Comparing county caseload data was problematic prior to the recent statistics initiative undertaken by the Iowa Supreme Court.  In the past, county attorneys and district clerks of court had followed many different filing practices.  Many filed a separate case for each criminal count, juvenile delinquent or CINA child while others filed multi-count trial informations, delinquency petitions covering a myriad of offenses and CINA petitions covering an entire family.  In addition, clerks still had to rely on many manual efforts to compile four monthly caseload reports for the court, even though many case processing functions had been automated for years with the implementation of ICIS (Iowa Court Information System).  Efforts to obtain specialized case management reports were cumbersome and time consuming. 

As many important issues are determined by the caseload statistics (filing data), including formulas that determine the allocation of judicial positions and clerk staff, the Iowa Supreme Court initiated an effort to make improvements.  In 1997, then Chief Justice McGiverin appointed a committee to identify information needed to assist the court in general management activities.  An Information Summit was held in 1998 with 80 plus court participants to identify a comprehensive list of information needs.  The needs were submitted to the Iowa Supreme Court in a report which resulted in the appointment of the Court Information Advisory Committee (CIAC).  Committee members include: Hon. John Bauercamper, District Judge; Hon. William Thatcher, Magistrate; Leesa McNeil, Distrtict Court Administrator; Ruth Kelly, Clerk; Beth McQuillen, Clerk; Jim Leidigh, Juvenile Court Officer; Bill Wulf, Deputy Clerk; Hon. Lucy Gamon, District Associate Judge; Christine Mayberry, Deputy Supreme Court Clerk; Zoe Helgerson, Systems Analyst ICIS; Jerry Beatty, Director of Education and Training; and John Goerdt, State Court Planner.   The CIAC's charge was to "develop plans to improve the collection, analysis and dissemination of uniform, accurate, useful and timely court-related statistics for judges and court managers".  From 1999 through 2001, the CIAC and many work groups designed 53 reports and implemented efforts that will result in automated monthly caseload reports beginning in January 2002.

Some of the changes that county attorneys may have noticed as a result of these efforts include the revision to R.Cr.P. 6 that requires all contemporaneous criminal filings, in which the crimes charged stem from the same transaction or are part of a common scheme, be combined in a single indictment or trial information.  The rule facilitates uniformity in charging practices to assure the comparability of statistical data derived from case filings and eliminate unnecessary multiple filings, which places an unnecessary administrative burden on the court system.  The Juvenile Rules Committee  is considering a similar rule covering juvenile filings.

Changes in clerk filing procedures in delinquency and CINA cases are also ensuring uniformity between counties.  Each child (not a family) that is under the jurisdiction of the court will have a unique case number assigned.  This change not only promotes uniformity, but will assist the court in measuring compliance with the many case processing time frames required by the Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1997.