House Select Committee on Sex Offender Registration and Internet Crimes Against Children, report to the 2007 General Assembly of North Carolina

              Representative Jones asked who decides which inmates will be released into parole. Dr.
Carbo said that decision is made by NC Community Corrections. Representative Jones
asked how the risk factor for sex offenders was determined. Ms. Van Buren said the
lowest risk would be incest offenders; the highest being boy victim pedophiles.
Representative Spear said the difference in who attended the SOAR program versus
offenders released to parole don’t add up. Dr. Carbo stated that not all the attendees are
released back to the community. Some of these offenders remain in prison to complete
their sentence. Representative Spear asked for the statistics on the number of
incarcerated offenders without treatment, which are released into the communities and re-incarcerated
because of the same or similar violation. Dr. Carbo said this information is
not currently available. However, their Research and Planning Division is currently
working to obtain this data.
Representative Farmer- Butterfield asked the cost of funding of additional SOAR facilities
throughout NC. Dr. Carbo stated the largest expense would be salaries for psychologists
an estimated $ 250,000 annually, plus cost of treatment space for each program.
Representative Howard requested the exact cost for the SOAR program since its initiation
and total number of offenders, which has completed this program. Dr. Carbo said he
would get this data. Mr. Mills with the staff department said he would work with the
SOAR program in order to get all the requested information.
Representative Spear said he thinks the offenders receiving the SOAR program should be
the offenders that are going to be released first from prison into the community.
Ms. Van Buren said that SOAR’s psychologists do not make that determination.
Representative Farmer- Butterfield said one of the determining factors for admittance to
the SOAR program should require all offenders to have a discharge date. Also, she asked
who treats these offenders when released back into the community. Ms. Van Buren said
at the beginning of the program, the released offenders worked with NC Department of
Mental Health. However, NC is now outsourcing the majority of their cases. Ms. Van
Buren said that some of the outsourced cases are sent to qualified facilities; however,
there are a lot of cases sent to unqualified facilities. There are child sex offenders living
in rural counties without any resources for obtaining therapy, requiring extensive
traveling to receive necessary therapy.
Chair recognized questions from the audience. Ms. Ruby Colbart with NC Coalition of
Sexual Assault said a lot of the offenders released back into the communities have stated
they cannot locate qualified therapist. Dr. Colby replied that he has also received this
comment from a lot of parole officers.
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