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The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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58<br />

I th<strong>in</strong>k that traditionally Black Hawk county has had a service <strong>in</strong>tensive<br />

m<strong>in</strong>d set <strong>in</strong> deal<strong>in</strong>g with juvenile <strong>of</strong>fenders and I th<strong>in</strong>k that it goes to<br />

history for explanation that the presid<strong>in</strong>g juvenile judge for many years<br />

here was a guy named Forest Eastman who is a past president <strong>of</strong> the<br />

National Council <strong>of</strong> Juvenile and Family Court Judges, an organization <strong>of</strong><br />

great notoriety <strong>in</strong> the nation and Eastman raised the juvenile court system<br />

over 15 year period <strong>of</strong> time that ended 7 or 8 years ago. . .<strong>in</strong>tervene early<br />

and provide as much and as good <strong>of</strong> treatment as possible.<br />

I don’t know. It is sad for me to hear that. I don’t know, I just feel like<br />

people are tired <strong>in</strong> this <strong>of</strong>fice. When we didn’t have a detention center, we<br />

didn’t have as many kids go<strong>in</strong>g to court, that might be some explanation.<br />

A lot <strong>of</strong> it might be the philosophy <strong>of</strong> the court too. <strong>The</strong>y want that kid<br />

back if he or she violates aga<strong>in</strong> where other courts might say, you don’t<br />

have to necessarily br<strong>in</strong>g them back, especially if it is a misdemeanor. You<br />

would th<strong>in</strong>k that we wouldn’t have as many go to court because we have<br />

all <strong>of</strong> these other diversion programs. But, I had a crim<strong>in</strong>ology pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />

up at college that had said that diversion programs are nets to get more<br />

children <strong>in</strong>to the system, because then you have more services available<br />

and if you didn’t have them then you just wouldn’t have the resources to<br />

keep the kid or to get the kid <strong>in</strong>to the system. So, by hav<strong>in</strong>g all <strong>of</strong> these<br />

diversion th<strong>in</strong>gs you can have all <strong>of</strong> these nets to gather more kids and<br />

they are all on the outside but then if they don’t meet that standard then<br />

you draw <strong>in</strong> more, where before the kid would have been advised, warned,<br />

and released...<br />

Q. Would you advocate more or less <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> these diversion options<br />

A. Well, I am beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g to feel like I would advocate for less, because it is<br />

beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g to feel to me that it is be<strong>in</strong>g misused. It is like any bureaucracy<br />

and it becomes self—support<strong>in</strong>g and you just keep build<strong>in</strong>g on it. I just<br />

don’t have a lot <strong>of</strong> faith <strong>in</strong> it’s use. I th<strong>in</strong>k the idea is great but then it k<strong>in</strong>d<br />

<strong>of</strong> becomes corrupt.

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