Terms Used In Iowa Code > Chapter 232 - Juvenile Justice

• abuse: means :
   (1) Any nonaccidental physical injury, or injury which is at variance with the history given of it, suffered by a child as the result of the acts or omissions of a person responsible for the care of the child. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Acquittal:
  1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
  2. A verdict of "not guilty."
   
• Adjudicatory hearing: means a hearing to determine if the allegations of a petition are true. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Adult: means a person other than a child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• appellate court: means and includes both the supreme court and the court of appeals. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assessment: means the process by which the department responds to all accepted reports of alleged child abuse. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Case permanency plan: means the plan, mandated by Pub. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
• Child: includes but shall not be limited to a stepchild, foster child, or legally adopted child and means a child actually or apparently under eighteen years of age, and a dependent person eighteen years of age or over who is unable to maintain the person's self and is likely to become a public charge. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Child: means any person under the age of eighteen years. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Child abuse assessment: means an assessment process by which the department responds to all accepted reports of child abuse which allege child abuse as defined in subsection 2, paragraph "a" subparagraphs (1) through (3) and subparagraphs (5) through (10), or which allege child abuse as defined in subsection 2, paragraph "a" subparagraph (4), that also allege imminent danger, death, or injury to a child. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Child in need of assistance: means a child who has been found to meet the grounds for adjudication pursuant to section 232. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Child protection worker: means an individual designated by the department to perform an assessment in response to a report of child abuse. See Iowa Code 232.68
• clerk: means clerk of the court in which the action or proceeding is brought or is pending; and the words "clerk's office" mean the office of that clerk. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Complaint: means an oral or written report which is made to the juvenile court by any person and alleges that a child is within the jurisdiction of the court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Confidential access to a child: means access to a child, during an assessment of an alleged act of child abuse, who is alleged to be the victim of the child abuse. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Consumer: means any one of the following:
   a. See Iowa Code 216E.1
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• control over: means any of the following:
   (i) A person who has accepted, undertaken, or assumed supervision of a child from the parent or guardian of the child. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Court: shall mean and include any court upon which jurisdiction has been conferred to determine the liability of persons for the support of dependents. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Court: means the juvenile court established under section 602. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Court appointed special advocate: means a person duly certified by the child advocacy board created in section 237. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Criminal or juvenile justice agency: means any agency which has as its primary responsibility the enforcement of the state's criminal laws or of local ordinances made pursuant to state law. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Custodian: means a stepparent or a relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity to a child who has assumed responsibility for that child, a person who has accepted a release of custody pursuant to subchapter IV, or a person appointed by a court or juvenile court having jurisdiction over a child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delinquent act: means :
   a. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Department: means the department of health and human services. See Iowa Code 249L.2
• Department: means the department of health and human services and includes the local and county offices of the department. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent: shall mean and include a spouse, child, mother, father, grandparent, or grandchild who is in need of and entitled to support from a person who is declared to be legally liable for such support. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Desertion: means the relinquishment or surrender for a period in excess of six months of the parental rights, duties, or privileges inherent in the parent-child relationship. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Detention: means the temporary care of a child in a physically restricting facility designed to ensure the continued custody of the child at any point between the child's initial contact with the juvenile authorities and the final disposition of the child's case. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Detention hearing: means a hearing at which the court determines whether it is necessary to place or retain a child in detention. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Differential response: means an assessment system in which there are two discrete pathways to respond to accepted reports of child abuse, a child abuse assessment and a family assessment. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Director: means the director of health and human services or the director's designee. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dispositional hearing: means a hearing held after an adjudication to determine what dispositional order should be made. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Family assessment: means an assessment process by which the department responds to all accepted reports of child abuse which allege child abuse as defined in subsection 2, paragraph "a" subparagraph (4), but do not allege imminent danger, death, or injury to a child. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Family in need of assistance: means a family in which there has been a breakdown in the relationship between a child and the child's parent, guardian, or custodian. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Fictive kin: means an adult person who is not a relative of a child but who has an emotionally positive significant relationship with the child or the child's family. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Foster care: means the provision of parental nurturing, including but not limited to the furnishing of food, lodging, training, education, supervision, treatment, or other care, to a child on a full-time basis by a person, including an adult relative or fictive kin of the child, and where the child is under the placement, care, or supervision of the department, juvenile court services, or tribes with whom the department has entered into an agreement pursuant to a court order or voluntary placement, but not including a guardian of the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Guardian: means a person who is not the parent of a child, but who has been appointed by a court having jurisdiction over the child, to have a permanent self-sustaining relationship with the child and to make important decisions which have a permanent effect on the life and development of that child and to promote the general welfare of that child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Guardian ad litem: means a person appointed by the court to represent the interests of a child in any judicial proceeding to which the child is a party. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Health practitioner: includes a licensed physician and surgeon, osteopathic physician and surgeon, dentist, optometrist, podiatric physician, or chiropractor; a resident or intern in any of such professions; a licensed dental hygienist, a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse; a physician assistant; and an emergency medical care provider certified under section 147A. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Informal adjustment: means the disposition of a complaint without the filing of a petition and may include but is not limited to the following:
   a. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Informal adjustment agreement: means an agreement between an intake officer, a child who is the subject of a complaint, and the child's parent, guardian, or custodian providing for the informal adjustment of the complaint. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Institution: means a birthing hospital. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Intake: means the preliminary screening of complaints by an intake officer to determine whether the court should take some action and if so, what action. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Intake officer: means a juvenile court officer or other officer appointed by the court to perform the intake function. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Internet: means the federated international system that is composed of allied electronic communication networks linked by telecommunication channels, that uses standardized protocols, and that facilitates electronic communication services, including but not limited to use of the world wide web; the transmission of electronic mail or messages; the transfer of files and data or other electronic information; and the transmission of voice, image, and video. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Interview: means the verbal exchange between the child protection worker and the child for the purpose of developing information necessary to protect the child. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Judge: means the judge of a juvenile court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Judicial officer: means a supreme court justice, a judge of the court of appeals, a district judge, a district associate judge, an associate juvenile judge, an associate probate judge, or a magistrate. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Juvenile: means the same as "child". See Iowa Code 232.2
• Juvenile court officer: means a person appointed as a juvenile court officer under section 602. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Juvenile detention home: means a physically restricting facility used only for the detention of children. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Juvenile diversion program: means an organized effort to coordinate services for a child who is alleged to have committed a delinquent act, when the organized effort results in the dismissal of a complaint alleging the commission of the delinquent act or results in informally proceeding without a complaint being filed against the child, and which does not result in an informal adjustment agreement involving juvenile court services or the filing of a delinquency petition. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Juvenile parole officer: means a person representing an agency which retains jurisdiction over the case of a child adjudicated to have committed a delinquent act, placed in a secure facility and subsequently released, who supervises the activities of the child until the case is dismissed. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Juvenile shelter care home: means a physically unrestricting facility used only for the shelter care of children. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• local educational agencies: means the same as defined in the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, §9101, as codified in 20 U. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Magistrate: means a judicial officer appointed under chapter 602, article 6, part 4. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Mental health professional: means a person who meets the following requirements:
   a. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Mental injury: means a nonorganic injury to a child's intellectual or psychological capacity as evidenced by an observable and substantial impairment in the child's ability to function within the child's normal range of performance and behavior, considering the child's cultural origin. See Iowa Code 232.2
• month: means a calendar month, and the word "year" and the abbreviation "A. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Neglect: means the failure on the part of a person responsible for the care of a child to provide for adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical or mental health treatment, supervision, or other care necessary for the child's health and welfare when financially able to do so or when offered financial or other reasonable means to do so. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Newborn infant: means the same as defined in section 233. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Nonsecure facility: means a physically unrestricting facility in which children may be placed pursuant to a dispositional order of the court made in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Observation: means direct physical viewing of a child under the age of four by the child protection worker where the viewing is limited to the child's body other than the genitalia and pubes. See Iowa Code 232.68
• official records: means official records of the court of proceedings over which the court has jurisdiction under this chapter which includes but is not limited to the following:
   a. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means a biological or adoptive mother or father of a child; or a father whose paternity has been established by one of the methods enumerated in section 252A. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Party: means a petitioner, a respondent, or a person who intervenes in a proceeding instituted under this chapter. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Peace officer: means a law enforcement officer or a person designated as a peace officer by a provision of the Code. See Iowa Code 232.2
• person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Person responsible for the care of a child: means :
   a. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Petition: means a pleading the filing of which initiates formal judicial proceedings in the juvenile court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Petitioner: includes each dependent person for whom support is sought in a proceeding instituted pursuant to this chapter or a mother or putative father of a dependent. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Physical abuse: means any nonaccidental physical injury suffered by a child as the result of the acts or omissions of the child's parent, guardian, or custodian or other person legally responsible for the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Physical examination: means direct physical viewing, touching, and medically necessary manipulation of any area of the child's body by a physician licensed under chapter 148. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. ^Source:
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Preadoptive care: means the provision of parental nurturing on a full-time basis to a child in foster care by a person who has signed a preadoptive placement agreement with the department for the purposes of proceeding with a legal adoption of the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Predisposition investigation: means an investigation conducted for the purpose of collecting information relevant to the court's fashioning of an appropriate disposition of a delinquency case over which the court has jurisdiction. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Predisposition report: is a report furnished to the court which contains the information collected during a predisposition investigation. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Presentence report: A report prepared by a court's probation officer, after a person has been convicted of an offense, summarizing for the court the background information needed to determine the appropriate sentence. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Pro se: A Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Probation: means a legal status which is created by a dispositional order of the court in a case where a child has been adjudicated to have committed a delinquent act, which exists for a specified period of time, and which places the child under the supervision of a juvenile court officer or other person or agency designated by the court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Putative father: means a man who is alleged to be or who claims to be the biological father of a child born to a woman to whom the man is not married at the time of the birth of the child. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Putative father: means a person who has been identified by the mother of a child as the child's potential biological father or a person who claims to be the biological father of a child and who was not married to the child's mother at the time of the child's birth, when all of the following circumstances apply:
   a. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Reasonable and prudent parent standard: means the same as defined in section 237. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Registry: means the central registry for child abuse information established in section 235A. See Iowa Code 232.68
• relative: includes the parent of a sibling of the child if the sibling's parent's parental rights were not previously terminated in relation to the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Residual parental rights and responsibilities: means those rights and responsibilities remaining with the parent after transfer of legal custody or guardianship of the person of the child. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Respondent: includes each person against whom a proceeding is instituted pursuant to this chapter. See Iowa Code 252A.2
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Rule: includes "regulation". See Iowa Code 4.1
• seal: shall include an impression upon the paper alone, or upon wax, a wafer affixed to the paper, or an official stamp of a notarial officer as provided in chapter 9B. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Secure facility: means a physically restricting facility in which children adjudicated to have committed a delinquent act may be placed pursuant to a dispositional order of the court. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sex trafficking: means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of commercial sexual activity as defined in section 710A. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Sex trafficking victim: means a victim of sex trafficking. See Iowa Code 232.68
• Sexual abuse: means the commission of a sex offense as defined by the penal law. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Shelter care: means the temporary care of a child in a physically unrestricting facility at any time between a child's initial contact with juvenile authorities and the final judicial disposition of the child's case. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Shelter care hearing: means a hearing at which the court determines whether it is necessary to place or retain a child in shelter care. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Sibling: means an individual who is related to another individual by blood, adoption, or affinity through a common legal or biological parent, regardless of whether a common legal or biological parent's parental rights have been terminated. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Signature: includes an electronic signature as defined in section 554D. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Social investigation: means an investigation conducted for the purpose of collecting information relevant to the court's fashioning of an appropriate disposition of a child in need of assistance case over which the court has jurisdiction. See Iowa Code 232.2
• social records: means all records made with respect to a child in connection with proceedings over which the court has jurisdiction under this chapter other than official records and includes but is not limited to the records made and compiled by intake officers, predisposition reports, and reports of physical and mental examinations. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Social report: means a report furnished to the court which contains the information collected during a social investigation. See Iowa Code 232.2
• state: means the general interest held by the people in the health, safety, welfare, and protection of all children living in this state. See Iowa Code 232.90
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Taking into custody: means an act which would be governed by the laws of arrest under the criminal code if the subject of the act were an adult. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Termination hearing: means a hearing held to determine whether the court should terminate a parent-child relationship. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Termination of the parent-child relationship: means the divestment by the court of the parent's and child's privileges, duties, and powers with respect to each other. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Voluntary placement: means a foster care placement in which the department provides foster care services to a child according to a signed placement agreement between the department and the child's parent or guardian. See Iowa Code 232.2
• Waiver hearing: means a hearing at which the court determines whether it shall waive its jurisdiction over a child alleged to have committed a delinquent act so that the state may prosecute the child as if the child were an adult. See Iowa Code 232.2
• year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1