Iowa standardized strategies to reduce DMC in juvenile court.

The Disproportionate Minority Contact Community and Strategic Planning Project (DMC CASP) furthers DOJ's mission by providing competitive funding to states to develop effective strategies to facilitate state and local initiatives to reduce DMC throughout the juvenile justice system. This award to the State of Iowa will target some key issues which have presented past barriers to fully addressing DMC, including the lack of statewide standardization in juvenile detention decision making, and variability and turnover at the local level when it comes to policy interpretation and resources for DMC. The project will be led by the the State Court Administrator's Office (SCA). The SCA will (1) establish a DMC workgroup to develop a strategic plan and relevant DMC training and planning materials for state and local officials, using the CASP Curriculum and DMC Reduction Model as the basis of these materials; and (2) develop and pilot a web-based statewide detention screening tool to be housed on the statewide court information case management system. This initiative represents partnerships between several branches of the statewide government, to include the Governor, the State Court Administrator and legislators of both the House and Senate. CA/NCF