News

SMART Office Launches New Initiative

In March 2011, the SMART Office began work on the Sex Offender Management Assessment and Planning Initiative (SOMAPI), a project designed to assess the state of research and practice in sex offender management and to inform the Office of Justice Program's (OJP) research and grant making efforts in this area. As part of this effort, the office gathered information in the field and asked practitioners to provide details about promising and effective sex offender management programs or practices and to identify the needs of the various disciplines involved.

Following this information-gathering phase, the SMART Office hosted a 1??–day forum on February 8–9, 2012, in the District of Columbia. Approximately 50 national experts—researchers and practitioners—were invited to discuss the office's assessment and to further refine what is known about the current state of sex offender management, gaps in research and practice, and the needs of the different disciplines involved in this work. Recommendations from this forum will be used to shape the agenda of the SMART Office's 2012 National Symposium on Sex Offender Management and Accountability, to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 7–9, 2012. At the symposium, participants will learn from national and local experts and government officials about the latest and most promising practices in adult and juvenile sex offender management, covering topics such as prevention, investigation, arrest, prosecution, sentencing, correctional programming, reentry, supervision, treatment, registering, tracking, and current research.

The culmination of SOMAPI will help guide OJP's sex offender management research, policy, and grant making efforts and will provide direction to the field on how best to protect the public from sexual violence.

More information about SOMAPI will be posted soon on the SMART Office's website.


Contents
  • Requests for Reallocation of Byrne JAG Funding Penalty
    The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) set forth a penalty for jurisdictions  . . . arrow More
  • SORNA Implementation Update
    The SMART Office has received information from nearly all States and territories and the District of Columbia . . .  arrow More
  • International Tracking of Sex Offenders Working Group
    When SORNA was enacted and its final guidelines were published, the U.S. Department of Justice was tasked with . . . arrow More
  • SMART Funding
    The SMART Office will continue funding the Support for Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant Program . . .  arrow More
  • New SMART Staff
    The SMART Office announces the addition of two new staff to its team: Faith A. Baker and Sharon-Beth Kristal. . . .  arrow More
  • SMART Office Launches New Initiative
    In March 2011, the SMART Office began work on SOMAPI, a project designed to assess the state of research . . .  arrow More
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