CENTER FOR SEX OFFENDER MANAGEMENT
The Effective Management of Juvenile Sex Offenders in the Community
A Training Curriculum

 A Project of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

 

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Section 5: Supervision
2 Hours

TOPIC: SUPERVISION

Establishing Specialized Caseloads

Another supervision strategy that is being used to respond to the unique needs of these youth is the creation of specialized caseloads, whereby individual probation or parole officers—or even units—are designated to provide supervision for juvenile sex offenders. Supervision agencies in many states have prioritized their implementation and as a result, we’ve seen a proliferation of them in recent years across the country.³⁷

What are some potential benefits of having specialized caseloads to work specifically with this population of youth?

(ALLOW FOR AUDIENCE RESPONSES.)

There are a number of potential advantages to specialized caseloads:³⁸

• They ensure that youthful sex offenders are not spread across general caseloads. Rather, they are supervised by specially trained officers who are more likely to possess the requisite expertise and knowledge necessary to work most effectively with these youth.
• They promote consistent supervision and management practices, as agencies develop specialized policies and protocols to guide the work of the officers who are assigned to them. For example, they may be more likely to use specialized risk assessment tools, require collaboration with specialized treatment providers, and use specialized conditions that are particularly salient for these youth.
• Specialized caseloads tend to be smaller than general probation and parole caseloads. This allows officers to provide targeted monitoring of these youthful offenders based on their assessed levels of risk and needs, and ensures that officers have time to collaborate with treatment providers and others. They also provide officers with the opportunity to conduct additional fieldwork and to develop and maintain closer working relationships with the other partners in the community, such as school officials, treatment providers, and family members.
• Finally, these caseloads can increase officer knowledge of existing local treatment programs and resources. Through their increased and ongoing contact, supervision officers become more familiar with the capacity, quality, and expertise of specific programs and providers within their communities.

On the other hand, there can be some challenges associated with using specialized caseloads. What are some potential pitfalls or difficulties that could arise?

(ALLOW FOR AUDIENCE RESPONSES.)

Although there are several potential benefits to establishing specialized caseloads for supervising sexually abusive youth, they aren’t a magic bullet and may not be the “best” answer for every jurisdiction. Here are some potential issues to keep in mind:³⁹

• In times of scarce resources, their creation can cause problems and burdens for others. For example, smaller, specialized caseloads can increase the size of “general” caseloads.
• Specialization in rural areas can be impractical. If there are only a few juvenile sex offenders living in a large geographic area, it probably doesn’t make sense to assign one officer to supervise only those few kids.
• Similarly, in large metropolitan areas, officers may have caseloads that are designed around specific locations or supervision districts. This allows for more efficiency among officers, specifically in terms of their familiarity with community resources and their ability to conduct field visits. The existence of specialized caseloads in some urban areas may, however, require officers to work across multiple locations or districts, if there aren’t enough juvenile sex offenders in one place to fill a specialized caseload. This may increase the time officers spend getting from place to place, and make it necessary for them to work in areas with which they’re not familiar.
• The risk of burnout and secondary trauma may also be greater with specialized caseloads. I don’t have to remind you of how difficult this work is. As specialization increases and officers become completely immersed in sex offender management work, there is an increased likelihood they will be negatively impacted by it. What practitioners and researchers in this field have found is that the constant exposure to the unpleasant things associated with these cases—and to the trauma that is often caused by sex offenses—may subsequently lead us to experience a host of negative physical, psychological, and emotional consequences, similar to those that victims of these crimes experience (like trouble sleeping, depression, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness and helplessness). It is, therefore, essential that supervision agency staff (from the central office down to the line level) are keenly aware of the increased potential for secondary trauma and burnout associated with specialized caseloads, and that they receive support and training on how to manage this impact.
• Identifying supervision staff who are willing and competent to take on specialized caseloads can also be very difficult. This is important because selecting the right officers can be critical to the success or failure of a jurisdiction’s larger approach to juvenile sex offender management. Requiring officers to work with this population who are inexperienced or who have no interest in doing so is not a prudent approach, as we do not want officers assuming these important positions who are not capable of sufficiently managing the risk and addressing the needs of these youth. Experienced, knowledgeable, motivated, and committed officers are essential. And assignment to specialized caseloads should, if possible, be voluntary and reflect officers’ interest in working with this population.

Specialized Training and Knowledge

Regardless of whether an agency or jurisdiction decides to establish specialized caseloads, all supervision officers responsible for working with juvenile sex offenders can benefit from specialized training, so that they understand the unique characteristics of these youth, the risk factors specific to this population, and the kinds of interventions and strategies that can be most effective when working with them. Beyond providing officers with the skills and information necessary to enhance the efficacy of their work, specialized training can also provide a common language by which officers, treatment providers, and other stakeholders can communicate as a team about critical assessment and risk management issues. Remember that no one individual can do this work alone.

Today’s training is a very good step in the right direction in terms of specialized training, but it’s probably not enough. Because the juvenile sex offender management field is constantly changing—as new research and literature emerge and as practice evolves—supervision officers and others who work with these youth should be afforded ongoing opportunities to participate in specialized training. And cross–agency training can be particularly helpful in ensuring that supervision officers and their collaborative partners gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the larger management system works, and the specific roles, responsibilities, capabilities, and limitations of the various individuals and agencies who are a part of that larger system.⁴⁰

There are also ways to enhance the specialized knowledge of supervision officers without depending entirely on training, which can be costly. For example, establishing a resource library that includes articles, books, manuals, examples of policies and procedures, and other written resources can be very helpful. And several national organizations and projects have developed specialized information and resources regarding this youthful offender population. These include:

• Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA)—www.atsa.com
• National Adolescent Perpetrator Network (NAPN)
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)—www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov
• National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ)—www.ncjfcj.org
• Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM)—www.csom.org
• National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth (NCSBY)—www.ncsby.org

If you have Internet access and are interested in learning even more about juvenile sex offenders, you might visit these sites or request information from these organizations. Written materials can be downloaded from a number of them, free of charge.