Opinion ID: 1623917
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Delinquency Review Hearing.

Text: After the juvenile court has found a child to have committed a delinquent act, the court must conduct a dispositional hearing where a predispositional report is submitted to the court and all parties are permitted to offer relevant and material evidence. Iowa Code §§ 232.48(2), .50(3). Iowa law requires that the court enter the least restrictive dispositional order appropriate in view of the (1) seriousness of the delinquent act, (2) the child's culpability as indicated by the circumstances of the particular case, (3) the age of the child, and (4) the child's prior record. Id. § 232.52(1). The dispositional orders that a juvenile court may enter are enumerated by statute. Id. § 232.52(2)(a)-(f). Included in the list of permitted orders is the order initially entered here. The statute specifically allows [a]n order transferring the guardianship of the child . . . to the director of the department of human services for purposes of placement in the state training school or other facility, provided that the child is at least twelve years of age and the court finds the placement to be in the best interests of the child or necessary for the protection of the public, and that the child has been found to have committed an act which is a forcible felony [1] .... Id. § 232.52(2)(e). Additionally, where legal custody of a child has been transferred, the court may grant, on motion of the child or the child's parent, an order to terminate, modify, or vacate a dispositional order. Id. § 232.103(3). After the initial dispositional order is entered, and where legal custody of the child has been transferred, the court must hold a periodic dispositional review hearing to determine the future dispositional status of the child. Id. § 232.50(2). The hearing cannot be waived or continued beyond eighteen months after the last dispositional hearing or dispositional review hearing. Id. Generally, any dispositional order of a child found to have committed a delinquent act remains in force until the child becomes eighteen years of age. Id. § 232.53.