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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:35 am
Time: 2:35 am
Results for civil commitment of sex offenders
2 results foundAuthor: Minnesota. Office of the Legislative Auditor. Program Evaluation Division Title: Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders Summary: Minnesota and 19 other states have laws allowing the courts to civilly commit dangerous sex offenders following the completion of their prison sentences. In most of these states, civilly committed sex offenders are placed in secure facilities that provide treatment. In a few states like Texas and, to some extent, New York, civilly committed sex offenders receive treatment while living in halfway houses or other community settings. The major public benefit of civil commitment is increased public safety. If states use the civil commitment process appropriately, sex offenders who are most likely to reoffend are living in a secure facility and not among the general public. Furthermore, such dangerous sex offenders are not released into the community until the risk that they will reoffend is lowered through treatment or for other reasons. While civil commitment increases public safety, confinement in a secure treatment facility is costly. In Minnesota, it costs the Department of Human Services (DHS) about $120,000 per year to house and treat a civilly committed sex offender in a secure facility. The cost is roughly three times the cost of incarcerating inmates at Minnesota’s correctional facilities. The high cost of civil commitment can be worth the price if civil commitment is reserved for the most dangerous offenders and if treatment is effective in reducing the risk of recidivism for at least some offenders. There are concerns, however, that Minnesota has built an expensive system of civil commitment and has committed some offenders who could be safely treated and supervised in a less costly community setting. The number of civilly committed sex offenders has grown dramatically over the last two decades. From 1990 to 2000, Minnesota’s population of civilly committed offenders grew from less than 30 to 149. As of January 1, 2011, the number has grown to 656, including 605 at DHS facilities and 51 at Minnesota correctional facilities. In 2010, Minnesota had more civilly committed sex offenders than every state except California and Florida. In addition, Minnesota had by far the largest number of civilly committed sex offenders per capita in the country. Current projections indicate that, under current policies, significant growth is likely in the future. According to DHS, the number of civilly committed sex offenders at DHS facilities is expected to nearly double between 2010 and 2020. In addition to concerns raised about the number of sex offenders who are civilly committed, another significant issue is the apparent ineffectiveness of treatment at DHS facilities. No sex offender has been successfully discharged from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) since it was created in 1994. Only one offender has ever been provisionally discharged and that offender was brought back to MSOP due to technical violations of his release conditions. As a result of these concerns, the Legislative Audit Commission directed the Office of the Legislative Auditor to conduct a program evaluation of the civil commitment process and the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. Our evaluation focuses on the following issues: How has the population of civilly committed sex offenders grown in Minnesota? How does the size of Minnesota’s population compare with those in other states? What accounts for the high costs of civil commitment? How does the average cost of civil commitment in Minnesota compare with similar facilities in other states and with other public facilities in Minnesota? Is Minnesota committing the most dangerous sex offenders? Are commitment decisions being made in a consistent manner throughout the state? Is MSOP providing appropriate treatment to civilly committed sex offenders? Why have there been no discharges from MSOP facilities? Could some of the civilly committed sex offenders be treated in the community at a lower cost, while still providing significant safeguards for the public? Details: St. Paul: Minnisota Office of the Legislative Auditor, 2011. 111p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 15, 2011 at: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/ccso.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/ccso.pdf Shelf Number: 122392 Keywords: Civil Commitment of Sex OffendersSex Offenders (Minnesota) |
Author: Minnesota Sex Offender Program Title: Options for Managing the Growth and Cost of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program: Facility Study Summary: Throughout Minnesota, managing sexual offenders and combating sexual violence is a complex issue with a wide scope and multi-agency approach. For years, Minnesota has been a leader on many fronts in this area from specialized caseloads for supervision agents, to the development of one of the first actuarial risk tools in the field (MNSOST-R). The Minnesota Legislature has requested several studies related to sexual violence and sexual offenders in the past 15 years which is indicative of its commitment to continue to evaluate and strengthen current practice and to develop strategies consistent with advancements in the field. Many recommendations from these reports have been implemented and have resulted in an improved system. Minnesota is one of 20 states that enacted civil commitment statutes to indeterminately detain individuals for treatment to address their sexual dangerousness and as part of a broader strategy to manage the risks presented across the continuum of sexual offenders. The civil commitment program is expensive to maintain and the program continues to expand because more sexual offenders are entering than are being released. The cost and growth of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) continues to be an area of concern particularly given the current economic issues facing the state. Public safety cannot be compromised yet the growth of this program creates a strain on the state budget as the per diem for MSOP clients is $328 and projections indicate an expected annual growth of at least 50 additional clients. To address future growth and cost, the 2010 Legislature included a subdivision in the capital investment bonding bill requiring the commissioner of the Department of Human Services (DHS) to submit a report to the Legislature by January 15, 2011. The commissioner tasked MSOP with the completion of this study. MSOP then convened four topical teams to provide analysis and recommendations for sex offender treatment, the civil commitment process, sexual abuse perpetration prevention, and bed space options for MSOP clients. These other facets of this issue were incorporated in this study to paint a complete picture of the growth of Minnesota’s civil commitment program for sexual offenders and its subsequent need for expansion. Developing options to manage the growth and decrease the cost of MSOP was the charge for each topical team as they researched and provided analysis of their topic. The treatment topical team found treatment systems in Minnesota have the potential to further reduce the need for civil commitments and to help support the release of some civilly committed individuals if they have made sufficient progress to warrant any court ordered release to society from MSOP. This results in an increased reliance on community-based treatment to manage higher risk sexual offenders. To make this shift responsibly, Minnesota should work to strengthen its community-based treatment options in several ways. These changes will require additional resources but it is likely that these additional costs will be more than offset through reductions in expected future MSOP operating costs and capital costs associated with program expansions. The team that reviewed the current civil commitment process concluded these programs for sexual offenders are an expensive yet necessary tool in an effective, comprehensive statewide management strategy. The challenge for the State of Minnesota is to utilize MSOP efficiently while maintaining public safety in a fiscally responsible manner. Opportunities exist to impact the future cost and growth of MSOP by making modifications and revisions in the current process of civil commitment. Evaluating the application of commitment criteria in the referral process and considering options to indeterminate commitment would impact the number of new clients admitted to MSOP. Enhancing coordinated community-based resources would increase the ability to manage this challenging population at a decreased cost. Once modifications and new policies are in place, an ongoing evaluation of the statewide management system for sex offenders would assist in maintaining efficiency and better ensure public safety. Managing the growth and decreasing the cost of MSOP could be most effectively achieved if sexual abuse was prevented before someone perpetrated sexual harm. Prevention of sexual abuse perpetration was included in this study and report to illuminate the importance of preventing the creation of civilly committed sex offenders as well as preventing recidivism once MSOP clients are reintegrated into the community. By investing in a population-based public health approach to sexual violence prevention, Minnesota will be investing in long-term cost-savings for the state. A complex web of social norms, environmental factors, peer influence and individual decision-making that precedes an act of sexual violence. Ample opportunities for intervention and prevention exist. After reviewing several options for renovation and expansion, the bed space options topical team concluded that both a short-term and a long-term solution are needed to address the projected growth of MSOP. In the short-term, MSOP should work with the Minnesota Security Hospital to move clients out of the Shantz building on the St. Peter campus. This allows MSOP to request asset preservation funds from the Legislature to complete the infrastructure renovations of the Shantz building. This will increase the capacity of MSOP by 55 additional beds, which will accommodate MSOP’s bed space needs for one more year. This timing allows MSOP to review next year’s projections and develop a bonding request for the 2012-2013 legislative sessions. The low operating costs of this recommendation will assist MSOP in lowering the overall per diem. The long-term solution is the lowest on-going operating cost per client in adding a 400 bed living unit within the original design of the MSOP Moose Lake facility. This allows MSOP to take advantage of existing support infrastructure, security perimeter and administrative staff. The MSOP Moose Lake facility expansion also allows for building only 200 or 100 beds. The 200 bed addition would include adding only two of the five housing wings. The 100 bed option only builds one of the wings. These options will still require building the additional support infrastructure, but require less bonding dollars in the near term and still allow for the additional expansion of the other wings. Minnesota would do well to continue to strengthen its multi-faceted, multi-agency approach to the issue of sex offender management and also, in preventing sexual violence. In moving forward, Minnesota should create and fund an on-going entity to coordinate, assess and improve statewide responses to sex offender management as well as to identify new and emerging issues. As this report demonstrates, the issue of sexual violence is exceedingly complex and thus requires an approach equal in its complexity including prevention, intervention and response. It should be noted that the Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA) is in the process of conducting a program evaluation of MSOP. The OLA report to the Legislature will likely address some of these areas in further detail as well as provide suggestions and or recommendations for future direction. Details: St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2011. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 7, 2012 at: http://archive.leg.state.mn.us/docs/2011/mandated/110064.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://archive.leg.state.mn.us/docs/2011/mandated/110064.pdf Shelf Number: 127187 Keywords: Civil Commitment of Sex OffendersCorrectional SupervisionCosts of Criminal JusticePrisonersRisk AssessmentSex Offenders (Minnesota, U.S.)Sexual Violence |