The Social Service Department oversees several supervision programs for individuals placed on supervision by the Court, including Standard Supervision, Courtesy Supervision, Sex Offender Supervision and Community Service.
Standard Supervision
The Social Service Department's Diversified Caseload Unit provides individualized supervision and specialized interventions to individuals placed on supervision or found guilty by the court of any of a multitude of felony, misdemeanor, traffic, and ordinance offenses. Such clients receive a court order of reporting supervision or reporting conditional discharge sentence. The Department uses a comprehensive evidence-based assessment tool to match the degree and level of services to the client’s risk of recidivism.
A core function of the Diversified Caseload caseworker is screening and assessment. Casework officers use assessment tools and motivational interviewing to match client needs with treatment plans that will assist clients in meeting the requirements of court mandated conditions. Casework officers also address other life issues likely to perpetuate the client’s involvement in the criminal justice system. Diversified casework officers frequently coordinate services with community-based agencies for issues such as substance abuse, mental health, housing, employment, and education.
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GPS Supervision
In 2009, legislation took effect in Illinois that allows the court to order an offender charged with or convicted of violating an order of protection to GPS monitoring as a condition of pretrial release.
The GPS Monitoring Program is administered by the staff of the Adult Probation Department. Under the program, a stationary exclusionary zone is established around all protected addresses of the complaining witness/victim.
A GPS device is affixed to the offender who is ordered to maintain a minimum distance of 2,500 feet away from the complaining witness/victim at all times. A complaining witness/victim is offered the option to carry a GPS device if he or she wishes to be notified if the offender enters an exclusionary zone. If a complaining witness/victim opts to carry the GPS device, he or she is required to carry a cell phone at all times to facilitate notification. The Social Service Department will provide a cell phone to a complaining witness/victim who does not own one for the duration of the GPS order.
If the offender enters an exclusionary zone, local law enforcement officers are contacted immediately (as well as the complaining witness/victim if he or she opted for notification). The law enforcement officers will respond to the complaining witness/victim’s location to conduct a well-being check and determine if further action is warranted. Social Service Department staff will provide information to the court regarding all violations of the GPS Monitoring Program.
Courtesy Supervision Program
The purpose of the Courtesy Supervision Program is to promote public safety and protect the rights of victims through the control and regulation of the interstate movement of clients. The Program provides tracking, supervision and rehabilitation of these clients by the sending and receiving states; and distributes costs, benefits and obligations. The Department processes requests from other jurisdictions for people who are either residents moving out of Cook County or people who are moving into this jurisdiction.
Responsibilities
The Courtesy Supervision Unit is responsible for reviewing the requests for clients to move into and transfer their supervision into Cook County. The Unit reviews the request and analyzes whether the request should be accepted. The Unit assigns all accepted cases to the appropriate casework officers for ongoing services. The assigned casework officer is then responsible for providing supervision and sending quarterly information about the case to the sending jurisdiction.
Case Management
The Courtesy Supervision Unit also manages cases for clients sentenced in Cook County who reside outside of Cook County at the time of sentencing, or who move outside of Cook County during their period of supervision. For clients residing in a state other than Illinois, the Unit processes a request to the other state asking for courtesy supervision of our case through the Interstate Compact Office. For clients residing within Illinois, but from a county other than Cook, we process a request to the other county asking for courtesy supervision directly through its Probation Department. If accepted, the receiving Probation Department will supervise the person and provide information regarding compliance or lack thereof to the assigned casework office.
An assigned casework officer is responsible for verifying compliance with all court ordered conditions and reporting the information to court. If a person is rejected for any reason from another state or county, the assigned casework officer is responsible for motioning the case back into court for a review. At the review, the court is informed of the rejection and that the client will not be directly supervised if allowed to remain in the other jurisdiction. The court’s ruling specific to reporting status must be followed.
Sex Offender Program
The Sex Offender Program manages cases of clients referred to the Department with sexually related offenses, regardless of whether it is a sex offense by criminal statute. The Social Service Department has designated highly skilled professional staff experienced in working with sex offenders to provide a highly structured, intensive supervision program.
Casework officers create specific, individualized supervision plans to break through clients entrenched denial, rationalization, minimization and manipulation. All clients in the program receive intensive supervision, requiring frequent contact with their casework officer. Review of police reports for current and past offenses allows casework officers to be aware of the circumstances of each arrest and to confront clients regarding any patterns of illegal behavior. Casework officers also conduct regular criminal record investigations to respond promptly to any subsequent arrests. Clients are directed to comply with any statutory requirements regarding registration, DNA indexing and STD/HIV testing.
Clients are referred for evaluation and treatment to community agencies that follow the standards of practice. Casework officers collaborate with the treatment providers for joint case planning and substantive communication regarding client’s progress in treatment. If appropriate, casework officers make referrals to community resources for substance abuse treatment, mental health or other forms of counseling.
Community Service Program
Community service is a sanction that the court can impose as a condition of probation, conditional discharge, or supervision. The court imposes this sanction for varied purposes, such as a form of restoration/reparation and as an opportunity for rehabilitation.
The Social Service Department has developed a Community Service Program to provide the court with an alternative to incarceration and to achieve the Illinois Constitution’s objective of this court-imposed penalty: to restore the client to useful citizenship.
Goals of the Program
The Social Service Department's Community Service Program has the following goals:
- to offer the court an alternative sanction for clients placed on supervision or sentenced to conditional discharge;
- to offer not-for-profit organizations the opportunity to utilize the services of offenders ordered to perform community service;
- to require clients to participate in a form of reparation to the community;
- to require clients, through community service work, to perform productive and lawful activities; and
- to create linkages between clients and their communities in an attempt to reduce recidivism.
Community Building
As a component of a comprehensive intervention, community service often builds better community relations. Community organizations experience "criminals" as real people with human struggles. The client experiences, sometimes for the first time, the intrinsic rewards of productive labor and the sense of belonging based on the principles of accountability and restitution.
The Social Service Department has developed a network of hundreds of not-for-profit organizations throughout Cook County that participate in the program. Clients perform unskilled, semi-skilled and professional services depending upon individual abilities and the needs of the organizations. Organizations with questions or who are interested in participating can contact ssd.serviceline@cookcountyil.gov for more information.
Placement
The Community Service Placement and Resource Coordinators match the clients to the needs/requirements of the organizations participating in the program. The placement decisions are communicated to the assigned casework officers who then direct the clients to the worksites at particular times and locations.