Arizona juvenile sex offender task force and protocol panel: annual report

              ARIZONA JUVENILE SEX
OFFENDER TASK FORCE
and
PROTOCOL PANEL
1994 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
Staff support provided by the
ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH TREATMENT
AND REHABILITATION
Submitted pursuant to
A.R.S 36-3422.D and .G
A.R.S. 36-3431.01
JANUARY 1994
January 15, 1994
The Honorable J. Fife Symington, Governor of Arizona
The Honorable John Greene, President of the Senate
The Honorable Mark W. Killian, Speaker of the House
The Honorable Stanley G. Feldrnan, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
We are pleased to present the Arizona Juvenile Sex Offender Task Force and Proto-col
Panel's 1994 Annual Report. This is the first report to be provided to you and is
meant to offer you insight into the initial work of the task force and panel.
The legislation creating these two working groups was enacted duringthe First Regular
Session of the 4 1st Legislature and became effective on July 17, 1993.
Arizona has long faced issues and concerns related to the treatment modalities and
practices utilized with juvenile sex offenders. We have also debated the question of
qualifications for personnel who provide this treatment. Arizona now has the chal-lenge
and opportunity to resolve the issues, concerns, and debate.
Our work has just begun. We are grateful for the focus on this area of public concern
and we respectfully accept the responsibility to move toward meeting the goals of
this critical legislation.
Our meetings are open to the public and we welcome their input as well as your
participation.
Sincerely,
' L h 3 k uU~~V)
Dr. Ndith Becker
Ms. Bette Fleishman
I ARIZONA JUVENLLE SEX OFFENDER TASK FORCE I
Bette Fleishman, Co-Chair
Barbara Fenstemacher, M.C., RN.
Nancy Keller, RN., Ph.D.
Deniece Riehl
Terry Scritchlow, Ph.D.
Dan Wwoop, Ed.D.
Michael Haley, Ph.D., Co-Chair
Philip E. Keen, M.D.
Kristopher Komarek
Lawrence Rosenfeld, Esq.
Carl Schwartz, Ph.D.
I ARIZONA JUVENILE SEX OFFENDER PROTOCOL PARZL I
Judith V. Becker, Ph.D., Co-Chair
Michael T. Hughes
Lynne J. Liebling, A. C. S. W.
Beth Rosenberg, M. S.W.
Karen Spessard, M.C.
Ellen Christensen, M.A.
Bradley R. Johnson, M.D.
Jon McCaine, Ph.D., Co-Chair
Aimee Schwartz, M.D.
Lois Yankowsk& Attorney
STAFF TO TASK FORCE AND PROTOCOL PANEL I
Paul Harasha, Intern
JoAnn Hauswirth, Secretary
Steve Shorr, Community Service Specialist
Argie Gomez, Legislative LiaisodChief of Community Services
Thank you to Carol Stablien and Stella Vasquez
for their production of this report and for their
much valued professionalism.
ARIZONA JUVENILE SEX OFFENDER
TASK FORCE AND PROTOCOL PANEL
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................ 1
PREFACE ....................................................................................... -2
SECTION I Arizona Juvenile Sex Offender Task Force ............... 3
SECTION I1 Arizona Juvenile Sex Offender Protocol Panel ........ 5
SECTION 111 Historical Note ................................................................... 7
I Acknowledgments
The Arizona Juvenile Sex Offender Task Force and Protocol Panel members
express their appreciation to all those who contributed to the process that brought
about the legislation creating these two working groups.
In particular we would like to note gratitude to Senator Furman, Senator
Matt Salmon, Senator Jan Brewer and Senator Cindy Resnick for leadership in this
area of public policy.
We wish to acknowledge the staff and in-kind support that has been provided
by the Arizona Department of Youth Treatment and Rehabilitation and the financial
support contributed by the Administrative Office of the Courts, Juvenile Justice Ser-vices
Division.
PUBLISEIED BY THE
Arizona Department of Youth
Treatment and Rehabilitation
and
Arizona Supreme Court,
Administrative Office
of the Courts
1
The basis for this first Arizona Juvenile Sex Offender Task Force and Proto-col
Panel Annual Report is three-fold.
Section I of this report reviews the Task Force purpose and summarizes their
work since July 17, 1993 when the legislation became effective.
Section II of this report reviews the Protocol Panel purpose and summarizes
their work since July 17, 1993 when the legislation became effective.
Section III describes how the state agencies and department set aside bound-aries
in order to move forward in this area of public policy so that the treatment
interests of juveniles could be improved.
ARIZONA
JUVENILE SEX OFFENDER
TASK FORCE AND PROTOCOL PANEL
1994 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
SECTION I
ARIZONA
JUVENILE SEX OFFENDER
TASK FORCE
THE ARIZONA
JUVENILE SEX
OFFENDER TASK FORCE
Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes 3 6-3422(d) the Council on Children's
Behavioral Health has established a task force to study improvements to services
for juvenile sex offenders.
The goal of the juvenile sex offenders task force will be to make recommen-dations
to the Council regarding improvements to the quality and public account
ability of treatment services provided to juvenile sex offenders.
The task force shall:
1. Review existing certification and credentialing of personnel who provide or
supervise evaluation and treatment services to juvenile sex offenders.
2. Make recommendations regarding certification and credentialing of person-nel
who provide or supervise evaluation and treatment services to juveniles
sex offenders.
3. Develop protocols to spec$ the language and terms of contracts entered
into between state agencies and persons who provide juvenile sex offender
evaluation or treatment services.
4. Provide technical support to the juvenile sex offenders treatment protocol
panel.
The task force has met three times in the five months since the legislation
became effective. The orientation and review of existing methods for the certifi-cation
and credentialing of personnel has begun. There is little research available
to guide the members in this area and thus Arizona will likely carve new ground
as recommendations come forward next year.
The cooperation of the state agency representatives in working toward a
standard protocol for contract language is strong. While this appears a simple
task to accomplish, it will require coordination of time frames so that the commu-nity
provider network may have input into the process and opporhmity to make
adjustments if proposed or needed. There will also be need for coordination with
the "bigger picture" related to general behavioral health services.
A written, detailed plan out lining meeting dates, tasks and work products
related to credentialing and certification of personnel will be prepared in the next
month. The task force will then begin to develop draft recommendations on this
topic for release on or about July, 1994. The draft recommendations will be
presented to various public and private groups for input and discussion.
The Task Force and Protocol Panel will meet in Joint session twice during
1994. The technical assistance requests fi-om the panel to the task force will be
discussed during these meetings.
SECTION I1
ARIZONA
JUVENILE SEX OFFENDER
PROTOCOL PANEL
TEE
ARIZONA JUVENILE SEX
OFFENDER PROTOCOL PANEL
Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute 36-343 1.01A juvenile sex offenders treat-ment
protocol panel has been created to develop guidelines and standards for the
treatment of juvenile sex offenders.
The purpose of the juvenile sex offenders treatment protocol panel is to pro-tect
the public health and safety by developing guidelines and standards for the
treatment of juvenile sex offenders.
I The juvenile sex offenders treatment protocol panel shall:
Develop guidelines and standards for the treatment of juvenile sex offenders
based upon its review of the 1988 Preliminary Report from the National Task
Force for Juvenile Sex Offenders.
The treatment protocol panel terminates on July 1, 1998.
The Protocol Panel has met three times in the five months since the legislation
became effective.
The members have spent time reviewing the 1988 Preliminary Report from
the National Task Force for Juvenile Sex Offenders as directed by the legislature.
This report serves as the beginning discussion point. We are also aware that the
Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) will soon release guide-lines
for treatment of the sexual abuser. Dr. Judith Becker is the President of
ATSA and as co-chair of the Protocol Panel has committed to make available
copies of those guidelines for review by the panel.
Early discussion led the members to recognition that development of "guide-lines
for treatment"without developing "guidelines for assessment" would be pro-fessionally
irresponsible. Both protocols are necessary to achieve the quality of
services that youth and families require.
The panel has formed three subgroups, as follows:
a) Assessment guidelineslstandards
b) Treatment guidelineslstandards
c) ConfidentialityLegal Issues
The subgroups will begin their review of research, studies, case law, etc. and
will begin formulation of findings and recommendations for the panel.
SECTION I11
HISTORICAL NOTE
It is vital to the future ofArizona that state agencies work together toward com-mon
goals. In that spirit and prior to the passage of the legislation the Arizona
Department of Youth Treatment and Rehabilitation offered to staff and support by
in-kind services the task force and protocol panel. The Administration Office of the
Courts offered financial assistance to support DYTR in their work. The Department
of Health Services accepted the offers and an Interagency Service Agreement was
prepared to provide for the transfer of funds and reporting procedures.
Staff fiom health services and economic security have lent assistance to their
sister agencies and continue to demonstrate a commitment to improving the quality
andpublic accountability of treatment services provided to juvenile sex offenders.
To include the public policy makers and public consumer, the Arizona Depart-ment
ofyouth Treatment and Rehabilitation established a steering committee to serve
as an adviser to DYTR as it supports the efforts of the task force and protocol panel.
The steering committee will consist of Senator Stan Furman, Senator Matt Salmon
and one parent. The goal is to have an open line of communication between DYTR
and members of the steering committee to discuss any issues that the juvenile sex
offender task force and protocol panel are considering.