Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) Evaluation
Mandatory SOMB Offense Specific Evaluation
Anyone convicted of a Sex Offense is required under Colorado law to have a Sex Offender Management Board Evaluation. This SOMB evaluation is completed by licensed or certified therapists, who have received the blessing of the SOMB. To be licensed, a therapist must apply, receive training, and pledge allegiance to the SOMB. Protocols, or rules established by the SOMB, are the supreme law of the land and any therapist who does not express strong loyalty to the SOMB train of thought will lose their license or not get one. Essential protocols include belief that sex offenders cannot be cured, that they are dangerous, and that they must be contained.
The One-Size-Fits-All Foolishness
As with any government program, mindless adherence to uniform programs produces foolish results. Bureaucrats (or treatment providers) conduct research and then advise the legislature on what the law should be. Detractors in the legislature are criticized, particularly when seeking reelection, so they vote in favor of ridiculous laws. The SOMB program is based on such principles. Colorado has a one-size-fits-all program, whose foundation of “no cure” governs the treatment of the drunk college student who pinched a girl's butt at a bar, and the man who by a pattern of offending sexually molests twenty children. Each of these sex offenders will be required to stay away from children (even the offender whose crime had nothing to do with kids), whether the child is the son or daughter of the offender.
The SOMB has a “no cure” philosophy when it comes to treatment.
Standardized Contents of the Evaluation
The contents of an evaluation are structured by SOMB rules. These rules require:
- Clinical interviews
- Initial impression of the evaluator
- Identifying and victimization information: including employment, medications, mental health, religious, hobbies, prior legal problems
- Description of the present offense and review of police reports
- Family and relationship history
- Alcohol and drug profile, including test results
- Psychological profile and test results
- Sexual profile and test results
- Physiological assessment and testing
- Evaluation summary
- Risk assessment
- Treatment recommendations
- General and specific recommendations
Each of these sections in the evaluation involves hours of questions and many standardized tests. The test results predict personality characteristics and risk level. Probation uses these test results within their recommendations to the court in their presentence investigation report. Judges use these test results and the probation report to determine an appropriate sentence. Both probation and the judge use the evaluation to protect themselves from criticism if an offender commits a new crime. The SOMB evaluation is considered the opinion of an expert, whose opinion is the best indicator of future risk.
Plan Ahead and Increase Your SOMB Test Results
Prior to seeing an SOMB evaluator or obtaining an SOMB offense specific evaluation, it is essential for a defendant in a sexual offense case to meet with our attorneys. We have an extensive program designed to increase a defendant's success in the testing process. This program has proven to result in more favorable results like decreased risk, recommendations of community supervision rather than prison, and less Department of Corrections time.