NCJ Number
204072
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 67 Issue: 3 Dated: December 2003 Pages: 20-27
Date Published
December 2003
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper describes a model program designed to provide intensive supervision of conditionally released sex offenders in Illinois, with attention to how theories of rehabilitation are concurrently implemented in treatment and balanced with public-safety concerns.
Abstract
In the early 1990's, the Cook County Adult Probation Division recognized that traditional probation was insufficiently rigorous to supervise sex offenders. As a result, the division developed and implemented a specialized program of intensive probation of sexual offenders called the Adult Sex Offender Program (ASOP). The targeted offender group for the ASOP was offenders convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse or criminal sexual assault against a family member. Having the primary objective of managing sex offenders in the community to prevent future offenses, the ASOP uses the containment model defined by English and colleagues (1996). The containment model has five core components: a consistent multiagency philosophy focused on community safety, a coordinated multidisciplinary implementation strategy, an individualized case management and control plan for each offender, consistent multiagency policies and protocols, and program quality-control mechanisms. The intensive supervision involves home searches and other modes of monitoring, weekly group therapy supplemented by individual counseling, and institutionalized communication between probation officers and treatment providers. Sections of this paper discuss communication and interagency cooperation, the delineation of roles, collaborative needs, and accountability. Five case studies of offenders in the ASOP are presented. Based on the authors' collective experience in working with sex offenders on probation, they conclude that treatment within the context of the containment model works to significantly reduce recidivism. 26 notes