New Directions in Juvenile Sex Offender Management: Designing a Collaborative Approach

• NCJ Number: 229898
• Journal: Federal Probation Volume: 73 Issue: 3 Dated: December 2009 Pages: 50-56
• Author(s): Nancy G. Calley
• Date Published: December 2009
• Length: 7 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description; Case Study

Annotation

This article describes the Comprehensive Juvenile Sex Offender Management Initiative, the title for the process by which a large, highly populated region in the Midwest sought to identify and resolve primary system needs and improve the regional juvenile sex offender management system.

Abstract

Prior to receiving funding for the project from the Bureau of Justice Programs of the U.S. Justice Department, commitment to participate in the system improvement initiative was obtained from multiple factions within the regional juvenile justice system. As a result, a team of stakeholders - including treatment providers, case management providers, professionals in the regional juvenile justice system, and local and State law enforcement officials - was formed to serve as the project's Collaborative Team, which worked directly with the project coordinator. The project consisted of three broad areas: assessment of the existing juvenile sex offender management system, analysis of the existing system with best practice literature, and development and implementation of strategies to address identified gaps. Each of these three stages of the project is described in this article. The outcome was the development and implementation of a set of strategies designed to improve the region's juvenile sex offender management system. The set of improvement strategies emphasized three primary domains: the adoption of best practice standards, training, and education among key stakeholders. More specifically, the strategies were categorized into seven major activities. These consisted of the development of exploratory committees to address issues requiring additional work; resource development for professional groups; implementation of information-sharing forums; development of a comprehensive data collection plan and annual data review forums; best-practice policy development; development of a comprehensive training curriculum; and development of a Web-site. A report on the evaluation of the implementation of these improvement strategies will soon be available. 2 tables and 26 references