Vermont

Technical Assistance:

Vermont Judiciary Committee (February 2007): A CSOM staff member provided a discussion of legislative trends regarding sex offenders (e.g., registration, notification, GPS, residency restrictions) via telephone to members of the Vermont legislature.

Vermont Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Abuse (September 1999): Supported an assessment of the appropriate roles of probation and parole officers in the treatment of sex offenders.

Training:

Provided two consultants to plan, facilitate, and present at a two day conference to develop a seamless sex offender management system in Chittenden County, Vermont, November 2002 (50 participants).

Resource Sites:

Chittenden County was the first county to have an integrated and comprehensive statewide sex offender supervision and treatment program. It pioneered the use of relapse prevention with sex offenders in 1983, and currently has in place a continuum of prison and community based programs that match services to offender risk and need levels. A recent innovation is Vermont 's use of trained community volunteers to provide support to offenders reintegrating into the community.

In Washington County, the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS), Barre District, and the Washington County Mental Health Services (WCMHS) have partnered since 1993 to provide local individualized or "wraparound" supervision and treatment services for juveniles with sexual offending behaviors. The SRS is responsible for juvenile probation and contracts with WCMHS to provide therapeutic case management to these youth. WCMHS case managers maintain caseloads of up to six youths each; SRS caseloads are usually over 25 juveniles. In each case, a treatment team (consisting of a SRS worker, WCMHS case manager, sex offender treatment provider, substitute care providers, and others) is formed to assess risk of reoffense, come to consensus about needed supervision, create a treatment plan, and monitor the youth's compliance with the plan. The treatment plan is strength-focused—all parties involved help the adolescents focus on and acknowledge their strengths, while addressing their specific problems and teaching them appropriate behavior.

OJP Grant Sites:

2001: The State of Vermont is predominantly rural, with a 2001 population of approximately 600,000. Vermont ranked 49th in population and 48th in rates of violent crime in the U.S in the 2001. Vermont was awarded an implementation/enhancement grant to improve the state's response to managing sex offenders with developmental disabilities. Resources from the grant were used to create a written policy for the management of these offenders; develop a data management system; educate the criminal justice system community about this sex offender population; develop a "best practices" manual for working with sex offenders with developmental disabilities; create a treatment needs, placement, and progress scale; conduct training for supervision and treatment staff; and develop a legal curriculum for offenders with developmental disabilities in an effort to prevent sexually abusive behavior.

1999: An implementation/enhancement grant was awarded to the Vermont Center for Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Abuse (VCPTSA), the statewide agency that coordinates treatment and prevention services for juvenile and adult sex offenders. With this grant, VCPTSA expanded the multidisciplinary statewide sex offender management team and developed and implemented a plan to improve the system of investigating, prosecuting, supervising, and treating sex offenders. VCPTSA also developed enhanced data collection and analysis capabilities and participated in a cross-site data collection effort. Additionally, VCPTSA expanded its Community Mentor Program, which utilizes trained community volunteers to provide certain sex offenders under supervision with social supports and other assistance. VCPTSA also developed a treatment progress scale for use by state-supported outpatient sex offender treatment programs.