Just after the first of the year, thirty-five probation officers attended a newly created case management training for Juveniles who Sexually Harm (JSH) along with a newly developed assessment tool.

The training provides JSH-specific information from the point of intake all through supervision, with emphasis on success and safety planning.  The training utilizes a combination of live days with on-line components, webinars, and homework assignments focusing on a case study.  The live training day is designed to help probation officers better understand JSH youth, the influence of adolescent brain development, how their low recidivism rates differ from adult sex offenders, along with the impact on victims. 

A full day of training is dedicated to teaching probation officers how to score and use a JSH-specific risk assessment and the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II).  The J-SOAP-II is designed to aid in the systematic review of risk factors that have been identified in professional literature as being associated with sexual and delinquent behaviors in male youth, ages 12 to 18 who have been adjudicated for sexual offenses.  It can further identify the specific static and dynamic risks and needs factors with a youth to assist the courts and probation in providing the appropriate targeted interventions both in the pre-dispositional phase as well as in supervision.

Two additional training sessions are yet to be held in 2021- one in the summer and one in the fall. 

These training efforts greatly assist in better understanding of the actual risk and needs of JSH youth within the juvenile justice system. Specialized training, targeted assessment tools, programming, collaboration, along with specialized investigations and supervision, allow probation officers to improve their abilities to assist courts in efforts to help JSH youth to lead healthier lives as well as reduce recidivism for better victim and community safety.