IOWA (KWQC)- Aldermen, Mayor Klipsch, Police Chiefs, Juvenile Justice Leaders and more are all coming together to help change the Juvenile Justice System in Iowa.
"We are looking for the legislature to come together to make some changes in juvenile laws," Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane says.
Those changes include harsher penalties for kids who steal cars.
After a few more meetings, the bill will be drafted by State Senator Roby Smith (R) 47th Dist.
"What we're looking at doing is maybe tying in crimes of a vehicle. So, if you steal a vehicle and commit another felony, then you are ratcheted up from a Class D felony to a Class C felony," Senator Smith said.
A Class C felony means more time in detention.
"It would be a deterrent to stealing vehicles," Senator Smith added. "If you steal a vehicle and commit another felony on top of that, then your punishment will be more severe."
Along with harsher punishments, local leaders are asking for Youth Residential Treatment Centers to be able to lock their doors to stop repeat offenders.
"What's happening is they're not being locked and they can just go out the front door," added Senator Smith. "It's something to give them the ability to change Iowa Code to lock the doors so they can't get out and commit more crimes."
"They go out and commit more felonies right away," Sheriff Lane added. "We are seeing a lot of this and its causing a big disruption to our community."
Going forward, Senator Smith will meet with Iowa DHS, The Iowa Department of Corrections and even Governor Kim Reynolds before the bill will be drafted.
"Then I'll look to move it forward in January and February," he added.
State Senator Smith is also looking to do is to allow certain facilities to restrain juveniles and more civil protection if someone does.
We do want to mention that almost all of the evidence regarding juvenile crime for us as reports is anecdotal.
Under Iowa law, juvenile crime records are not public information, unless they commit a forcible felony or they're charged as an adult.
