 |
Steve
Adams, Acting Director |
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| The
Office of Juvenile Parole and Transitional Services
is designed to achieve a balanced approach to
reintegrating juvenile parolees into their communities
after the completion of their sentences. That
approach utilizes state-of-the-art supervision
techniques necessary to maintain public safety,
as well as individualized services essential to
personal development and responsibility. |
 |
| Understanding
that all juveniles in the Commission's care will
eventually return to their community at the end
of their court-imposed sentence, individual plans
for parole begin immediately and continue to evolve
until a juvenile is paroled. Prerelease planning
ensures that each juvenile receives continued
services as necessary after his or her release.
|
|
| The
Commission's primary goal is to ensure that public
safety is maintained through a system of case
management that incorporates the use of goals
and objectives which are reviewed with each youth
and their family on a regular basis. |
|
| Each
juvenile is assessed according to the level of
need, risk, supervision and services required.
Four levels of supervision are applied to the
monitoring of youths: intensive, maximum, medium
and minimum. As youth demonstrate progress, they
advance to a lower level of supervision and greater
independence. Each level of supervision contains
standards for monthly contacts, curfew, drug and
alcohol screens and community service. |
|
| Special
offenders whose behavioral history is dominated
by violence, sex offending, or drug trafficking
are intensely monitored. |
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| Supervision
teams also collect court-ordered financial obligations
from the youth. Payments toward restitution, fines
and penalties are collected and disbursed to the
proper recipients. |
|
| In
the event that a youth absconds from supervision,
he or she is vigorously pursued by supervision
staff and are entered into the National Crime
Information Center database. |
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| Community
Collaboration |
|
| After
very successful preliminary meetings with faith-based
groups from around the state, the Commission has
implemented a new Community Involvement Initiative
which is designed to link each youth with community
mentors. |
|
| Mentors
and Community Team members are drawn from the
neighborhoods and communities where the youth
reside, creating both a valuable bridge to resources
as well as a sense of citizen ownership for the
prevention of criminal activity in their neighborhoods.
All mentors receive training and support from
the Commission's Aftercare/Parole Services and
work closely with parole officers and social workers.
Throughout 2001, the Commission hopes to expand
its links to faith-based organizations and increase
its volunteer community mentoring efforts. |
|
| Volunteer
Involvement |
|
| Community
volunteers make an important contribution to Aftercare/Parole
Services. They function chiefly as mentors for
each individual parolee and as community team
members for cases within their specific community.
|
|
| Mentors
are individual citizens who have volunteered their
commitment to work closely with youth, their families
and the community teams under the direction of
the Aftercare/Parole Supervision Teams. They provide
linkages to the community and individualized support
for each youth. |
|
| Their
primary objective is to help Aftercare/Parole
youth achieve the goals |
