Members Present Judge William Herauf, Chair Judge David Reich Judge Dan Narum Dale Thompson, Referee Karen Kringlie, Juvenile Court Director Unit 2
Members Absent Justice Mary Muehlen Maring Judge Doug Mattson
Staff Present Louie Hentzen, Asst. State Court Administrator Catie Palsgraaf, Research Analyst
Guests Deb Carlson, Juvenile Court Director Unit 1 Scott Hopwood, Juvenile Court Director Unit 4 Cory Pedersen, Juvenile Court Director Unit 3
Judge Herauf called the meeting to order. He asked for any changes in the minutes from the
January 12, 2011, minutes.
A motion was made by Karen Kringlie to approve the January 12, 2011, minutes. The
motion was seconded by Judge Reich, motion carried.
Louie Hentzen introduced Catie Palsgraaf as the research analyst for the Court Improvement
Project and other juvenile court matters.
Juvenile Director Report Karen Kringlie presented the Juvenile Director report. She passed the 2010 Juvenile Court
Annual Report out to Board. The report included statistics, programs and classes available by
county. Karen asked if there are any suggestions for information to include in the next annual
report, notify Karen. The annual report is currently on the website and the Juvenile Directors
will send an electronic copy of the report to the judges in their units. It was decided to address
any questions or comments about the annual report at the next Juvenile Policy Board meeting
ND Courts contracted with Kevin Thompson to conduct a detention study for 2006-2007. The
study will determine if juveniles in detention in 2006-2007 reoffended within 5 years and
compare to those who did not. The study is due to be completed by the end of July 2011.
Juvenile Court Officers will receive more training on risk planning at the Juvenile Court
Conference scheduled for September 7-9, 2011.
Louie Hentzen reported that ND Courts received 1 additional FTE in budget. This will be a
juvenile court officer in either Fargo or Bismarck. The staffing study conducted prior to the 62nd
(2011) Legislative Session showed the Juvenile Court was 4 officers short in Fargo and 3 officers
short in Bismarck. Going into the 62nd Legislative Session, the word was additional FTE’s would
be very unlikely. Temporary support staff is still in the budget.
Court Improvement Project Annual Meeting Louie Hentzen reported on the Court Improvement Project (CIP) Annual Meeting in Washington,
D.C. on May 9-10, 2011. The focus was on justification for Congress to continue funding the
program and to expect more evaluation in the process. The expectation is more requirements
will need to be met to receive the money for the program, but there was no indication the funding
won’t be available.
Catie Palsgraaf reported on the data break-out session North Dakota attended. Each state was
assigned one of 4 different measurements from the toolkit. North Dakota was assigned time and
timeliness to adjudication. Prior to the annual meeting, deprivation petition filings in ECJD and
SCJD for calendar 2010 were reviewed and a data summary was prepared.
Judge Herauf inquired about the results of the review and whether ECJD and SCJD were meeting
the timelines. The data suggests that both judicial districts are within the timelines. A review of
deprivation petitions in NECJD and NWJD for calendar year 2010 following the CIP annual
meeting suggest these judicial districts are also within the timelines.
Directors are monitoring days a child is out of the home via an Odyssey placements report.
Performance measures results will be sent to judges as a reference for where their particular
county stands.
Upcoming Training The Juvenile Justice Conference is scheduled June 7-9, 2011, in Bismarck at the Ramkota Hotel
and Conference Center. The conference will feature well regarded nationally known speakers.
The CFS Conference is scheduled July 25-28, 2011. DHS and ND Courts take turns sponsoring
this conference. 2011 is a DHS year.
The Juvenile Court Conference is scheduled September 7-9, 2011, in Grand Forks. The next
Juvenile Policy Board meeting will be on September 9, in conjunction with the Juvenile Court
Conference.