Activity (Requirement): Activities are added to a client’s supervision plan, either through model assignment, phase advancement, or added by a caseworker outside of the model. The activities are the requirements of the client for their supervision or treatment plan. There are three types of activities that the system supports: 1) Supervision Activities, 2) Treatment Activities, and 3) Tasks.
Activity Calendar: A client’s calendar that displays completed and scheduled activities and their outcome.
- Grey day: No activity instances for that day.
- Blue day: Today. It is full of possibilities, so it is not any of the other colors.
- Green day: All activities for the date are completed and have a positive outcome.
- Yellow day: One or more activities for the day are not complete and there are no activities with a negative outcome.
- Red day: one or more completed activities for that day with a negative outcome.
Advancement Criteria: How the system should determine that a client is ready to advance to the next phase of the model. Each condition in the model and requirement in the supervision plan will have its own field to specify advancement criteria. This is behavior-based tracking and could be tracked through a percentage of compliant activities. For example, 90% attended appointments or 85% passed tests.
Appointment: Scheduled activity instance. Generally, the client is aware of this scheduled appointment and it is reflected on the Activity Calendar.
Assessments: Standardized and validated questionnaires or interviews that assess the risk, need and responsivity of the client. The assessment can influence the requirements of the client on their supervision plan.
Attended: Status of an appointment that is seen as a compliant outcome. The client showed up as expected. An incentive will be recommended for this instance (depending on the expectancy).
Case Management System: An offender management database system used to track clients. These systems vary in functionality and vendors who support them. SCRAM Nexus Family could potentially pull or push information to and from this system.
Change Log: A log in the system that tracks any changes made to that particular section of SCRAM Nexus Family.
Creatinine: An easily measured byproduct of muscle metabolism that is excreted unchanged by the kidneys. It is measured in drug testing to identify dilution of a urine sample.
Compound: Substances that are tested for using a drug test (urinalysis, saliva, hair). Example: Heroin, Cocaine, THC etc.
Conditions: The supervision activities, treatment activities, and tasks that can be added to the phase of a model.
Conditions Catalog: Contains the supervision activities, treatment activities, and tasks that can be added to the phase of a model. Administrators can add their own conditions to the Conditions Catalog for their jurisdiction.
Dilute: A client making a drug test sample thinner or weaker by adding water or another solvent to it. This can be done by adding a substance to the sample directly or by drinking large quantities of water just prior to a urine test. This is either identified through observation or by measuring the creatinine.
Distal goals: Behaviors that are ultimately desired of clients but will take some time to accomplish. An example might include expecting a lifelong drug addict to pass drug tests at the beginning phase of their supervision. Behavioral research studies have shown administering high-magnitude sanctions for distal infractions makes outcomes worse by causing hostility, resentment, or learned helplessness. Practitioners are also likely to run out of sanctions prematurely if they use them too quickly responding to difficult demands. See also Mastered goals; Proximal goals.
Drug Test (UA): This is the most common form of drug testing. UA is short for Urine Analysis. Clients will provide a urine sample by urinating in a cup and submitting to their caseworker. Some of these UA cups have a built-in screen tool that can detect positive compounds instantly. UA tests can be sent to a Lab for official results and analysis. The sample collection can either be observed or not observed.
Drug Test (Saliva): A collection through a device that is placed in the mouth, where saliva is collected and screened for substances. Some of the devices have a built-in screen tool that can detect positive compounds instantly. These tests can be sent to the lab for official results and analysis.
Incentives: Consequences for behavior that are desired by clients and increase the likelihood that an accomplishment or positive behavior will be repeated, such as verbal praise, applause, small gifts, or reductions in supervision requirements. Incentives are also referred to as rewards.
Infraction: An alert in electronic Monitoring that indicates a client is not following the instructions of supervision. For example, a “Missed Remote Breath” test would not be an infraction in many jurisdictions if the client takes and passes another breath test within 90 minutes; or a confirmed consumption alert but the client is allowed to drink if they do not have custody of their children.
Excused: Status of an appointment that is seen as a neutral outcome. The client missed the appointment, but it was excused.
Expectancy: A setting on an activity that determines if that activity is a Distal, Proximal, or Mastered goal. Goals can move from Distal to Proximal through phase advancement. Goals can move from Proximal to Mastered through phase advancement or meeting mastery criteria.
Failed: Status of a drug test result if the screen or the lab came back as positive for one or more compounds. A sanction will be recommended for a positive result.
Field Visit: A supervision activity involving client contact conducted by caseworkers outside of their office. Examples include visits to a probationer’s home or place of employment.
Frequency: Conditions have a frequency. This is not the schedule, but instead suggests a schedule to a caseworker when the model is assigned to a client. Example: Once a month, every other week etc.
Lab: A place certified by the Department of Health and Human Services that receive urine or saliva specimens and test them to determine the presence of drugs. They also conduct validity testing to determine if the specimen has been adulterated or substituted.
Location: Probation or provider offices where clients can go to for various services or to visit with their caseworker.
Magnitude: A categorization of responses that include Low, Moderate, or High.
Mastered goals: Desired goals or behaviors that clients have accomplished reliably in supervision. For example, a client might be considered to have mastered initiation of abstinence if they provided drug- and alcohol-negative urine tests for three consecutive months. Once a goal has been mastered, there are no longer rewards for that behavior.
Measurement: Describes in quantitative terms the level of substance present from a drug test. This is typically verified by a toxicology lab.
Missed: Status of an appointment that is seen as a non-compliant outcome. The client missed the scheduled appointment. A sanction will be recommended for this.
Model Recommendation: While setting up a supervision plan for a client, the system will match qualifying criteria on active models to characteristics of the client and recommend matching models.
Model(s): Models are how department policy is represented in SCRAM Nexus Family. Policies are traditionally difficult to communicate and even harder to communicate updates to policies. This results in caseworkers implementing the policies that they are the most comfortable with, or the policy they last memorized. By transforming department supervision policies into models, administrators can maintain policy changes and know that they will be consistently implemented. Models can have phases if the expectations of the clients change over time. If the expectations remain the same over time, then the model can have zero phases. Models are a guide or template to a client’s supervision plan and still allow for caseworker discretion and personalization to a specific client.
Model Lifecycle: A model goes from New > Active > Locked (optional) > Inactive. Once a model is active, phases cannot be added or removed, and it cannot go back to a “New” state. Once a model is active, clients can be associated with it. Locked models remain for currently assigned clients, but new clients are not allowed to be assigned. Once all clients have been removed from a model, it can be inactivated. Inactive and Locked models can go back to Active.
Negative: Result of a drug test stating that the compound was not detected through a drug screen.
Offense Category: The SCRAM Nexus Family platform provides a configurable Offense Category data field that allows agency administrators to create a library of offense categories specific to their department’s caseloads. This feature can used by the agency to provide a more detailed caseload description accessible through a client’s court case menuing that can subsequently be selected by caseworkers to categorize and correlate clients with recommended target supervision models.
Office Visit: Caseworkers are required to meet with many of their clients on a regular basis in a controlled setting. These visits entail reviewing client contact information, address, employment, vehicles etc. The caseworker is also expected to go over any pending items that the client needs to complete and any items that were completed since the last office visit.
Outcome: The end result of an activity instance. The outcome could be Negative, Positive or Neutral.
Passed: Status of a drug test result if the screen or the lab comes back as Negative for one or more compounds. An incentive will be recommended for this instance.
Phases: Phases are supervision stages within models if the expectations of the client change over time. Phases have the expectations of the model. What treatment and supervised activities should the client be engaged in and what is the expectancy of each activity. Phases begin with a minimum duration and a name. The user can add, remove or change conditions within the phases.
Phase advancement: Official recognition that a client has mastered specific requirements of a program and is prepared to take on more advanced challenges. As clients advance through phases, consequences for infractions typically increase in magnitude, and rewards for previously mastered goals are reduced. See also Phase structure.
Phase structure: A planned sequencing and timing of services based on clients’ assessed needs and risk level. Where indicated, early phases of treatment typically focus on responsivity needs that are likely to interfere with an offender’s commitment to rehabilitation, such as acute mental health symptoms or homelessness. Subsequent phases of treatment focus on criminogenic needs that are likely to impact recidivism, such as substance abuse and criminal thinking patterns. Later phases of treatment address maintenance needs that are likely to interfere with rehabilitation gains, such as poor employment skills or illiteracy. Outcomes in correctional rehabilitation are significantly better when programs have a defined phase structure, assign clients to phases based on their assessed needs, and have concrete behavioral requirements for advancement through the phases. A phase structure is the basic component of a treatment plan or supervision model. See also Phase advancement; Phase demotion.
Positive: Result of a drug test stating that the compound was detected through a drug screen.
Prescribed: Result of a drug test stating that the compound was detected through a drug screen, but it was prescribed to the client. The system does not see this as a non-compliant result.
Proximal goals: Behaviors clients are capable of performing and are necessary for long-term improvement to occur. Examples may include attending counseling or probation sessions or delivering valid urine specimens. Many offenders are capable of meeting these goals, although they may resist doing so. Clients should receive higher-magnitude sanctions for failing to meet proximal goals, and low-magnitude rewards for meeting them. Behavioral research shows, administering low-magnitude sanctions for shirking proximal goals makes outcomes worse by habituating (accustoming) offenders to being sanctioned. See also Distal goals; Mastered goals.
Provider: Companies or agencies that provide services such as treatment counseling, drug testing, education classes, electronic monitoring, employment assistance, or classes.
Qualifying Criteria: The qualifying criteria defines what type of client in which a model is appropriate. If a model is only appropriate for females, then each qualifying criteria group will have qualifying criteria of Gender = Female.
Qualifying Criteria Group: A group of criteria on a model in which the model is built.
Response: Incentive (Reward) or Sanction (Punishment).
Risk assessment tools: Standardized and validated questionnaires or interviews that assess the likelihood of an offender failing on criminal justice supervision (prognostic risk), committing a new offense (criminogenic risk), or committing a violent act (risk of violence). Importantly, most risk assessment tools were not validated against a risk of violence, but rather against the likelihood of committing a new offense or failing on community supervision. Therefore, it is not warranted to assume that an offender identified as high risk is necessarily a risk to public safety or requires confinement. Depending on the assessment tool being used, high risk may simply indicate the person requires ongoing supervision by criminal justice professionals and certain and swift consequences for his or her actions to achieve successful outcomes.
Risk, Need, Responsivity (RNR): A body of research indicating that better outcomes are achieved when the intensity of criminal justice supervision is matched to an offender’s risk for recidivism (criminogenic risk) or likelihood of failure in treatment (prognostic risk), and treatment focuses on the specific disorders or conditions that are responsible for the offender’s crimes (criminogenic needs). Mixing offenders with 14 different levels of risk or need in treatment groups or residential programs increases crime, substance use, and other undesirable outcomes by exposing low-risk or low-need individuals to antisocial peers and values and interfering with their involvement in productive activities like work or school.
Sanctions: Consequences for a client’s behavior transgressions. Typically categorized as low, medium, and high, sanctions are most effective when delivered in timely proximity to the transgression and may include verbal reprimands, monetary fines, community service, increased supervision requirements, or incarceration. Sanctions may also be referred to as punishment or punishers.
Schedule Type: For supervision and treatment activities, there are three types of scheduling supported by the system: 1) Set Schedule (days of week) 2) Set Interval (Every x number of days) 3) On-demand only.
(Initial) Screen: A tool on a drug testing device that provides fast test results. The results from the screen is a “presumptive positive,” limiting the number of samples that need to be sent to the lab for analysis.
Services: Various activities that include drug testing, treatment counseling, education classes, employment assistance etc.
Session: Individual or group classes or appointments scheduled by a provider, generally a treatment provider.
Set Schedule: A schedule type that requires the caseworker to select a day of the week for schedule occurrences. For example, every Monday and Wednesday.
Set Interval: A schedule type that requires the caseworker to enter in the number of days between occurrences. For example, every 10 days.
Supervision Plan: The supervision plan is the realization of the assigned model’s current phase, plus the personalization required for this client. Regardless of what is in the model, the supervision plan is the systems’ expectations for the client – what they must do, when things are scheduled, etc. Wholesale changes happen to the supervision plan when a client is first assigned to a model, reassigned to a new model, or advances phases. Changes to the supervision plan can happen at any time. A caseworker can remove activities, change activity settings, or add new activities.
Supervision Activity: Activities supported by the system. These include drug tests, office visits, and field visits.
Suspension of Activities: Probation is sometimes required to suspend monitoring of a client for a short period time. Suspending an activity removes all future pending activities until the day the monitoring resumes.
Tamper: Clients may attempt to meddle with the sample of a drug test to mask ingestion of tested substances.
Task: One-time requirements of the clients. There is no date or time associated to the tasks. They are either completed or not.
Treatment Activity: Services based on the client’s assessed needs and risk level.