Kenosha County juvenile court intake director outlines caseload trends, detention costs and budget pressures

Mary Beyer, director of juvenile court intake for Kenosha County, told county supervisors at a recent meeting that her office serves as "the gatekeeper for the juvenile court," screening agency referrals and deciding whether cases proceed to the district attorney or are diverted through deferred prosecution agreements.

The presentation summarized intake caseloads, diversion practices and out-of-county detention use, and flagged budget pressures from varying per-diem detention rates. Beyer described the office's 24/7 custody intake role, staffing and how deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) work.

Beyer said referrals for delinquency in 2024 totaled 268 (a count that may include duplicated youth who had multiple referrals in one year). She reported that truancy-related referrals have risen in the first four months of the year and tied at least some of that increase to redrawn school boundaries that left some younger students without reliable busing. "We did a lot of deferred prosecution agreements with those families and are working with the Unified," she said, adding the county met with the school district to discuss transportation concerns.

On child-protection referrals, Beyer said CHIPS ("child in need of protection and services") referrals are down, which she attributed in part to the Division of Children and Family Services' increased use of in-home safety services and a new team that helps keep children in their homes. "They have this program called in home safety services ... they're able to keep more of those kids with their family instead of coming into court," Beyer said.

Beyer described DPAs as contracts that typically require juveniles to follow parental rules, attend school and sometimes pay restitution or complete community service; some drug offenses include up to 100 hours of community service. She said DPAs are actively monitored and, if not complied with, cases can be referred to the district attorney for petition filing. "We are mostly successful unless the family chooses not to come and see us," Beyer said. She told supervisors the office has two full-time intake workers and seven part-time intake workers who share a single pager for 24/7 response and that the intake workers also case-manage agreements that can last from about three months up to a year.

On custody and detention: Beyer said the intake office has detained 28 youth for delinquency this year through April and authorized 36 detentions for CHIPS through April; the office also logged 99 other calls for service in the same period, which can include runaways, welfare checks or consults with law enforcement. She said the county places juveniles in multiple out-of-county facilities because Kenosha does not have a local secure detention center. "We currently have juveniles in Rock County today and Washington County. This year, we've had kids in Racine, Sheboygan, Portage, and Fond Du Lac in addition," she said.

Beyer provided per-diem rates from facilities she has used this year: Fond du Lac at $150 per day, Washington County at $225 per day and a Racine contract at $375 per day (she signed the Racine contract in April; Racine's new facility opened May 17). She said the Racine facility later offered discounts for purchasing blocks of days. Beyer described contracts as generally "as needed" rather than guaranteed bed purchases and noted the county had previously contracted with Racine for 20 beds daily and underused that arrangement.

Length-of-stay details varied by case: Beyer said waiver petitions (where the district attorney seeks to move a juvenile into adult court) can delay proceedings and sometimes hearings are scheduled up to 90 days out, though she said the county attempts to have waiver hearings in roughly 30 days. She said last year the average length of stay was about eight to nine days but acknowledged some cases run much longer; she cited one youth who spent 112 days in detention this year.

On funding, Beyer reported the department has $350,000 budgeted for the year and $263,000 carried over from the prior year. Through April she said the office had spent $170,000. She also noted an ongoing budget resolution that can allow transfers between her budget and DCFS if necessary.

Supervisors asked questions about truancy ticketing, transportation to out-of-county facilities and whether Zoom hearings reduce transportation costs. Beyer said initial detention hearings and many pretrial appearances are handled via Zoom; in-person hearings remain common for dispositional or waiver hearings. She explained the intake office provides pager training to local law enforcement and school staff so responders know how to reach intake staff 24/7: "We go through the whole process so they understand how it works."

Votes at a glance: Earlier in the meeting, supervisors passed a procedural motion to approve an item (moved by Supervisor Morrissey; seconded by Supervisor Grama). The motion carried; the subject of that approval was not specified in the transcript excerpt.

The intake office expects to return with an abbreviated presentation at the county's budget month (Beyer said she expects to be back in October).