Dakota County juvenile sex offenders will get new program

A drop in juvenile crime, combined with an effort to find alternatives to locking kids up, left the Dakota County Juvenile Services Center one-quarter empty.

Come March, that empty space will be put to use as a short-term treatment center for juvenile sex offenders.

It's a niche program -- serving a small number of kids who don't need a full year's worth of treatment but aren't doing well with outpatient help -- that hasn't been available elsewhere.

The plan has the potential to save or even make money for the county by diverting kids who would otherwise go to lengthy treatment programs that cost about $75,000 a year.

"This is driven more by philosophy, but it's certainly a good time to try to save money, too," said Jim Scovil, the county's interim deputy director for community corrections. "We've known this need is out there."

The treatment program at the county's underage detention center will have room for five kids in 2011.

Two or three of those beds, depending on local demand, will be rented out to other counties who have juveniles who may benefit from the program.

"It's their attitude and their participation, not necessarily their sexual risk, that makes them fail outpatient treatment," Scovil said. "At the juvenile center, that's really our specialty. We work with them to solve problems and deal with them in different ways."

If all goes well, it could double in size in future years.

"It sounds like a good idea," said Michael Thompson, a Minneapolis psychologist who is president of the Minnesota Chapter of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. "We're always looking for some kind of innovation that we can tailor to particular individuals. If somebody doesn't need as intensive treatment as they would get [at a long-term facility] but they aren't making it outpatient, that sounds great."

Thompson, who is not part of the start-up program, said the connection to the local community and potential for a seamless transition to outpatient treatment after the stay at the juvenile detention center will be particularly helpful for the kids and their families.

"Then they kind of hit the ground running for treatment," he said.

While some juvenile sex offenders can be violent and harm strangers, many more are older children who inappropriately touch younger kids, often relatives, Scovil said.

But unlike adult sex offenders, the rate of repeat crimes is low, with 7 percent to 12 percent going on to commit a sex offense as an adult.

Treatment is often successful because in many cases, a juvenile offender is simply lacking social skills or misunderstanding societal cues about sex.

"Caught early enough, these patterns of behavior are very easy to address," Scovil said. "A lot of families come in mortified. They cannot believe their child has done this."

Dakota County's Community Corrections Department adds about 36 new juvenile sex offenders to its caseloads each year. Sixty percent of them were 14 or younger at the time they committed the offense, and about 80 percent of them do well with outpatient treatment.

County Board members, who recently approved the treatment facility plan, praised staff members for finding a way to use the extra space to help kids and potentially generate revenue at the same time.

"I just think it was tragic that you even need to have one," Commissioner Liz Workman said.

"I want to watch and see how it does. In theory, their concept sounds like the right thing to do."