*Expanded membership for purposes of
discussing the Uniform Juvenile Court Act.
Minutes of the September 10, 2004, meeting were approved.
A Request for Proposal to Conduct a Juvenile Staffing Standards Study was presented by Ted
Gladden. Mr. Gladden made reference to the last time a staffing study was done in 1997. He related
that the state court administrator's office would use the same approach as they did with the clerk
study. This time the clerical support staff for juvenile offices will be included.
A motion was made by Karen Kringlie and seconded by Judge Romanick. Motion
carried.
Karen Kringlie reported on the status of the Best Practices committee. There are 12 members
made up of secretaries, juvenile court officers, and office supervisors. Dale Thompson will also
serve on the committee.
Louie Hentzen reported on the status of the juvenile court management reviews. At this date,
reviews were complete in Devils Lake, Jamestown, and Dickinson. Due to health issues and facility
problems we could not complete the Williston juvenile office review. It will be completed in the
spring, along with Bottineau, Grafton, Valley City, and Wahpeton. The most current reviews are in
the draft stage and will be reviewed before sending them to the Committee and the Best Practices
Committee.
The next topic of discussion centered around any possible legislation being introduced this
session. Judge Romanick opened the discussion with the proposal of the ability to use detention as
a sanction in juvenile drug court cases, looking at it as a "treatment action". Justice Maring noted
that the Juvenile Policy Board has historically been opposed to such sanctions. Bob Freed inquired
as to whether or not it would be used in other matters, other than drug court. Al Lick indicated that
research shows using detention as a sanction was not a good way to get kids attention. He indicated
that detention should not be used as a sanction; it should only be used for holding for hearings. He
also indicated that he felt the counties would not be happy because the counties would have to
assume the expense. Judge Romanick indicated that drug courts put different perspectives on the
cases today. There was some discussion that if the detention theory was successful it would save the
counties money in the long run. The question was asked, "Can we get an appropriation?" Jim Ganje
indicated that we could contact a legislator to draft a bill or we can draft one ourselves.
Judge Romanick moved to use detention as a sanction in juvenile drug court, only for
up to four days per child per year. Judge Nelson seconded. The motion carried with Al Lick
abstaining.
A discussion on future meetings was held starting on or about March 11, 2005. It was
decided to review the Juvenile Court Act by sections. It was agreed that the committee members will
review the first 23 sections of the Act (27-20-23). Members should email comments to other
members and all members be ready to discuss the first 23 sections at the next meeting.