I think we can all agree that, generally speaking, failure to promptly provide sex offender treatment (SOT) to convicted sex offenders on probation increases the risk of re-offending. So why is it that recently convicted sex offenders often go for several months before they receive any SOT?
I’ve had sex offender probation revocation cases where the Department of Community Corrections (DOCC) probation and parole agents have dragged their heels getting court ordered sex offender treatment (SOT) to my clients, even where the sentencing judge intended that SOT begin right away, with no delays. When the probationer re-offends, the DOC launches revocation proceedings, arguing that the probationer should be revoked because he poses an increased risk to the community. Never mind the fact that the agent failed to provide sex offender treatment promptly, despite court orders to do so.
In the exposé Free to Reoffend: A Bottom Line Investigation, Nakia Spencer reports Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge David Borowski as saying,
If they’re not getting their treatment, that increases their risk to the community, it increases their risk of reoffending.
It’s obviously the DOC’s responsibility to follow through on that and the DOC is obviously not doing their job.
In this respect, the agent is responsible for the increased risk to reoffend, but it is the probationer – and the community – who pays the price for this increased risk. This lack of accountability has gone unchecked long enough.
The Bottom Line article reports that, “[t]he last defense in making sure sex offenders are getting this treatment is Judge Borowski. He began requiring probation review hearings for convicted sex offenders one year ago. If it wasn’t for these hearings, these delay issues would have never come to light.”
