NCJ Number
102251
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 66 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring-Summer 1986) Pages: 67-76
Date Published
1986
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the goals, development, and lessons of the Massachusetts Specialized Training and Advocacy Program (STAP), a program that identified mentally retarded offenders and provided them advocacy services from 1974 to its termination in 1978.
Abstract
STAP initial program goals were to provide direct client services, develop referral sources, place a STAP advocate in each court, formulate individualized client treatment plans, provide consultation and training for criminal justice practitioners, and offer legal services. STAP attempted to develop an intake and assessment process that would provide information on a person's capabilities as a basis for planning services to improve the mentally retarded offender's functioning in the community. STAP had difficulty in designing a pretrial diversion project to comply with a State statute which limited program participation to 90 days. STAP viewed 6 months to a year as the minimum period appropriate to serve clients. The lessons learned and issues raised by STAP are the importance of nondiscriminatory screening, the need to use existing community resources, the necessity of a rehabilitation and casework focus among staff, the benefits of client participation in goal setting, the need for separate training and casework efforts, the value of preplanning and community support, and the need for effective data collection and evaluation. STAP funding was terminated largely because it did not have a sufficient number of clients. STAP might have done better had it been integrated with the existing structure of case processing. 3 footnotes and 5 references.