Essential Estrogen

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus had a hard act to follow when she made her second appearance before the state legislature on Wednesday morning -- herself.

Following a 2007 State of the Judiciary address in which Ternus called for efforts to improve the lives of foster children, lawmakers passed at least five related bills that were later signed by Gov. Chet Culver and, more importantly, provided needed appropriations for the changes and additions Ternus proposed. More judges were added and assigned to preside over juvenile cases so that each child could have the same judge throughout involvement with juvenile court. The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program was also expanded to serve all 99 Iowa counties.

This year Ternus asked legislators to provide additional juvenile court officers and support staff for juvenile courts, two more judges (one of whom would be assigned exclusively to juvenile court) and funding for children who are awaiting mental health treatment.

"Youths who commit serious offensive and have serious behavior problems have a greater chance for continued unlawful behavior that may eventually land them in our adult criminal justice system," Ternus said in her 2008 address. "And if, in the future, they end up incarcerated, their children will be more likely to end up the same way. But thankfully, we can stop this destructive cycle."

While refusing to label current efforts as a "soft glove approach on hardened juvenile delinquents," Ternus told legislators juvenile court officers are working to identify underlying causes of delinquent behavior. It is hoped, she said, that such discoveries will better match youths with the right intervention and, in turn, help them make better decisions.

"I thought her talk was excellent and inspiring," said Sen. Becky Schmitz, D-Fairfield, who serves as vice-chairwoman of the Human Resources Committee. "Our future is so dependent on the youth of today and the investment is well worth it. Whether we will be able to fund all of her recommendations is uncertain at this point, but I would like to see them given consideration."

Rep. Geri Huser, D-Altoona, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, agreed that funding is a concern, but she also spoke of the importance of the priorities outlined by Ternus.

"I think it is our hope that we can put into law things that allow her to address some of the juvenile justice issues," Huser said. "Our budget is a lot tighter this year than it was last year. So, the legislature is going to have to make some priority decisions. The problem with that, in respect to juvenile justice, is that we've found out that if we don't address them as kids, we're going to end up with them as adults. In the long term it actually costs us money to not address the problems that these kids are seeing in the juvenile justice system."

Huser added that one of the things from the speech that she hopes does become a legislative priority is the research into underlying causes as to why a child chooses to act out in a delinquent manner.

"I think [Ternus] was right on target when she said that kids are not juvenile delinquents because they want to steal something," Huser said. "It is usually because there is a drug problem, or a mental abuse problem or there is a problem in the home. Those things have to be addressed if we are going to get those kids on the right track. The increase in number of children who are in our system causes me concern."

Huser, who was previously employed as a social worker in Polk County, said she understood when Ternus outlined why it was difficult to get judges, attorneys and other support staff to work in the juvenile system.

"When she was talking about having a difficult time getting judges that want to do family court and juvenile court, I can relate to that," she said. "They are literally having to be more than just a lawyer or a judge. They are having to put on their social worker hats, their counselor hats. We also see that in the drug court. But, that's what it takes in order to keep these people from coming back into our system, which saves taxpayers money in the long run."

It's that last piece -- spending money now in order to save much more money in the future -- that especially stood out to both Schmitz and Rep. Ro Foege, D-Mount Vernon.

"Her comments about restorative justice are particularly important for Iowans to understand," Schmitz said. "After ensuring community safety and making the juveniles accountable for their actions, the critical piece is teaching better decision making and teaching alternative behaviors that will satisfy their needs in a more community supportive manner. Many of these students have not learned the appropriate behaviors and just telling them to behave will not improve their behavior. They need to have behaviors modeled and the opportunities to practice them. Mental health and other underlying issues also need to be resolved."

Foege, who serves as chairman of the Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, hopes to have Ternus appear before the committee and expand upon her speech. If he is successful -- and Foege said Ternus gave a tentative nod to the appearance today while at the Capitol -- it will mark the first time an Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice has appeared before a committee other than the one assigned to the judiciary.

"This afternoon I just finished meetings in which we were planning what types of presentations we're going to have in the subcommittee," he said. "One of the plans we have is to have her address that committee. ... We are going to ask her to come in and offer guidance as to what is needed because that helps us achieve what we want to do -- it gives support and backing to what we know needs to be done."

Despite there being a funding crunch, Foege says these issues should be a priority.

"I had a discussion with the Chief Justice after her speech and she agreed with me that if we would have invested more in community-based mental health and community-based substance abuse treatment twenty years ago, we would not have the prison population that we have today," he said. "Some of the priorities [that Ternus outlined] are already in the budget that we are planning. She can add backing to make sure they stay in there. And, maybe, if there are some nickels, dimes and quarters in the seat cushions somewhere, we can add to what we have there already."

In her speech, Ternus announced the addition of two drug courts and a federal grant that will fund three new and expand two existing family drug courts, and she discussed the implementation of the electronic filing and document management program. The full text of the speech is available as a PDF document on the Iowa Judicial Branch website.