Special Commission to Reduce the Recidivism of Sex Offenders
October 22, 2014, State House, Room 350
Meeting Minutes
Materials provided or presented at Commission Meeting:
Agenda for 10/22 Meeting
Draft Minutes from 10/8 Meeting
Dr. Knight’s Corrections to Draft Minutes from 10/8 Meeting
Language in Senate supplemental budget (S2383) to change the Commission’s dates, charge, and membership
Powerpoint Presentation given by Dr. Raymond Knight
Powerpoint Presentation given by Dr. Robert Kinscherff
Commissioners Present:
Chair, William N. Brownsberger, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary
Chair, Paul Brodeur, State Representative
Senator Joan Lovely
Maureen Gallagher, Director of Policy, Jane Doe, Inc.
Nancy Connolly, Psy.D., Program Director, Mentally Ill/Problematic Sexual Behavior Program of the Department of Mental Health
Kathy Betts, Assistant Secretary for Children, Youth, and Families
Raymond Knight, Ph.D., Gryzmish Professor of Human Relations, Department of Psychology, Brandeis University
Laurie L. Guidry, Psy.D., President, Center for Integrative Psychological Services, Inc., and President, Massachusetts Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
Andrea Cabral, Secretary of Public Safety and Security
Robert Kinscherff, Ph.D., Esq., Associate Vice President for Community Engagement, Office of the President, and Teaching Faculty, Doctoral Clinical Psychology Program, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology
Anne Conners, Chairperson, Sex Offender Registry Board
Commissioners Absent:
Marian Ryan, Middlesex District Attorney (anticipated appointment)
Larni Levy, Attorney, Committee for Public Counsel Services (sent designee, Barbara Kaban, CPCS)
Edward J. Dolan, Commissioner, MA Probation Service
Others in Attendance, Including Designees of Commissioners:
Barbara Kaban, CPCS, Designee of Larni Levy
Dianne Fasano, Deputy Commissioner of Probation, designated by Commissioner Edward Dolan for meeting
Steven O’Brien, Superintendent, Massachusetts Treatment Center
Maria Piccillo, Board Member, Sex Offender Registry Board
Tony Smith, New Start Project
Yvonne Sparling, Department of Youth Services
Peter Forbes, Department of Youth Services
Jennifer Lane, Community VOICES
Laurie Myers, Founder, Community VOICES
Anne Johnson Landry, Committee Counsel and Policy Advisor, Office of Senator Brownsberger
Peter Roby, Office of State Representative Evandro Carvalho
Other members of the public joined the meeting to observe after the meeting had begun and introductions were made.
______________________________________________________________
The Commissioners and attendees took turns introducing themselves.
Senator Brownsberger introduced Representative Brodeur as his new Co-Chair.
Senator Brownsberger explained that the proposal to amend the Commission’s charge, membership, and dates had been adopted in the Senate version of the most recent proposed supplemental budget, but not the House version, and that the Senate version included two additional Commission members in addition the new members added in the proposal most recently seen by the Commission at its 10/8/14 meeting: the superintendent of the department of state police or a designee, and the executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association Incorporated.
Upon a motion by Dr. Guidry and a second by Commissioner Gallagher, the Commission adopted the 10/8/14 meeting with the edits proposed by Dr. Knight.
Dr. Knight clarified for the Commission that the Sex Offender Registry Board has, in fact, never used the Static-99R. Dr. Knight made the relevant correction to his Powerpoint presentation from 10/8/14, which Attorney Landry agreed to post on the Commission’s website (currently available at http://commissiononsexoffenderrecidivism.com/?p=97).
Dr. Knight presented a Powerpoint presentation recapping his presentation from 10/8/14. This new presentation, “Summary of Risk Presentation,” is now available on the Commission’s website at http://commissiononsexoffenderrecidivism.com/?p=129. Dr. Knight took questions from Commission members and attendees.
Senator Brownsberger summarized the “takeaway” from Dr. Knight’s presentation as the need to go with or by the numbers (or the instrument/algorithm) in assessing risk. Dr. Knight added that the other takeaway is that instruments need to be continuously assessed. Dr. Guidry added that Massachusetts has the capacity to build our own norms.
Senator Brownsberger asked that the Commission keep its conversation during this meeting to what are the best predictors and to save the conversation about how and when to make information about sex offenders available to the public for a later meeting.
Dr. Kinscherff presented a Powerpoint presentation called “Swimming Against the Tide: A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Sexual Offenders” (available at http://commissiononsexoffenderrecidivism.com/?p=129). Unlike in the context of adult sex offenders, when it comes to juvenile sex offenders, no good actuarial assessment exists, and structured clinical judgment is better.
The Commission decided that the agenda for the next meeting would be to get data on the table about management of sex offenders, including the consequences of different types of management.
The Commission agreed to meet next on December 3, 2014, from 9-11 am, and to meet in January to discuss issues related to disclosure and registration.
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/annel/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399