Deleting key sex offender facts won't keep us safer

Few issues chill our collective consciousness more than talk of releasing sexual offenders. Also chilling is the tendency to ignore effective strategies for getting sexual offenders to stop.

But as Star Tribune investigative reporter Paul McEnroe revealed earlier this month, former Commissioner Cal Ludeman of the Department of Human Services (DHS) took out complete paragraphs in a report to the Legislature, including a recommendation to strengthen community-based programs. Why? Because the report was "promising too much."

But it's precisely these promising programs we need to talk about and build upon to create a safer community. We need only remember the firestorm that erupted in 2007 when then-Minnesota Health Commissioner Diane Mandernach delayed for a year the release of information on the asbestos-related cancer deaths of 35 Iron Range miners. Mandernach apologized publicly and resigned, but the delay put other miners at risk.

Consider this paragraph that legislators didn't see:

"While assisting a sexual offender in developing purposeful belongingness may appear overly compassionate, it can contribute to decreasing recidivism. It is not uncommon for sexual offenses to be preceded by periods of extreme stress, shame, inadequacy and despair. ... The challenge is to educate communities to assist in integrating sex offenders in spite of the stigma, for the safety and well-being of the entire community."

More support comes from a 2008 study of 1,763 Level III (highest-risk) sex offenders by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC). Contrary to popular belief, the majority of offenders in this study did not re-offend sexually. They also had the lowest rates of re-arrest (5.2 percent), re-conviction (3.2 percent) and re-incarceration for a new sex offense (2.6 percent), compared to Level II and Level 1 offenders.

Several factors seemed to help, including intensive supervision and broad community notification which, the authors wrote, may limit opportunities for offenders to form dangerous relationships. They did, however, caution against drawing definitive conclusions this early on.

Equally "promising and perhaps less costly," the study's authors noted, is a program called Minnesota Circles of Support and Accountability" (MnCoSA). A report from Canada, where CoSA began in 1994, found that Level II sex offenders who participated in Circles were significantly less likely to re-offend sexually than a control group of nonparticipating offenders. The reasons: support and accountability.

Up to seven volunteers and professionals work with released "core members," finding them housing, work, medical assistance, mental and chemical health appointments and general support. Jason Sole, a consultant who works with former offenders, trained volunteers for MnCoSA from 2007 to 2010, said the combination of support and accountability "seems to be the most effective" strategy.

Those who did re-offend were most likely slapped with technical violations, such as missing curfew or not getting a job. The offenders, Sole said, "were receptive, grateful, blessed, to have people in their lives to help them get a driver's license, a job, all the things they needed to get by."

Hillary Freeman is co-director of the Community Justice Project (www.gmcc.org), a program of the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, which mentors about 150 offenders annually with Minneapolis Police Department support. The strategy: "Balancing accountability with grace. We're realistic enough to know that you must hold people accountable," said Freeman, a Minneapolis crime-prevention specialist from 1996 to 2010. "I saw the capacity for evil," but, also, for transformation.

Of hundreds mentored through the project, the one-year recidivism rate is 16 percent overall, she said, and lower for those who stay with their mentor, which about half do. "You can't arrest away crime," Freeman said. "It all comes home. And how it comes home depends on the reception [former offenders] receive."

"No one size fits all," Streufert said, when asked how best to battle the most heinous crimes. "What works for which individuals at what time and at what pace? Are we looking for success or are we looking for progress? For me, it's progress towards welcoming this person to be around my grandchildren."

He believes that success cannot occur unless everyone comes to the table -- victims, offenders, families, observers and community -- for a transparent discussion. "The goal," Streufert said, "is how do we once again say, 'Hello neighbor?'"