Managing the Risk

An Inspection of the Management of Sex Offender Cases in the Community

A Summary

Managing the risk

In January 1998 the Minister for Home Affairs announced that the Social Work Services Inspectorate (SWSI) would inspect all sex offender cases supervised by Aberdeen Social Work Department and also those supervised by a further seven local authorities across Scotland. The inspection would assess how fully departments were complying with national standards.

This announcement followed the publication in 1997 of an independent report by Dr James McManus, commissioned by Aberdeen City Council, into the supervision of Stephen Leisk, a convicted sex offender. Whilst subject to supervision, Leisk had killed ten-year-old Scott Simpson.

The 1997 SWSI review A Commitment to Protect had already looked at the arrangements for supervising sex offenders in the community. Since then, the Sex Offenders Act 1997 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 have increased the protective measures available to the courts, including the registering of sex offenders. The police and social work services now have effective working arrangements in place, sharing information and managing the risks posed by sex offenders. Together they are:

• ensuring the success of the sex offenders' register (there has been a high level of compliance with the registration requirement)
• developing ways of assessing risk and managing cases, to offer greater protection to the public

Managing the Risk is the report of the SWSI inspection team. It looks at the quality of work in the local authorities and at the extent to which they are making the improvements called for in A Commitment to Protect and the McManus Report. This Summary outlines the main findings.

The Inspection

The main Inspection took place between April and October 1998, when the inspection team reviewed the eight local authorities: Aberdeen City, Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh City, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders and Shetland.

During the Inspection the team:

• examined case files of all adult sex offenders subject to supervision
• examined court and parole reports prepared by social workers
• examined case files of children and young people who had committed sexual offences or who were sexually aggressive
• interviewed managers to find out how local authorities manage risk from sex offenders and sexually aggressive young people

A year later the team followed this up with a further inspection in Aberdeen alone. This time they assessed the local authority's progress in fulfilling the recommendations made in the McManus Report.

Working with adult sex offenders

The inspection team examined some 240 cases or reports, and found that the majority of sex offenders were well supervised, with social workers in contact with them more often than the level required by national standards.

Risk assessment

A Commitment to Protect highlighted the need for assessing risk when working with sex offenders, and inspectors found that authorities had made considerable progress in 12 months. Across those inspected, 33 risk assessments were made in 81 probation cases, although standards varied.

Monitoring offenders

National Standards require offenders to be seen, in most cases, at least weekly in the initial stages of the order, then reducing to fortnightly, with the option of monthly contact in the later stages of supervision.

The inspection revealed a high degree of monitoring, and most contact was weekly throughout the order. In one authority, the process involved:

• developing an action plan before sentence, negotiated with the offender and endorsed by the court
• the prompt commencement of orders
• the involvement of the offender, social worker and senior social worker in well-managed and documented reviews
• prompt follow-up of any missed appointments

Personal change programmes

These are community programmes aimed at bringing about changes in sex offenders' behaviour. The majority of offenders had access to a programme, either individually or in a group. A joint working approach - involving pairs of workers - helped give a better focus. In one case, the pair of workers developed an action plan for overall supervision. They planned each session, clarifying the aims and agreeing the detailed work. After each session they reviewed the approach, content and learning.

Problems related to offending

Many sex offenders do not commit only one type of offence. Their offending may be part of a wider pattern. Most had personal problems, such as alcohol abuse and homelessness. A number had learning difficulties. These factors were all relevant to the offender's motivation or ability to undertake a change programme. The inspection found that workers almost always dealt appropriately with the social problems.

Case management and supervision

In most cases, supervision was extensive. Effective supervision and case management began at the stage of writing Social Enquiry Reports for the court. One local authority completed nine out of eleven reports to a very high standard, with a full analysis of the offence and action plans. The quality of their supervision was high, too, highlighting the importance of assessment in planning for supervision.

"Many of the adult offenders had intractable problems and in all adult cases a network of protective arrangements was needed to increase community safety. The complexity of the task of addressing offending behaviour, managing risk and dealing with associated or underlying problems was thrown into even sharper relief in the cases of sexually aggressive children or young people."

SWSI Inspection Team

Children's cases

Many adult sex offenders establish a pattern of sexual aggression in childhood or adolescence. Conviction statistics and studies of victim reports suggest that anything up to a third of sexual offences are committed by children and young people before they reach 18. The inspection team examined 46 cases submitted by local authorities, of children and young people who had committed sexual offences or displayed sexually aggressive behaviour, or who might present a risk to other children or to other vulnerable members of the community.

Most of the children were compulsorily looked after by the local authority. A small number were supported by social work services on a voluntary basis, usually after referral from the Reporter to the Children's Panel. Forty-two were boys (91%), and ages ranged from 10-17. Many of the young people thought to present a risk lived with other young people in children's homes or residential schools, with a smaller proportion remaining at home.

The young perpetrators generally knew the victims of their sexual aggression. Many were neighbours, friends of younger siblings or family friends. In six cases the victims were family members, usually younger female siblings. Over half the victims were female.

Quality assurance

Most authorities had taken some steps towards the development of strategic or inter-departmental responses to adult sex offending. All but one had some way to go to achieve an integrated and detailed approach. Management arrangements and quality assurance systems for both adult and children's cases required further attention and development in many authorities.

Overall, progress has been made but authorities need to build further on this, in order to manage the risks presented by sex offenders in the community.

The way forward

In the past few years, social work departments have given a high priority to the protection of the public from adult sex offenders. In the majority of cases social workers are matching - and sometimes significantly exceeding - national standards, as they carry out their supervision duties. Most authorities, however, need to bring the quality of work in all cases up to that of the best.

Workers are making increased use of structured approaches to risk assessment. Again, more work is required here, to ensure that efforts are properly focussed on managing the risks presented by sex offenders. More work is needed, too, in structured work with offenders, in groups or individually, relating to the offence.

Progress has been made, but it requires to be built upon further, in order to manage the risks presented by sex offenders in the community.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

• Working together: between prison and the community
  The Scottish Executive should require local authorities to nominate a supervising officer at the start of sentence in all cases where a sex offender is imprisoned for four years or more, and to promote the use of voluntary social work assistance for all sex offenders sentenced to shorter periods of custody. The Scottish Executive should provide additional funding to support such work.

• Information about children's cases
  Local authorities should take steps to ensure that they have access to the best possible information about the scale and severity of sexually aggressive behaviour by children and young people in their area.

• Improving practice with sexually aggressive children
  Local authorities should ensure that their work is informed by emerging knowledge about effective practice in addressing offending behaviour, whilst continuing to safeguard and promote the welfare of the young people and take account of their needs. Training for Children's Panel members should include information about tackling sexual aggression and offending. In collaboration with the Scottish Initiative for Training in Residential Child Care, local authorities should assess the training needs for staff currently looking after sexually aggressive young people in residential settings and make this an early priority.

• Social work records
  Local authorities should institute recording policies which will ensure that social work case records are more clearly focused on the reasons for intervention, the expected outcomes of such intervention and the methods for achieving these.

• Quality assurance
  Local authorities should put in place quality control and quality assurance systems for social work practice in respect of both criminal justice and children's services, to ensure that practice is of the best possible standard and is appropriately focused on risk.

Copies of the full report Managing the Risk are available from:

Marion Thompson
S.W.S.I.
F Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh EH11 3XD
Tel: 0131 - 244 4230
Fax: 0131 - 244 3548
and on the Internet at: www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/social/mtr-00.asp