In 2006 the members of CASOM gathered to identify ways in which they could make Kalamazoo a safer community by managing and supervising their sex offender population successfully. To accomplish this, ten key issues will be addressed:
1: Public Education
Public education about sex offenders and sexual assault prevention is essential to the success of the CASOM project. The CASOM committee will attempt to have education events open to the community, and allow the community to request what types of information or education they would like to see.
The goal of the public education activities is to have necessary and important information readily available to the members of the community about sex offenders in order to prevent future sexual victimization. To help accomplish this goal a brochure and website have been produced with imperative information displayed on both.
2: Victim Centered Approach
In a victim centered approach to managing sex offenders, the victims and community receive equal consideration in the case management decisions along with the offender. The victims of a sexual assault have a real stake in the outcome of the offender’s treatment, supervision, and overall management and needs to be addressed.
To make sure this project has been victim centered we have had victim advocates on the Kalamazoo CASOM committee every step of the way. The goal in doing this is to give a voice to the victims of sexual assault in order to better prevent re-victimization and additional victims.
3: Sex Offender Specific Risk and Need Assessment
Previous to the implementation of the Kalamazoo CASOM project, sex offender specific risk and need assessments were inconsistently conducted in Kalamazoo County. Therefore, a first priority for this project was to choose appropriate risk and need assessment tools.
The goal is to conduct appropriate sex offender specific risk and need assessments for all sex offenders sentenced to probation or prison to inform decision making, case planning, supervision, case management, and treatment. These tools will also better highlight the offender’s risk level, which indicates if an offender is low, medium, or high risk to re-offend.
4: Use of Polygraph
Prior to the Kalamazoo CASOM project, five counties in Michigan used polygraph as a sex offender specific treatment and supervision tool. Kalamazoo County was not one of those counties. Kalamazoo CASOM will be applying the same MDOC polygraph policies in Kalamazoo as is applied to all other counties currently employing the use of polygraph.
The goal is to use polygraph examinations as a tool to effectively supervise parolee sex offenders and high risk probationers in the community, as well as use of the tool in sex offender treatment. According to current research the polygraph is a best practice in sex offender supervision and treatment because it emphasizes the importance of openness and truthfulness.
5: Sex Offender Specific Treatment
The Kalamazoo CASOM project will also be addressing any barriers or gaps in institutional and community sex offender specific treatment, compared to best practices. Then requests will be made to MDOC to adopt specific recommendations regarding these identified gaps in treatment that is currently being provided, institutionally, and with contracted services in the community.
One of the identified problem areas with treatment is that generally treatment is addressed as a “one size fits all” type of program. Once the sex offender specific risk assessment tool is implemented, treatment providers can begin separating their treatment groups into different levels of risk; low, medium, and high and begin working on more individualized treatment plans.
The goal is that MDOC adopts the recommendations brought forth by the Kalamazoo CASOM project, based on best practices, for institutional treatment and for contractual community treatment providers.
6: Electronic Monitoring
Currently in the State of Michigan, electronic monitoring is required on all paroled sex offenders and MDOC. This will remain a requirement with the Kalamazoo CASOM project. The types of electronic monitoring that will be used are “Active” GPS, “Passive” GPS, and various types of Radio Frequency (RF). The offense type determines which form of electronic monitoring a parolee will receive and for how long. The Kalamazoo CASOM project may also be able to promote the use of electronic monitoring for high risk probationers at the judge’s discretion, but will not be a requirement.
The goal is to continue monitoring parolee sex offenders as MDOC currently indicates, using electronic monitoring technology. Since this is a current practice, it will already be a requirement prior to the implementation year and will continue throughout the grant year. Advocating for the use of electronic monitors on high risk probationers will depend on the availability of the monitoring units accessible to MDOC.
7: Collaborative Case Management and Sex Offender Policy Review Teams
To accomplish a more collaborative case management style of sex offender specific supervision, which is a best practice, a multidisciplinary Case Management Team (CMT) has been established. The CMT will meet monthly and be responsible for review of offender progress and status, case planning, and scheduling of ongoing assessments. The members of the team will consist of:
• Supervising Agents
• Treatment Providers
• Polygraph Examiner
• Victim Advocates
• Prosecutor
All members of the CMT will participate in initial and ongoing sex offender specific training and collaborative case management training. The goal of the CMT is to acquire, share and use important information regarding sex offenders to more effectively plan and safely manage the offenders in the community.
8: Specialized Training
Sex offender specific, ongoing training will be provided throughout the implementation year for different agencies and service providers who work specifically with sex offenders and the Kalamazoo CASOM project. Some of the other training events that may be provided are:
• Incidence and prevalence of sexual victimization
• Short and long-term impact of sex offending on victims
• Etiology and dynamics of sex offending
• Typologies and characteristics of sex offenders
• Principles and practices of sex offender treatment
• Relapse prevention strategies
• Assessment of offender risk and needs
• Importance of collaboration in sex offender management
• Development, and adjustment over time, of specialized conditions
• Continuum of intervention responses to address violations or risk factors
• SORNA
• Social networking
• Date rape drugs
• Current research with ongoing updates
• GPS, Polygraph
• Interviewing and interrogation
The goal of training is to have educated and knowledgeable people supervising and providing services to the sex offenders in the community.
9: Surveillance Officer / Agent Assistant
Research has shown that lowered caseload size for sex offender probation/parole agents and more flexibility of agent hours is needed to ensure the best supervision of sex offenders in the community. Michigan Department of Corrections is dedicated to the CASOM project and has been able to lower the agent’s caseloads by adding more sex offender agents, as well as give more flexibility in hours to ensure that surveillance can be conducted at all hours of the day. This also gives the agents more time to focus on the offenders who may be higher risk and in need of more supervision.
The goal of these added agents will be to lower caseload size for the current sex offender agents and to add surveillance, as well as out of office contacts, to ensure appropriate supervision is being provided.
10: Housing
Housing has been identified as an essential basic need for sex offenders in Kalamazoo County, mainly due to the lack of available affordable housing within the limits of the residency restrictions. In Michigan the Statute states that a sex offender cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school safety zone. Through public education, the Kalamazoo CASOM project will inform the public why appropriate housing for sex offenders will also serve the purpose of keeping the community safer.
The goal is to have all sex offenders placed in an appropriate housing environment and have the ability to help the offenders find this appropriate placement.
Kalamazoo CASOM Administered by:
Website Design and Monitoring:
Dr. Charles Crawford
Department of Sociology
Western Michigan University