Colorado Sex Offender Evaluations – The Parental Risk Assessment – Child Contact Assessment
Colorado Sex Crimes Criminal Defense Lawyer – Attorney – Law Firm – H. Michael Steinberg
I Am Charged With A Colorado Sex Crime – If I Take A Plea Agreement – Are You Telling Me I Cannot See My Own Kids?
Colorado Sex Offender Evaluations include the Child Contact Assessment (CCA) what was previously named the Colorado Parental Risk Assessment. The Colorado Sex Offender Management Board Guidelines (SOMB) LINK – provide that before a convicted sex offender is allowed contact with his or her own children – they must take and “pass” this assessment.
This article addresses just when the CCA – or PRA applies – what it is and why it is important to understand.
Colorado Parental Risk Assessment – Child Contact Assessment
What Are Type of Different Colorado Sex Offense Specific Evaluations?
The Colorado Mental Health Sex-Offense Specific Evaluations are performed ostensibly to identify an accused individual’s level of risk to re-offend. The idea is to help a judge determine the specific level of “containment and treatment” requirements.
The sex offense specific evaluations are outlined in the SOMB guidelines. The are mandated by state law to be performed before an accused Colorado sex offender can be sentenced.
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What Are The Colorado Psychosexual Evaluations?
The Basic – OSE – Sex Offender Evaluation – Adult and Juvenile
Mental Health Sex Offense Specific and Psychosexual Evaluations for Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities
Re-Assessment Evaluations
The Child Contact Assessment (CCA) – The Parental Risk Assessment (PRA)
Child Contact Assessment – Parental Risk Assessments
This evaluation is the subject of this article – The Colorado Child Contact or Parental Risk Assessment is designed by the Colorado SOMB to detect and measure the alleged risk that may be posed by a convicted adult sex offender (therefore it is post sentencing) to perpetrate upon his/her own children.
Similar to the so called “standard sex offense evaluation” it uses many of the same tools and has – in addition certain additional tools that are intended to measure the “interpersonal dynamics, empathy and capacity for attachment.’ I is a lengthy test and involves the use of a polygraph. A PRA takes between four to six hours to finish – there is a clinical interview, handwritten assessments, and sexual interest/arousal testing.
Some Of the Components of The Assessment – Parental Risk Assessment Tools
The Hanson’s Empathy For Children Assessment
The Hanson’s Empathy For Women Assessment
The Relationship Questionnaire
The Questionnaire on Adult Relationship Types
The Parental Risk Assessment Questionnaire
The Parent Discipline Interview
Colorado Sex Offender Evaluations – The Parental Risk Assessment – Child Contact Assessment
(A Reprint Of The Actual SOMB Standard That Governs The Assessment – SOMB 5.730 – With Commentary)
5.730 Child Contact Assessment (CCA with own minor child)
When the following circumstances exist, a CCA may be initiated to assess the appropriateness of an offender’s contact with his/her own minor child (see definition):
.. The offender does not meet any of the exclusionary criteria in 5.725 and 5.732;
.. The offender does not have two or more pre-screen factors;
.. The offender wants contact with his/her own minor child as defined in 5.710, under the age of eighteen (18);
.. The offender does not have a history of victimizing any of his/her own minor child(ren), regardless of the victim’s age, as substantiated by criminal or civil court history or by self-report.
[HMS – Note the following – the CCA must occur AFTER the plea is entered]
When a CCA is being conducted it may occur after a plea has been entered, after conviction, during incarceration, or upon acceptance of an Interstate Compact case and shall be completed by an approved Sex Offender Management Board Evaluator.
Contact with an offender’s minor child(ren) shall be prohibited prior to, and during, the offense specific evaluation. The CST should evaluate any pre-plea CCA to determine if it is adequate and current to inform the CST’s decision regarding minor child contact and meets the requirements of the Standards.
A recommendation regarding an offender’s appropriateness for contact with his/her own minor children cannot be made until a CCA has been completed and a CST has been convened. If the offender qualifies for a CCA after the prescreen is completed, the evaluator shall complete all components of the CCA. The completed CCA shall contain recommendations for the level and type of contact, if any.
Contact is ultimately determined by the CST. It is important to acknowledge that risk levels can change and that the plan must be continually assessed and revised as necessary throughout the period of criminal justice supervision.
If the CCA is not conducted during the offense specific evaluation, it may be completed at a later time; however, the offender should not have contact with his/her own minor children until the CCA has been completed and the CST determines that contact is appropriate or the offender has met the criteria in 5.740.
[HMS – A judge may allow contact with a parent’s own children before the assessment has been done – the assessment can be used to CONTINUE that order – although the therapist may object to this procedure]
Ideally, the sex offender should not have contact with his/her own minor children until a CCA is completed and finds contact is appropriate. However, if a court has allowed contact absent the completion of a CCA, it should not preclude a CCA from being completed.
5.725 Exclusionary Criteria for Any Form of Minor Child Contact
Due to extreme risk, when any of the following are present, the offender is not eligible for a CCA and the CST shall ensure that the offender is NEVER considered for any type of contact with minor children and/or a CCA.
A clinical diagnosis by an approved evaluator or treatment provider of:
.. Pedophilia – Exclusive type per the most current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM);
OR
.. Psychopathy or Mental Abnormality per the Psychopathy Check List Revised (PCL-R) or per the (Millon Clinical Multi-phasic Inventory) MCMI III (85 or more on each of the following scales:
..Narcissistic, Antisocial and Paranoid); OR
.. Sexual sadism, a defined in the most current version of the DSM and/or via any standardized Sadism assessment instrument.
5.732 Disqualifiers for CCA:
• Pedophilia – Non-Exclusive Type (per current version of the DSM)
• SVP – Per finding in Colorado court, parole board, or via equivalency pursuant to C.R.S.
• Ever committed a sexual offense against own child
If an offender is disqualified from undergoing the CCA evaluation, he/she must meet 5.740 criteria to be approved for minor child contact.
Colorado Sex Offender Evaluations – The Parental Risk Assessment – Child Contact Assessment
Please call our law firm if you have questions about ..
Colorado Sex Offender Evaluations – The Parental Risk Assessment – Child Contact Assessment
H. Michael Steinberg has been a Colorado criminal law specialist attorney for 40 years (as of 2013). For the first 13 years of his career, he was an Arapahoe – Douglas County District Attorney Senior prosecutor. In 1999 he formed his own law firm for the defense of Colorado criminal cases.
In addition to handling tens of thousands of cases in the criminal trial courts of Colorado, he has written hundreds of articles regarding the practice of Colorado criminal law and frequently provides legal analysis on radio and television, appearing on the Fox News Channel, CNN and Various National and Local Newspapers and Radio Stations. Please call him at your convenience at 720-220-2277.
In the Denver metropolitan area and throughout Colorado, attorney H. Michael Steinberg provides quality legal representation to those charged in Colorado adult and juvenile criminal matters.
The Colorado Steinberg Criminal Defense Law Firm serves clients charged with criminal offenses in the Denver Metro Region and throughout Colorado, including Adams County, Arapahoe County, Boulder County, Broomfield County, Denver County, Douglas County, Jefferson County, Larimer County, El Paso County, Pueblo County, Weld County and Grand County; and communities such as ; Centennial, Denver, Boulder, Aurora, Lakewood, Littleton, Westminster, Thornton, Northglenn, Brighton, Greenwood Village, DTC, Denver Tech Center, Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Lone Tree, Englewood, Golden, Grand Junction and all across the Front Range.
If you have questions about Colorado Juvenile Mental Health Evaluations in the Denver metropolitan area and throughout Colorado, attorney H. Michael Steinberg will be pleased to answer those questions and will provide quality legal representation to those charged in Colorado with adult and juvenile criminal matters as regards ..Colorado Sex Offender Evaluations – The Parental Risk Assessment – Child Contact Assessment.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Colorado Parental Responsibility For Juvenile Restitution
- Aiding – Harboring A Minor Child 18-6-601 and Violation of Custody Orders 18-3-304
- Colorado And False Allegations Of Domestic Violence – The Impact On Child Custody “Parenting Time” Issues
- Colorado Domestic Violence Sentencing – A Change In The Approach To Mandated Domestic Violence Treatment Requirements
- Indeterminate Sentence for Sex Offenders (18-1.3-1004)
