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Correctional Services: Probation Supervision
What We Do
The Center for Creative Justice (CCJ) is a private, non-profit probation agency that provides community-based correctional supervision to adult criminal offenders sentenced to probation by the local judiciary. Our mission is to rehabilitate offenders, reduce victimization, increase public safety, and contribute to improving our community. CCJ is unique in the sense that we offer support, guidance, and supervision to individuals who have been convicted of lower-level offenses to assist them in reforming behaviors and being active, productive members of our community, while recognizing that all people, including those who are justice-involved, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
Clients are supported through one-on-one meetings with CCJ staff. A risk assessment tool is used to evaluate the individual’s risk of reoffending, identify areas of need, and direct appropriate programming recommendations and service referrals. Depending on the level of risk assessed and in accordance with state and nationally recognized evidence-based practices, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meetings are completed with the individual. Obstacles and challenges faced by the client are identified and goals are established using individualized case management planning. Efforts are made to increase the client’s protective factors, including natural supports, coping skills, financial stability, and employability, among others. Compliance and follow-through are monitored to ensure progress toward the successful completion of the individual’s term of probation supervision. While we require compliance with supervision and conditions that are established and set forth by the Court, we provide this service in a safe, non-judgmental environment. CCJ staff work tirelessly to find creative solutions to assist individuals in identifying ways to make positive changes in their lifestyle and provide them with tools to prevent future criminal behavior, in turn, reducing recidivism and improving our community.
CCJ staff actively participate in numerous collaborative efforts in the community to further our mission and meet the needs of the individuals we serve. We partner with local service agencies to increase client awareness of and access to services. Partnerships are established to connect individuals with a variety of resources, including basic life necessities, services for the homeless, parenting resources, education programs, medical care, mental health support, substance use treatment, workforce development, including programs specifically addressing how to overcome barriers to employment due to being a justice-involved individual, jail diversion, life skills, and continued prevention and stabilization through one-on-one assistance and service referrals. Without the guidance and support our clients receive from their probation officers, many of these resources would be underutilized. We believe that all people are capable of change and are passionate about supporting individuals in these efforts.
Who We Serve
CCJ primarily serves justice-involved adults sentenced to probation services for lower-level offenses by the District Court of Story County. Many of our clients are underserved, have a limited or no positive support system, and struggle to meet their own basic, emotional, and financial needs. Approximately 70% of our clients meet the definition of low- to moderate-income, as established by the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2). Frequently, clients have a history of mental illness, substance use, or co-occurring disorders. Historically, approximately 70% of cases assigned to CCJ involve substance use. Those sentenced to probation at CCJ who are not Story County residents are primarily individuals who have either relocated to a different community since being sentenced to probation services at CCJ but have not yet completed their court-ordered term of probation, or individuals who are not a resident of Story County but committed the crime for which they have been convicted in Story County resulting in being sentenced to local probation supervision by the Story County District Court. Local courts continue to rely on CCJ as an important sentencing option for individuals who would otherwise remain in the community unsupervised and unsupported. As clients who are eligible to be served are assigned to CCJ by the Court, no eligible clients are turned away.
How We Impact
Probation supervision accomplishes two primary goals, rehabilitation of the individual and protection of the community. CCJ enhances public safety while aiding in the rehabilitation of criminal offenders. CCJ clients are your neighbors, employees, coworkers, friends, and possibly members of your family. CCJ holds people accountable while providing guidance to assist clients in getting their lives back on track through rehabilitation. Clients supervised by CCJ work toward goals to assist them in successfully completing community supervision and becoming a productive member of society, which decreases crime, reduces victimization, enhances public safety, and contributes to improving the quality of life for individuals, families, and neighborhoods in our Story County community.
CCJ provides a cost-effective and results-based community sentencing option for adult criminal offenders. Reducing criminal conduct has a widespread impact on individual clients, families, neighborhoods, employers, and the entire community. Fewer tax dollars are expended investigating, prosecuting, and incarcerating offenders. The burden on law enforcement, the courts, and correctional institutions is lessened. Our program has a positive ripple effect in the community that goes beyond our individual clients. Clients who participate in and complete treatment, overcome addictions, learn to manage their anger appropriately, make better choices, obtain and maintain employment, manage their finances, pay back their victims, and take responsibility for their actions become more self-sufficient. They become better partners, parents, neighbors, co-workers, and community members. The individual who has built positive community supports, who has increased protective factors, and who makes better choices, creates a better and safer community for all.
Clear Impact Suite is an easy-to-use, web-based software platform that helps your staff collaborate with external stakeholders and community partners by utilizing the combination of data collection, performance reporting, and program planning.