Under 18 and stopped by police in Iowa: lawyers, waivers, and juvenile court

Iowa Code section 232.2 defines a 'child' as a person under 18. Section 232.8 gives the juvenile court exclusive jurisdiction, meaning it is the only court that hears the case, over a child accused of a delinquent act (an act that would be a crime if an adult did it).

There are two kinds of exceptions. Small things go the other way: a child's traffic ticket, a violation of a county or city curfew ordinance, and a few other simple misdemeanors are handled outside juvenile court as ordinary simple misdemeanors. That line in the statute also confirms something for the whole state: Iowa's youth curfews are county and municipal ordinances, not one statewide rule, so Sioux City's hours and Council Bluffs' hours can differ.

Serious things can go to adult court. Under section 232.8, a child 16 or older accused of a forcible felony or certain drug or weapons felonies starts in adult district court, unless the district court sends the case back to juvenile court for good cause. For other offenses, section 232.45 lets a prosecutor or the child ask for a 'waiver' hearing. The juvenile judge may transfer a child to adult court only if the child is at least 14, there is probable cause, and the state proves there are no reasonable prospects of rehabilitating the child in the juvenile system.

Iowa Code section 232.11 says a child has the right to a lawyer from the moment they are taken into custody for a serious or aggravated misdemeanor or a felony, and during any questioning by a police officer or probation officer after that. A child under 16 cannot waive that right without the written consent of a parent, guardian, or custodian. A child who is 16 or 17 can waive it, but only if officers first made a good-faith effort to tell the parent that the child is in custody, what the accusation is, where the child is, and that the parent may visit and talk with the child.

The same section says the right to a lawyer at the detention hearing, the waiver hearing, the trial (called an adjudicatory hearing), and sentencing (the dispositional hearing) cannot be waived by a child of any age. If the family cannot pay, the court appoints a lawyer.

This is Iowa's version of a promise the U.S. Supreme Court made in In re Gault (1967): a young person facing juvenile court has the right to notice of the charges, a lawyer, the chance to question witnesses, and the right not to incriminate themselves. Gault was a 15-year-old in Arizona sent to a state school until 21 over a prank phone call, with no lawyer and no real hearing. The Court said that could not stand. The Sioux City 15-year-old can say the calm sentence our police lessons teach: 'I want a lawyer, and I want my parent called.'

Iowa Code section 232.150 covers sealing, which means the official juvenile court records are closed and, on a sealing order, sent back to the court. If a child was adjudicated delinquent (the juvenile court's version of being found responsible), the court itself must schedule a sealing hearing two years after the last official action in the case or when the person turns 18, whichever is later. The court must seal the records if the person is 18 or older, two years have passed, and there has been no later felony or serious or aggravated misdemeanor conviction and no new serious delinquency finding. The statute lists a few exceptions, including a delinquency finding for operating while intoxicated (section 321J.2) and cases where the underlying act would have been a felony or aggravated misdemeanor for an adult; in those, the judge weighs whether sealing is in the best interests of the person and the public.

If the case never ended in an adjudication, the person can apply for a sealing hearing themselves. Unpaid restitution to a victim does not block sealing, but the case name and file number stay visible until the restitution is paid.