2004-03-24 City WS & Council Meeting

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. A law enforcement official. . A sex offender treatment professional (all of the assessments are conducted by licensed psychologists employed by the DOC). Five months prior to release, the offender is scheduled for an ECRC meeting. The case manager for the ECRC coordinates this process, and supervises the accumulation of information on each offender. A file containing information relevant to the offender's risk level determination is sent to all committee members. The sex offender treatment professional reviews this information and produces a preliminary risk recommendation, which is also distributed to ilie oilier ECRC members, and to ilie offender. The ECRC must meet and determine the risk level of the offender at least 90 days prior to hisiher scheduled release date. The offender has a right to be present at the ECRC meeting; offenders likely to be assessed as Risk Level 2 or 3 are represented by the state public defender. The community notification statute required that the DOC develop a Risk Assessment Scale in consultation with probation officers, county attorneys, sex offender treatment professionals, and law enforcement officials. The DOC had a1ready developed an empirically validated inventory (the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-Revised, or MnSOST-R) to assist in making civil commitment referrals and had some experience in evaluating risk of offenders due to be released. The community notification Risk Assessment Scale incorporates the MnSOST-R into the process of assigning risk levels as follows: . Risk Levell: A sex offender whose score on the MnSOST-R indicates a lower risk ofreoffense, and for ""horn there are no special concerns; . Risk Level 2: A sex offender whose score on the MnSOST- R indicates a moderate risk of reoffense, and for whom there are no special concerns or whose MnSOST- R score indicates lower risk, but for whom the ECRC finds there to be special concerns; . Risk Level 3: A sex offender whose score on the MnSOST-R indicates a higher risk ofreoffense, or whose MnSOST- R score indicates moderate or lower risk, but for whom the ECRC finds there to be special concerns. This category includes all offenders referred by the DOC for consideration of civil oommitment Special concerns that lead to raising an offender's risk level must be spelled out in detail. Examples of special concerns include the following: . Multiple treatment failures, with a history of reoffense after treatment. . History of prison disciplinary reports of significant frequency to cause concern, or reports that indicate physical assau11s or sexual behavior. . Pattem of predatory offense behavior, including breaking into a house, stalking a victim, abducting or attempting to abduct a victim, etc. The role of the public defender is to make sure that the offender understands the process, and to correct factual errors (e.g., miscalculations of the screening tool, corrections to the offender's record). The public defender also advises the offender as to whether helshe should seek administrative review of the decision, and represents the offender in the administrative review process. 4