 young women) were referred for theft or related charges (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1997a, p. 17).

• In 1992, young women represented 31 percent (763) of the youth admitted to detention and 22 percent of the youth committed (Poe-Yamagata and Butts 1996, p. 19).

The specific objectives of Iowa's efforts to address the needs of female juvenile offenders have remained consistent since 1995. They include the following initiatives.

• Ensure the involvement of key players from the juvenile justice system and other related local and State service systems in addressing this issue. In February 1995, a Gender-Specific Services Task Force was established as part of the State's Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. This task force was charged with overseeing the State planning agency's activities and making specific recommendations concerning the provision of appropriate services to young women in the State (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1997b, p. 1).

  The Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning is also planning to hire a part-time employee to coordinate the efforts of the task force and to coordinate training and technical assistance efforts throughout the State.

• Assess and analyze the situation for young women involved in Iowa's juvenile justice system. Since 1996, the State has been involved with a research effort designed to identify issues such as the number of young women in Iowa's juvenile justice system, the types of offenses they commit, and the types and availability of juvenile justice programming designed for this population. The research was contracted through the State Commission on the Status of Women, which then subcontracted with Boddy Media Group. (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1995, p. 1).

• Provide general public education concerning issues of female development and the need for gender-specific services and provide detailed, gender-specific programming and female development training for professionals involved in the juvenile justice field.

  With assistance from CRA through OJJDP's technical assistance process, the Gender-Specific Services Task Force also conducted a train-the-trainers session designed to better prepare its members to conduct basic gender-specific services training throughout the State as requested.

  The task force also sponsored its first statewide conference in April 1997 to bring statewide attention to the needs of adolescent female offenders in the State. The State has applied for additional Challenge Activity E monies to support a second annual conference (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1997b, p. 2).

• Provide program design and program development training throughout the State. The task force is currently planning another train-the-trainers session to provide specific training about program development for young women to the staff of programs throughout the State. Staff of the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning have also completed several program reviews for female-serving programs throughout the State (Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning 1997b, p. 2).

Annie E. Casey Foundation. 1998. KIDS COUNT Online Data Service. Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD.

Iowa Child and Family Policy Center. 1994. Family Matters: Indicators of Well Being for Iowa's Children. Des Moines, IA.

Iowa Department of Education. 1996. Department of Education Fact Sheet. Des Moines, IA.

Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. 1994. Iowa Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Three Year Plan FY 1994. Submitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, DC.

Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. 1995. Iowa 1995 Challenge Activity E Grant Application. Submitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, DC.

Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. 1997a. Iowa Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Three Year Plan FY 1997. Submitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, DC.

Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. 1997b. Iowa 1997 Challenge Activity E Program Summary. Des Moines, IA.

Poe-Yamagata, E., and J.A. Butts. 1996. Female Offenders in the Juvenile Justice System: Statistics Summary. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Washington, DC.

Juvenile Female Offenders: A Status of the States Report

October 1998