---

WALKER-Cass County Probation Department now tracks recidivism as the first step to prevent future rearrests, Director Jim Schneider told the county board Tuesday.

In presenting his annual report to the board, he noted probation officers now rate each person the court sentences to probation on whether they are at low or high risk to reoffend.

This tracking has been in effect for sentenced people for two years. Last fall, in an effort to minimize the number of people needing to be jailed, a special program was started to rate people beginning in the pretrial stage, Schneider reminded the board.

He said factors that can put a person at risk to reoffend can include whether they are unemployed, have family problems, associate with other offenders and what type of temperament they have.

Probation's goal is to talk to offenders about changing their habits and associations to lower their risk of ending up back in jail, Schneider explained.

Of the 85 high-risk clients Cass probation has tracked the last two years after they were released from probation, 34 people (40 percent) were rearrested. Of the moderate risk people released from probation, 38 percent were rearrested, but the 134 low-risk people rearrest rate dropped to 16 percent, and very low-risk clients had a 5 percent rearrest rate.

Of the 49 people actively on probation Dec. 31, 2015, 67 percent of the high-risk people had been rearrested while on probation, compared with 33 percent of the 81 moderate-risk people, 8 percent of the 89 low-risk people and none of the 23 very low-risk people.

Clients on pretrial release program as of Dec. 31, 2015, saw all 11 of the high-risk clients held in jail and 14 moderate-risk people and six low-risk people being supervised outside of jail.

Probation's pretrial program offers clients chemical dependency, mental health, employment, educational and housing assistance to help them get their life back on track.

Schneider said he finds that nobody wants to spend time in jail, but some people are more willing than others to make the changes in their lives to prevent arrest. He also finds rearrests begin to decline after about age 25.

Cass probation supervised adult probationers committed 1,019 offenses in 2015, compared to 1,184 offenses in 2014. Driving while intoxicated and other driving related and alcohol offenses were down in 2015, but possession of marijuana cases were up compared with the prior year.

Juvenile offenders committed 689 offenses in 2015, up from 598 in 2014. Minor consumption of alcohol cases dropped from 171 to 160, while possession of marijuana cases rose from 30 to 50. Assaultive behaviors and disturbing the peace cases were up among juveniles from 140 to 166.

Both adults and juveniles on probation had committed a higher number of burglaries in 2015 than 2014.

Cass County has a diversion program for juveniles living on Leech Lake Reservation. It is open to band members and non-band members who live on reservation. First-time juvenile offenders may participate in the program in place of going to juvenile district court.

The Leech Lake Tribal Restorative Justice Court, instead, attempts to teach participants that wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility and truth are foundations for "living the good life, living by our cultural values."

Juveniles who had committed 82 offenses went through that program in 2015, two more than the prior year.

Cass County contracts with Digital Detention of Detroit Lakes to manage clients assigned to electronic home monitoring. Clients pay $20 per day for the service.

Juvenile participation in electronic home monitoring dropped from 2,561 in 2014 to 1,176 last year. Similarly, adult participation dropped from 1,993 in 2014 to 1,484 last year.

Cass' wellness court for repeat DWI offenders, a joint court with Leech Lake Reservation, has had an 87 percent success rate. Five of the 45 graduates in the last nine years have reoffended.

Cass probation reports it believes by assessing risk levels, doing motivational interviewing and planning case management for supervised cases that more positive outcomes can be achieved,

Schneider indicated.

He also said the cost effectiveness of the current pretrial release program is being studied along with the success rate.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]

---