While the Greene County Attorney’s Office has been seeing some historic low crime rates across the county, there has been one area that has dramatically increased.

Assistant County Attorney Laura Snider says she has been prosecuting more juvenile cases, whereas when she started in 2019 juvenile court was held one Friday per month and now that has grown to almost every Friday. She explains the process involves the child offender and their family agreeing to the program for rehabilitation that is outlined by the Juvenile Court Officer.

“When we do get notified is when there is a child who’s not willing to accept accountability or they’re not willing to follow the terms as set out by the Juvenile Court Officer, then it’s referred to us (in the county attorney’s office) for prosecution. And those types of cases have increased.”  

Snider points out that when these situations happen, they will prosecute each case and ask the court to order these kids to do the services to address their issues that brought them to court. She emphasizes that the goal for juvenile court is not to punish the children but to focus on ways to rehabilitate them, but sometimes for cases that a kid needs a pediatric mental health provider, there are no real options within Iowa and several times must be taken out of state.

“That’s just not great for reunification with the family. You know, just imagine being a child that is sent to a state you’ve never been to, to live in a community you’ve never seen, and your family is only allowed to visit once a quarter. That’s difficult.”   

Snider primarily handles all juvenile and magistrate court cases for Greene County.