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Goodhue County court services reports 68% rise in open probation cases, flags staffing strains
Summary
Goodhue County Court Services told commissioners its caseloads surged in 2024 — a 68% increase in open probation cases and a 50% rise in juvenile cases — and outlined program responses including expanded risk assessment, a youth rehabilitation grant, and reliance on an out-of-county contracted bed that costs $644 per night.
Rhonda Van Schoonhoven, director of Goodhue County Court Services, told commissioners the office saw a 68% increase in open probation cases in 2024 and a 25% rise in the number of individual people processed through the system.
Van Schoonhoven described how her office separates cases into administrative (low risk), traditional and state-adjudication categories, and said agents perform risk assessments and monitor conditions such as treatment referrals, random testing and specialized programming. She said the office is shifting staff time toward higher-risk clients and training agents on the LSCMI risk instrument to improve prioritization.
The presentation highlighted marked changes in offense types: traffic and accident cases rose about 231% (from 136 to 450), DWI cases rose 45% (184 to 266), property damage more than doubled (9 to 19), domestic assault increased 52% (31 to 47) and theft rose 82% (39 to 71). Van Schoonhoven said the caseload remains majority male (64%) but noted increasing female representation in some…
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