September 30, 1999

Juvenile detention centers reach capacity in Iowa

Bertha Cerda
digital•iowa staff reporter
Drake University

DES MOINES, Iowa -- When there is trouble with teen-agers in America, critics often blame the violent television shows. Rarely do they look to other places to blame -- such as the community, family and school.

Eric Sage, Program Planner in the State Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning, works in the organization of programs that help teen-agers when they get in trouble with the law.

Although Iowa seems like a safe place to be, Sage said that detention centers in Iowa are at their capacities. "By the age of 13-14, they have already made contact with law enforcement and have made themselves visible for law violations. By the age of 15-16, they get to training schools," Sage said.

To accommodate the needs of these teen-agers, the criminal and juvenile justice department has come up with proposals and projects to help these teen-agers and keep them out of the detention centers as much as possible.

Sage said one of these programs is the training schools. The training schools for boys are located throughout the state, approximately 200 in all, and allocate 185 boys. There is also a training school for girls, located in Toledo, and it has 42 girls. At the training schools, the teen-ager has "trackers," who monitors their activities. Each tracker has three to nine teen-agers for whom he is responsible.

However, places fill up rather quickly and officials need to find them somewhere else to go. "There is the choice of finding alternative program when there is no room," Sage said.

One of these programs involves daily treatment and is more community based. Sage said that about 600 to 700 teen-agers per day are in treatment. They take part in the program while they are in school, and they have activities at the close of school. The teen-agers have supervision until about 8 p.m. each day. Some of the programs are also in effect on Saturday.

The training schools and day programs are funded by the grants the department has received from the state. Sage said funding has increased over $2.5 million for the program. Not all of this comes from the grants that the department receives. "Twenty-five per cent comes from the schools,Ó Sage said. The schools that participate are the ones that help with the daily treatment programs.

Sage said the programs aim to keep teen-agers out of the training schools.

Many factors play into the problems of teen-agers. Many of them are still very young when they start getting into trouble.

"People of color are over-represented," Sage said. He also said there was more of a tendency for police officers to arrest African-American kids than Caucasian. Sage said that the police will release caucasian teen-agers and send them home.

An "African-American male will be dealt with much more severely than a caucasian," Sage said. Sage did say that is not true for all the jurisdictions in Iowa.

There are also a lot more males than females in the programs. Sage said girls are a lot less violent. "A lot more theft-type crimes, false use of check and embezzlement is what girls get picked up for," Sage said.

Sage also said girls were a little more sophisticated. "Girls tend to be involved with an adult rather than someone of their own age," he said. One reason why the girls are in these criminal problems is because they have experienced some sort of abuse at home. In fact, Sage said that girls are more apt to come from families of abuse than boys.

Sage also said that the problems the teen-agers have start before they get to junior high, that many times the problems that these teen-agers face start when they are still in elementary school. A reason for both sexes to be involved in illegal activities is family life. "Simply being ignored, I think, that is one of the reasons why," Sage said.

Steve Michael, Program Planner Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning, said a single parent home also could be a reason. Sage backed this up by saying that a very high percentage of their teen-agers come from single-parent homes, mainly just having their mothers at home.

A lot of these teen-agers are involved in different crimes. Sage said the majority of the time they are picked up because of theft, or some sort of personal crime against someone.

Sage said that 90 percent of the population in the training schools has some history of substance abuse. "They are regular users of alcohol or illegal drugs or both," Sage said.

"Sexual abuse for girls is what started the use of alcohol and smoking," Sage said.

A lot of these children come from a lower social class. "It is real safe to say that most kids come from lower social economic but certainly not all of them," Sage said.