Sex Offender Program
All adult offenders convicted of a sexual or sexual related offense are assigned to one of the agents in this unit. The Sex Offender Program (SOP) employs a specialized approach to supervision of this population. There are three elements to this approach:
1. Sex offender specific treatment to assist offenders to learn to develop internal controls,
2. Probation supervision and monitoring to exert external control over offenders, and
3. Polygraph examinations to obtain complete sexual history information and monitor a participant's fantasies or behaviorally-specific access to victims.
Supervision and treatment is accomplished through group meetings, required individual sessions with therapists, and regular individual and/or group supervision contact with corrections agents. Field supervision is important for agents to assist in monitoring offenders and providing valuable input in treatment groups. Agents in this program have attended sex offender specific training in the areas of assessment tools, programming, and supervision specific to sex offenders.
A majority of program participants attend sex offender treatment at CORE Professional Services, a local treatment provider. The SOP agents co-facilitate treatment groups with therapists from CORE. Occasionally, offenders will obtain treatment through other providers, and the agents will maintain regular contact with those programs. Agents also complete pre-sentence investigation reports, bail studies, and pre-plea sentencing worksheets for all sex offenders sentenced in Stearns County. The LSI-R is used to assess criminal risk to reoffend as well as individual offender needs, and the STATIC 99 is used for male sex offenders to assess their risk to reoffend sexually