Identification and Assessment of Offenders for ES

This topic covers the criteria and process for identifying eligible offenders who are to be assessed for ES, and the process for assessment.

ES eligibility criteria

To be eligible for an ES order, an offender must have:

been convicted of a "relevant offence", being one of the specific sexual offences involving victims less than 16 years of age set out in section 107B Parole Act 2002
received a determinate imprisonment sentence (i.e. not life or preventive detention), and
not ceased since that sentence was imposed to be subject to a sentence of imprisonment or release or detention conditions (be it for the relevant offence or other offending).

Legislative reference: Section 107C Parole Act 2002 .

Health assessment criteria

Eligible offenders who meet one of the following criteria will be scheduled for a psychological health assessment to determine their risk of re-offending:

They have a score of medium-high or high on the ASRS (automated sexual recidivism scale). This score is calculated from the offender's criminal history data in IOMS and appears in a report in CARS.
They are subject to an order under section 107 Parole Act 2002.
They are approved by the director, psychological services as an 'override'.

Notes:

To find out if a child sex offender is to be assessed for ES, contact a local psychologist or the ES coordinator at the CPPS head office.
If you consider that an offender who is not already to be assessed for ES is of a medium-high to high risk of re-offending, contact a local psychologist. The psychologist will, if appropriate, seek approval for the offender to be an 'override'.

ES identification process

The following table describes the process for identifying eligible offenders to be assessed.

Stage	Description
1	The offender receives determinate imprisonment sentence for a relevant offence. The ASRS score is calculated at Sentence Commencement Date.
2	The ES coordinator runs the CARS report fortnightly, which identifies all eligible offenders with a medium-high or high ASRS score or a section 107 order.
3	The ES coordinator enters newly identified offenders and a deadline for the psychological health assessment report onto the ES assessment spreadsheet. Exception: Offenders identified through the 'override' process are entered upon notification by the director, psychological services. Note: Psychological health assessments are done and ES applications made during the final year of the offender's sentence.
4	Psychologists access the ES assessment spreadsheet and schedule psychological health assessments accordingly.

Health assessment process

The following table describes the process for the preparation of psychological health assessment reports.

Stage

Description

The psychologist notifies the ES coordinator of time, date, location and assessor for an ES interview appointment with the offender.

The ES coordinator notifies the field of the assessment. This is via email to the relevant probation officer, service manager, area manager and regional manager, and unit manager (if offender is in prison). The probation officer will be the most recent probation officer who has dealt with the offender, i.e. the:

current or most recent managing probation officer
probation officer conducting latest pre-release enquiries, or
pre-sentence report writer.

A letter from the general manager, CPPS, notifying the offender of the ES interview appointment is sent to either the offender's probation officer or the unit manager to deliver, along with:

instructions for delivering the letter
fact sheets about ES, and
copies of the letter for the offender's file are included.

The probation officer or unit manager delivers the notification letter to the offender and discusses it with them. A copy of the letter is signed by the offender and the relevant service manager or unit manager and sent to the ES coordinator as evidence of the offender's receipt of the letter.

The offender either attends the interview appointment or may elect not to.

The psychologist writes the psychological health assessment report.

Note: If the offender has chosen not to participate in the interview, the report will be written from file information and other sources.

The psychological health assessment report makes a recommendation whether or not to apply for an ES order. The report is:

sent to the CPPS head office, and
provided to the general manager, CPPS, along with other supporting documentation (e.g. criminal history, summary of facts, sentencing notes).

The general manager, CPPS, decides whether or not to apply for an ES order.

Note: Not all ES assessments proceed to an ES application.

The ES coordinator notifies the field of the decision.

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