Tribe: Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
Sec. 20-2201. Informal Proceedings
(a) When a youth has committed a delinquent act the Tribal Prosecutor shall have the
duty to decide whether the youth shall be referred to Informal Proceedings taking into
consideration what would be in the best interest of the youth and the nature of the charge. (b) Once it is decided that an informal proceedings are appropriate , the matter shall
be referred to the Juvenile Probation Officer who shall send out notice of the informal
proceeding’s time, date, and place to the youth and his/her parent/legal guardian.
(c) The informal agreement shall be in writing, signed by the youth and his/her
parent/legal guardian and the Juvenile Probation Officer.
(d) At the informal proceeding, the youth’s rights as articulated in Sec. 20-2702,
shall be read.
(e) All parties involved in the informal proceeding shall be made aware of its
voluntary status. Any youth and/-or his/her parent/legal guardian cannot be compelled into
entering an informal agreement. The youth and/or his/her parent/legal guardian shall be informed
that if an informal agreement is not reached, the Tribal Prosecutor may still file a petition under
the formal proceedings of this Act.
(f) At the informal proceeding, the Juvenile Probation Officer may ask the youth and
his/her parent/legal guardian to consider the following as part of the informal agreement:
(1) The youth be referred to a community service provider;
(2) The youth be ordered to terms of supervision with the Juvenile Probation
Office;
(3) That restitution be imposed on the youth;
(4) Other alternative disposition be imposed with cultural awareness be given
the highest priority; and/-or
(g) Dispositions. The following dispositions may be imposed by this informal
proceeding that may include, but is not in any way limited to:
(1) Probation;
(2) Restitution, if applicable;
(3) House arrest (with all time requirements clearly specified);
(4) Chemical dependency evaluation with associated recommendations that
shall be adhered to;
(5) Community service, when appropriate;
(6) Other evaluation, treatment, and/-or counseling; and/-or
(7) Cultural awareness activities, which shall ultimately be considered with
the highest priority. (h) The Juvenile Probation Officer shall review the youth’s progress. If at any time
during the duration of the Informal Agreement the youth has not adhered to the Informal
Agreement, then the Juvenile Probation Officer shall refer the matter to the Prosecutor to file a
Petition to proceed to a Formal Hearing.