 Hi, I'm Rick Halk, Chief Probation Officer for the District of Columbia, and you're watching Perspectives on the FJTN. And welcome to Perspectives. I'm Robin Roland. On today's show, we're looking forward to the future, checking what's on the horizon for officers and for the national system as a whole. First we'll explore our high-tech future with visits to New York Southern to see a defendant database system that's on the leading edge, and to Virginia Eastern to look at their innovative regional drug lab. We'll get some supervision tips from cybercrime expert Ed Harrison, and we'll continue our coverage of the 2000 National Chiefs Conference, where chiefs gathered to plan the future of the system in the 21st century. In a special follow-up discussion, we'll get to the heart of what all that future's planning might mean for officers, and we'll sit down with a key player in the future's planning process, John Hughes at the FCSD. David Adair returns to talk about the legal perspective, and we'll have an update on the new guideline amendments from the Sentencing Commission and news from us at the FJC. There's a lot happening on the technological front that's of interest to officers. One development that's starting to attract attention is the subject of today's first story. It's a computerized database system that's one praise from everyone who's used it, even if they used to hate computers. And no wonder it was custom-built for officers and staff. Here's our report. Hi Doris. Oh, hi. How are you? I have one prisoner for you. Oh, okay. Do you have the 312 and my fingerprint card? It's a daily occurrence in any pre-trial services office around the country. All agents bring defendants to intake for processing. You don't have a social security number on? But what happens next only happens in the Southern District of New York. Look straight ahead, please, at the camera. As soon as a case comes in, a case number is assigned and the defendant is photographed. Okay, thank you. At that point, the case file is generated in Hudson. It automatically starts a case file. Hudson is an online database system developed here at New York Southern's Pre-Trial Services Office. It's a river of shared knowledge that flows throughout this office, linking everyone in it. John, is this correct? You were born 82865? Yes. A defendant's case file in Hudson is a comprehensive source of information. Biographical data, addresses and phone numbers, chronos, the defendant's check-in and drug test schedule, test results, officer notes, defense attorney and AUSA names and numbers, anything that can help in managing the case. For a district like New York Southern, it's a blessing. We're a large urban district here. We're one of the largest pre-trial districts in the United States. We have an incredibly large intake of persons and it seemed that we were never able to have the sufficient number of persons to cover the duties that we had lined up for ourselves. Hudson streamlines tasks for everyone in the office. Here in reception, for example, where defendants check in for their office visits, thanks to the intake photo, the receptionist can confirm the defendant himself has come in. He fills out a brief form with his current address and phone. She checks them against the information in the case file. She can see if the supervision officer wishes to see him or if he requires a drug test. If he does, the test results are sent automatically into his case file in Hudson. So that an officer, while they're preparing their report within, I'd say, 15 or 20 minutes of the UA being taken, has a result on his PC. It also gives you an email telling you what the result is. Officers use it to input chronos. Since they're entered, they're accessible by that officer from his home, from outside of the office, or from here in the office. The whole process started when we decided that we're not going to put chronos onto a piece of paper anymore. We're going to put into a standard database format. With the database format, you get to do things like see patterns and count activities. If at any time I want to measure how many persons are under supervision for a given period, the system allows me to do that. If I want to know how many people are under random drug testing, I can find out. Hudson is built to work on a standard web browser, easy to learn and use. It also means officers can access Hudson from their home computers. And with a password, other districts can access Hudson over the Internet. Sharon Regis remembers what it was like to find a piece of needed information in the days before Hudson. A lot of searching. We had to go through, you know, find the folder, make, you know, see if the information is there, you look up, look, look. Many times you can't find the exact information. With Hudson, we put that information in and it's available online immediately. Don't expect to find a program so perfectly tailored to pre-trial services at your local computer store. The genius behind Hudson is Corey Nguyen, the office's systems manager. Without doubt, Corey is a gifted programmer. But it could be that his primary talent is listening. One of our latest features is the ability to click on a client's address and, one, get the map of the area, a graphical map. And the second one is clicking on the address again to get driving directions from the court location to the client's house. This was not ideas I thought of. It was the office's idea of what the system should do for them that guided me towards these two features. Corey, he's granted us anything we've wanted on it and he keeps asking us, what else do you want? Just tell me and I'll give it to you. It's a living system that can be changed and altered and tweaked and updated constantly to meet our needs. Officers asked Corey to combine packed information with Hudson. They got it. They also got one click access to docket sheets. Once again, another officer came to me and asked, hey, is there a way where we can get the docket without having to go to the docket system and type that docket number in and wait for it to come back? Why can't we just click on a docket number and it pops up? Well, I found out a way to do that and with cooperation from the clerk's office, we were able to make docket sheets available at a point and a click away. Officers here don't hesitate to recommend Hudson to others. The system, like Corey's, if not Corey's, could be of equal benefit to the pretrial officers across the country. We are currently talking about exporting Hudson to other districts and we're beginning with our neighboring district, the Eastern District of New York, and hopefully even beyond that. Anybody who doesn't have it should take a close look because it's really a pretty good tool. Hudson, it has helped us a lot. For Perspectives, I'm Craig Bowden. We were able to show you only a fraction of the features that Corey has built into Hudson. Most of them at officer request. It truly is an amazing tool. We continue our report on technology with a caution to officers and some solutions. The subject is cyber crime and our guide is Ed Harrison. He says that in a supervision situation, officers may need to think globally and act locally. The thing that has made it incredibly difficult is that internet connectivity has gotten to the point where you can almost access something off the internet as fast as you can access it off your hard drive. So why should you keep images that could be incriminating to you on your hard drive when you could keep them in a hard drive in a jurisdiction that's not going to recognize a search order? So you need to understand with the sex offenders especially, and more and more of the economic criminals are doing this as well, something called data caching. That is simply putting your data in another jurisdiction out of the way so that if you do come and do a search on someone's house and on their computer, you're not going to find anything. Because it's on a hard drive in the Virgin Islands or in Guam or in the Philippines or some other place on the planet, you're not going to find it. There are some jurisdictions that are able to, through court orders, get the offender to actually install software on a computer that will take snapshots of what's going on on that computer and email it to the officer so the officer can see what's going on. It doesn't take a highly skilled officer to get one of these emails and say, oh, that's pornography or oh, that's credit card information or oh, that's, so that software is certainly something that's out there. It would be extremely valuable to the probation officer doing the supervision that there would be a specific court order that the defendant provide periodic copies of the phone records, the same with credit reports, charge card statements, anything that would show interaction with money or telephones or internet service. There's a lot more great information from Ed Harrison on the FJC's recent special needs offenders broadcast on cybercrime. It's one you don't want to miss, so if you haven't seen it yet, check your FJT and bulletin for rebroadcast times. Coming up next on Perspectives will reveal the outcome of the futures planning process at the chief's conference and join a discussion on the results that officers might see. And FCSD chief John Hughes talks about his views on the future of the system. There's a lot more to come, so please stay with us. Substance abuse issues play a major part in supervising defendants and offenders. Now probation and pretrial services officers can get the latest information directly from national experts. This is among the most complex phenomena facing our society today. Live on the FJTM, the Federal Judicial Center presents Substance Abuse, a continuing education series which brings you the latest on research, policy, and strategies. The FJTM bulletin or the JNET for air dates of the next edition of this provocative series. In our last edition of Perspectives we went to the 2000 National Chiefs Conference in San Antonio where chiefs were called on to shape the future of the probation and pretrial services system. In a special series of workshops led by facilitator Fay Malaney, they started by looking at the past to discover the values that make their districts what they are. The two things you voted for out of that timeline that were most important to you was impartiality and equal administration of justice and that people can change. Fundamental things. You then were asked to think about what makes you proud. What we're proud of is we can make a difference. And then when I asked what your sorry's were, you said the thing you're sorry's about is indifference, complacency. Next they scanned the present horizon to identify the forces arrayed against them. And out of those the one that you said was the most powerful impacting force that was pushing on your life now was the call for accountability. We put the next screen up and asked you, of all the forces impacting you, which one do you feel you can grab by the horns and do something about? And what was the highest vote getter? Accountability. In fact you said the greatest force pushing on us is the one we can do something about. It was a remarkable display of strength and solidarity. And they weren't even finished. In the last stage of their journey the question was what kind of system do we want in the future? Not an easy question as Mark Maggio reports. Before they could decide what kind of system they wanted in the future, Chiefs first had to agree on what a system is. What are the traits of a system, what are the benefits of a system, and sorry but what are the costs? Ain't going to be any free lunch to have a good system. Fortunately the workshops had prepped them for that question with time devoted to this value spectrum, a roadmap built on choices. Through their ratings on eight system values, Chiefs mapped out the future they sought and that map called for change of direction. And it's unusual that in a group like this that seven of the eight items would call for significant movement. Again, not a worshiping of the status quo if that is any indication, but a recognition that you know there's places yet to go. The Chiefs embraced consultation and consensus building over centralized directive style decision making. They showed they would sacrifice a small amount of local flexibility to achieve greater national uniformity. They chose to move from a largely independent system toward a more interdependent one. And showed a strong preference for collaboration over coordination. On the traditional balance point between law enforcement and treatment, Chiefs felt the system needed to move back toward treatment. Their strongest mandate was to shift work focus from activities toward outcomes. And to base efforts more in the community than in the office. Finally, they chose to move toward a greater identity with a national system than with their local court. With their map in place, Mulaney helped the Chiefs fill in the details of the system they desired, acknowledging its traits, its benefits, and its cost. Which trait needs the attention of federal probation and pretrial services? It's kind of like if the car has a lot of good working parts, let's don't focus on those. What things need attention to make sure this vehicle carries us forward? Okay? Whoa. So a real sense that the first thing we need to do is get the destination right. Okay. What about the benefits? Let's take a look at those. We expect all of these benefits out of the system. Which is the most important benefit to you? So again, an end product kind of focus is what really benefits the most. And just a sense of that we aren't in this alone. Okay. Finally, the last one has to do with the cost. That's the other flip side of this whole thing of system building is it ain't free. It comes with a price. That's always painful. The accountability for outcomes won't come easily. We'd rather report our activity than our outcomes. So what does the future look like? The chief's vision was summed up in five goal statements. They called for a system in which desired outcomes are clear and measured and results are communicated. A system whose components cooperate to deliver an effective continuity of services. One that successfully serves the whole through collaboration and communication. Chiefs favor a system in which supervision is moving from the office to the community. And in which staff share a commitment to mission and to the treatment of all persons with dignity and respect. With their work complete and their vision clear in their minds, these chiefs left the conference eager to share their journey with their districts and perhaps dedicated to a measured yet determined course of change. Dick Gregory, a comedian who was active during the civil rights movement, once said that revolutions never start on the street with the picket line. Revolutions always start inside our heads. And so just perhaps this week a quiet revolution has begun. For Perspectives, I'm Mark Maggio. And what about that quiet revolution? What kinds of results should officers expect? We invited four chiefs to our studios for a roundtable discussion about those issues. After we look in on that, we'll hear from a key personality in the future's planning process, John Hughes, Chief of the Federal Corrections and Supervision Division. But first to the four chiefs. We asked them to start with practical things that officers can do to strengthen their bond to the national system. I'm really interested in pushing an old concept that I was taught 25 years ago when I entered the system. And that was you do the same quality of work for your fellow officer across the country as you would do for your own judge. And I think that's a very important goal that the system should get really back to. And I think sometimes when we're talking on the national level, we're talking about working well with the administrative office, the Federal Judicial Center, the Sentencing Commission, Bureau of Prisons. But you know, sometimes I think we forget that it starts on our own doorstep in our own district because we know that in several instances there's competition and problems in our own district between probation and pretrial services. We need to overcome that at the local level in order to be effective because we are a continuum of services and we really need to work with each other locally as well as nationally. More TDYs. Yes. And the TDYs provide such a wonderful experience for people to help out on another district, to see another side of our system, perhaps different kinds of cases. Yes. Absolutely. I think one of the, I've never been on the receiving end of TDY, but I did one and it was one of the best experiences I'd ever had. It was something that really helped my career. It encouraged me that I could look beyond my district for opportunities for learning experiences. So I think when officers look in news and views, they ought to look at those requests for temporary duty and they ought to think, well, is that something I might do or I might learn from? It's a way of getting involved. There's lots of other ways as well. Even just calling another district and asking them for their policy on some issue, whether it be awards programs or informant policy or the new drug testing policy, is a way of bridging gaps between the districts and finding that there's a lot of wonderful, wonderful work that's going on across the country. I'm always amazed whenever we reach out for policies how good the work is across the country. Most of our officers do come in with that sense of expectation and pride. I had one officer who was not a U.S. pretrial services officer. She was a United States pretrial services officer and she made that very clear. No matter where she introduced herself, it was not U.S. it was United States. And as a result, the rest of us always introduced ourselves in the same manner. The officers in the community are the ones that represent the federal probation system. Across the country, how many officers they are and how many folks do they come in contact with over the course of a year? They are the federal probation system. I think that it's very important for officers to realize that collectively their actions, their comments, what they do is that persona, makes that persona and we talked about the need to maintain a system and it's a point of pride for all of us and what folks can do in order to help preserve that sense of system while we still maintain the autonomy and the creativity of our districts. And some of it, as we talked about yesterday, was speak about our system with pride, avoid cynicism, work towards results, think about performance outcomes, offender outcomes or defendant court outcomes in their work. It kind of gets us back to where we started about being professional with each other and working together. But when you think in terms of the fact that all the officers across the country have been selected from a pool of very competent, talented people, you think about the fact that they have all undergone extensive background investigations, the character, integrity and values that they bring to the system. And you know that you can stand inside of people of that caliber who are committed and dedicated professionals has really been a great joy to me and I think the more that we can foster and continue that level of professionalism, the better served our system will be in the years to come. I think when we left the chief's meeting there was pretty much uniformly a feeling of positive excitement for the future and I think that stemmed from sort of a collaboration on agreement that we're going to work in the future together in a way to pull ourselves I think together more as a system. There's a change as a constant but I think we're in a transition and I think collectively the chief's all agreed that we want to pull together and make it a better system nationally. And the challenge we have is to try to filter that concept amongst the entire system and the ranks. That really I think is the challenge to get everybody on board so we can actually carry it out because we can't do it. It's really not us, it's everyone. We've got the best and brightest. No one is better placed to talk about the future of the federal probation and pretrial services system than our next guest. John Hughes is chief of the administrative offices federal corrections and supervision division. In that role not only does he guide the nationwide administration of the system but he's also on the front lines of supporting and improving the working life of officers. Welcome John. Thank you. We're going to put you on the spot first thing by asking you to talk a little bit about yourself. A lot of officers out there don't know your history. For example that you've been both a federal probation and pretrial services officer. So tell us a little bit about your background. Well it is true that I have been both. I was sworn in in New York Eastern as a pretrial services officer way back in the 70s and came to the AO about the time that the pretrial services act of 82 was being implemented and I was hired as a pretrial services specialist at the AO to help implement that law to do some training and to do data collection and certain things. And I stayed for the next 14 or 15 years and migrated to different positions at the AO. I've been a regional administrator and I've been branch chief in each of the three branches at the division. And around 1988 I moved upstairs at the AO to a position in the office of management coordination where I got a bird's eye view of the AO and got to learn more about how that works. But then an opportunity came up to be a deputy chief probation officer out in Arizona. I saw the ad for it and I talked my wife and four kids into letting me apply for it. And we went west and it was a great opportunity to work again in a court and it's a special office out there. There are a lot of good people in that office who work very hard and are committed to the job and to making a difference. And it was good to be around people like that in the courts again. You know, with defendants coming through the back door and buses pulling up and marshals around. It felt good to be back in a court after all those years. So you really do have a wide range of knowing the AO inside and out and then having been an officer in different offices, different parts of the country too. I did feel like after all that experience that when this opportunity arose for this job that it was a chance of a lifetime and I had to try for it. But I felt like I was ready. Do you miss the field? I do. There's a lot about working in the field in the so-called real world that I do miss. But it helps to know that we're serving those people here and to be reminded as often as we can that what we're doing here is in support of their efforts out in the field. So that helps. John, at the National Chiefs Conference, you told a story about your pride in being a part of the federal probation and pretrial services system. Would you share that with us now? Well, it's a little bit corny, but I will share it. When I got the job back in New York Eastern, I was still in my 20s and I was feeling pretty proud to have become a Fed. I mean, my parents are first generation Americans and I was very impressed that I'd get a job with the federal government and work for the federal courts of all places. And I was so proud that I actually went out and bought a trench coat because I guess I thought that's what you're supposed to look like. And it was the real deal with buttons and all kinds of things on it and a big belt. And I walked around Brooklyn like that for a while until one day I walked in a county probation office and walked up to a desk and there was a guy behind the desk and he said, let me guess, a Fed. So at that point I had a little insight into what I looked like and the code ended up in Salvation Army but the point of the story was the pride I had continues to this day and all the jobs I've had, it's always good to say where I work. I still feel very proud of that. And especially in this job to have a chance to serve the system from this level is a great opportunity. Speaking of the chief's conference, it's been almost six months since it happened. Many attendees feel that that was a watershed event for the system and one that sparked a long-term process of positive change. In your view, what are the most important outcomes so far? Well, I think you're right that it did spark a long-term result but we're only six months into it but we already can feel that it's a long-term result. There was so much commitment shown by those chiefs some of whom have been around a long time and you might expect them to be a little bit more cynical or at least pessimistic about changing the behavior of offenders, for example but one of the things they had these items they could vote for and one of the things most chiefs could agree with was that people can change and that probation and pretrial services officers can make a difference and that was pretty impressive, it sounds simple but to have people who have been around for a long time saying that that's still true and they're still committed to that was very invigorating for all in attendance and it left us all with a good feeling and building on that feeling, I think we're, you know follow-up to the chief's conference there's a lot of groups that are working on various aspects of that conference to follow up on it but we're setting the table also for a strategic assessment of the whole system which will begin very shortly and that will involve a lot of round-table discussions about what the system is all about who we should be in the future and that sort of thing and it was very encouraging that at the chief's conference that those kinds of ideas just flew people just grabbed them and ran with them they were very happy to talk about these things and we really tapped into something so I think the timing could not be better that the strategic assessment is beginning now following that chief's conference That's great John, in what direction would you personally like to see the system move over the next five years? In the direction that started at the chief's conference I think, and that is a move towards greater collaboration working together to solve problems the insight we got at that conference was that there's a lot of expertise a lot of knowledge in our system and that we need to pool ideas we need to share and we need to do it together and we're already doing that in many areas but we're going to expand on that we already have working groups on officer safety, on sex offender treatment on Indian country that's a very special population that's been neglected for too long we have a working group on pretrial detention getting back to the basics of pretrial services why it was started in the first place in February of this year the director approved a ad hoc supervision working group which is an umbrella group that has five groups underneath it and they're looking at all kinds of supervision issues which is our bread and butter which we better pay attention to and they're looking at transitional issues from prison to the community technical violation policy treatment in a risk control environment pretrial services supervision and also performance measures but the point I'm making is that it's a collaborative effort these are people from the courts working with people at the AO and at the FJC we have the FJC at the table with us if there is an implementation issue or a training issue that arises they're right there to help us through it and it's really been a great experience for us to work together so closely and to put our ideas together John thanks for talking with us you're quite welcome we'll be right back Hi I'm Michael Burney your host for Court to Court our mission is to provide education and information that will enhance your job and how the courts function what ongoing challenges do you face each day what innovative practices are other districts applying what makes your work satisfying we'll find these stories and share them with you we're excited about what's in store be sure to watch Court to Court on the FJTN check the FJTN bulletin or the JNET for broadcast dates and times welcome back perspectives likes to focus on local innovations that resolve problems and create new opportunities and that's definitely the case with our next story from the eastern district of Virginia as Kate Lineit reports some out-of-the-box thinking in their pretrial services office combined with a quest for perfection have benefited officers throughout the region I've worked in a forensic and toxicology lab for many years and my experiences in the lab you see a lot of adulterated neurons and you sort of know what they look for and I noticed that we were getting a lot of diluted looking samples at Virginia Eastern's pretrial services office they knew a water diluted urine sample could mean a defendant's drug use might go undiscovered and that wasn't the only problem spot in the drug testing program if you have somebody that tested positive today and it takes you a week or two to get the result back you can have a week or two of drug use by that person without you being able to do anything about it Elements of doubt about his test results did not sit well with Bob Claggett Virginia Eastern's lab technician a man with a perfectionist streak Well, I asked the chief about maybe if we could get a better analyzer something that could test for creatinine A test of a sample's creatinine level is sometimes the only way to confirm whether it's been diluted but to do creatinine testing requires a high volume analyzer and the district wasn't doing enough testing to justify one at that point inspiration struck and Chief Caroline Ortwein got on the phone She called me in 1998 and asked if we would be interested in contributing urines to the cause of a regional drug lab with the thought that we'd save money process, drug or urine screens a lot faster We thought it would be a wonderful idea if we did the testing for the other two court units and even treatment facilities where specimens are collected because we could have the increased volume that would qualify us for a larger analyzer The idea took root and soon Virginia Eastern's pre-trial services was in business with the country's only district-run regional drug lab We have samples coming in from the DC probation office Alexandria probation office Manassas office of probation and the pre-trial services here in Alexandria and from Richmond Virginia Presently we are testing just about 100,000 tests a year The plan benefits everyone with high volume have come lower cost and quicker turnaround We get a turnaround from Carolin's shop in about 24 hours as opposed to about two weeks with the national lab We also save money We save about $3.75 for every sample that Carolin's people test and return to us But it's not only the new analyzer that makes the district's testing program state of the art Other procedures born of Bob Claggett's years of experience offer yet more sophisticated tools to officers We're the only district in the country that uses creatinine to determine if two marijuana results are new use or just a reflection of previous use by the defendant In many cases Virginia Eastern's own supervision officers can get immediate results It's been a wonderful supervision tool for both pretrial services and probation You have a person right there on the spot that has over 30 years' experience in testing urine and testing for drugs So you have the ability to go ask that person what he thinks of the specimen It's no good now You'll get a 2, 1.0, 0, 1 Okay, thanks Future plans for the lab include a more sophisticated, higher speed analyzer and immediate desktop access to test results for officers and treatment counselors But technical wizardry aside there's another reason the regional drug lab represents the wave of the future The conversations we had at the National Chiefs Conference this past summer had to do with how do we in a decentralized environment become a national system learn to cooperate to depend on each other to communicate across districts and even between units within a district And this is a perfect example of how you go about doing that A person comes up with a good idea follows through on it and other people cooperate It just happened to be our office who identified the need and got the group together It could be certainly any court unit that had a compelling need and a good geographic area Anyone can certainly do it For perspectives, I'm Kate Lynett Chief Ortwein says a big key to their success is having a dedicated lab technician like Bob Claggett Just having an experienced person in that position, she says brings subject matter expertise and a sense of scientific credibility to their drug testing operations including on the witness stand David Adair joins us now with his update on the legal perspective Welcome back, David Hi Robin, I'm glad to be here I understand you have something a bit unusual and far afield for us this time Yes, I have Although it's been a quiet couple of months here with few developments of note in the legal area there have been a few frequently asked questions and believe it or not one of these has been about the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations Article 36 of that convention of which the United States is a member provides that consular officials of an arrested alien state of origin must be allowed to communicate with the arrestee Now this occurs principally when the arrestee is in confinement If the arrestee asks the competent authority of the arresting state is required to inform the consular post of the arrestee's country of origin of the arrest and detention A number of pretrial services officers have asked if they have any responsibility to advise an alien defendant of his or her rights under the convention Now the treaty does not impose specific obligations on officers and employees of the judiciary In fact the State Department has advised that judicial officials are not responsible for notification and that the responsibility is usually on the part of the law enforcement officer who makes the arrest or who assumes responsibility for an alien's detention The State Department has however encouraged judicial officers who preside over arraignments or other initial appearances to inquire whether the alien has been provided with consular notification And though there is no suggestion that pretrial services officers have any obligation to either provide or verify notification there is also nothing to prevent a judicial branch officer or employee from providing assistance So if your court wants you to provide this kind of assistance I suggest that you may want to seek help from the United States Attorney's Office on any of the details such as the timing of the notice Have there been any frequently asked questions that might be of interest to supervision officers? Well, there's an oldie but goodie one that's been asked over the years but was recently asked again And that is what is the responsibility of a probation officer to prevent an offender who's under the influence of drugs or alcohol from driving Now this question arises in the situation which during an office visit are you using drugs or alcohol? Now I do believe that an officer has some responsibility here but since the criminal law committee has disapproved of officers making arrests officers should not act to physically restrain such an offender Nonetheless, there are a lot of other things that an officer can do For example, an officer might attempt to coax the offender to voluntarily give up the keys of the car Or an offender may be instructed to remain in the office until they are stated The officer might call a family member to take the offender home or depending on the circumstances to a detox center even or a taxi cab could be called for the offender Now if the offender insists on leaving the office and the offender believes that the offender is likely to drive the offender should simply warn the offender that local law enforcement will be notified and then the offender should follow up on that Law enforcement can then take any action and the officers have had good results with this procedure In other words, Robin officers simply need to use professional judgment and common sense in dealing with this situation Yes, I'm sure they will and you've given us a lot of options to consider What about the Supreme Court's Apprendi decision? Have there been any new developments there? Well, you're speaking of course of Apprendi versus New Jersey in which the Supreme Court held that facts other than prior convictions must be pled by the government and found beyond a reasonable doubt The answer to your question is that there have been quite a few cases and a few but by no means all issues seem to be settled For example, most courts are holding that Apprendi does not require that facts relevant to sentencing guideline determinations as opposed to sentencing or as opposed to statutory sentence determinations be pled and proved beyond a reasonable doubt It also seems clear that in drug cases at least a number of Apprendi are not implicated so long as the sentence imposes within the maximum sentence that could have been imposed without reference to drug quantity In most cases under Section 841 that's 20 years unless of course there's a prior conviction and it seems likely that prosecutors will be pleading drug quantities from now on but there's still many, many unresolved issues particularly in connection with cases in which the indictment or information was filed was completely taken before the Apprendi decision until these questions are resolved I'm still suggesting that pre-sentence writers need only flag the issue for the court in these cases for now it should be up to the parties to present the issues of the court to decide We'll continue to follow the decision and try to get you guidance when it's clear how officers should react to this difficult decision Good information as usual David Thanks again Thank you The next piece of interest on a regular FYI segment will begin with events at the US Sentencing Commission In October the commission's third symposium on federal sentencing policy focused on current sentencing for economic crimes and on ways new technologies have impacted the landscape of criminal activity The event was an opportunity for the commission to gather input on those issues Attendees heard from representatives from the federal community and from academia and industry You can watch all or part of the symposium from your desktop via webcast Just follow the links on the sentencing commission's website at www.ussc.gov In other commission news November 1st was the effective date for 13 new amendments to the sentencing guidelines These amendments focus on congressional interest issues, circuit conflicts and technical issues Two previous emergency amendments relating to the no electronic theft act and telemarketing fraud prevention act were made permanent by the commission Congressional interest issues also resulted in changes to methamphetamine, firearms child pornography and sexual abuse, identity theft and phone cloning guidelines The commission also resolved five circuit conflicts during this amendment cycle Three relating to departure issues They amended departure provisions concerning post sentencing rehabilitation aberrant behavior and dismissed or uncharged conduct They also resolved circuit conflicts regarding the application of the guideline for drug trafficking in protected locations and a specific offense characteristic under the guideline dealing with bankruptcy fraud And the commission made a couple of technical corrections amending the guideline on unlawful chemicals to fix a typographical error and including a new sex offender provision as a specific mandatory condition of probation and supervised release rather than as a footnote For more information on the 2000 amendments call the commission's help line at 202-502-4545 or check out their website In a program co-produced with the sentencing commission the FJC presents the latest in its special needs offenders series The broadcast highlights the sex offender treatment program at the Federal Correctional Institution at Buttoner, North Carolina and features excerpts from a June 2000 seminar that engaged nearly 100 probation and pretrial services officers in a question and answer session The program debuts December 14th at 2 p.m. Eastern Officers wishing a deeper understanding of the Apprendi decision should tune in for a new program dealing with issues and questions surrounding that subject Charging and sentencing after Apprendi airs for the first time December 13th And if you find yourself challenged by change in your workplace a new PBS program called Managing Personal Change may help you turn change to your advantage The program airs December 14th and may be used for two hours of group credit in the supervisor's development program Coming up we'll get an advanced look at the next edition of Perspectives But first please stay tuned for this important announcement and please feel free to sing along Please fill in We need to know the score Please fill me in Please fill me in Your feedback is important And if you don't complete this form we'll sing this song again Your feedback is important Please fill in the evaluation form available in your program materials or online on the DCN Yes we'll remind you once again to fill out that friendly little evaluation form and send it to us here at the FJC A copy is available from your site coordinator or you can fill it out online just head for the DCN address on the screen On the next edition of Perspectives we'll discover how officers are getting involved in their communities often with inspiring results As usual we'll have plenty of news views and great ideas from the field and from the nation's capital That's it for our show today Thank you for joining us We'll see you again next time For all of us here at Perspectives I'm Robin Rowland Goodbye