Colorado is overtreating many low-risk sex offenders in the mistaken belief that they cannot be cured, an independent consultant has found, reported the Denver Post.
As a result, the state's Sex Offender Management Board is wasting significant amounts of public money on supervision in the community, according to a report from Central Coast Clinical and Forensic Psychology Services.
The report, released earlier this month, also concluded that Colorado's system for classifying some offenders as sexually violent predators is hopelessly flawed and in urgent need of replacement. That means Colorado could be classifying the wrong people as sexually violent predators.
The findings were met with approval from advocates of reform for sex-offender treatment but with skepticism from a victims' group.
The report's recommendations, if adopted, could dramatically change the supervision of sex offenders, many of whom are now monitored for life.
There were 1,412 sex offenders under intensive supervision on probation in the state as of June 30, and 767 of those were under lifetime supervision, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
The report cited multiple problems with the risk scale that Colorado uses to identify sexually violent predators and concluded the state has "no credible data" to justify its use.
"There is an urgent need," the report said, to replace its method for calling someone a predator "with an instrument that is soundly developed."
The report also criticized treatment programs for relying too much on polygraph examinations as a means of measuring an offender's success.


To read more Click Here