Gordon Swensen, M.S., LVRC, CRC, CPM, GCDF
Director of Statewide Strategic Alliances and Initiatives
Utah State Office of Rehabilitation
Division of Rehabilitation Services
gswensen@utah.gov
CANAR Annual Conference
Salt Lake City, Utah
November 12, 2015
So How Motivated Are You?
You’ve seen the motivational posters on
everything from Courage, Faith, Persistence,
Patience, Leadership, Integrity, Love,
Endurance, Loyalty, Service, Friendship,
Courtesy, Kindness…and all the rest!
Let’s Take a Look!
It’s the Last Day of the Conference and
Getting to the Airport, and Hopefully
Not Being Delayed, and Finally Arriving
Home Exhausted…so maybe a few “NonMotivational” messages may be exactly
what you need right now!
DELINQUENCY, DISABILITY, and THE VR Process
“We sometimes are called upon to work with people for
whom all others have abandoned hope. Perhaps we have
even come to the conclusion that there’s no possibility of
change or growth. It’s at that time that, if we can find
the tiniest scrap of hope, we may turn the corner,
achieve a measurable gain, save someone worth saving…”
(Hanoch McCarty)
Native American Youth Gangs
 Learning Objectives:
 Indian Country Research on Youth Gangs
 Tools and Resources (Tricks of the Trade) for Service
Providers
 Offender Re-Entry Issues Following Incarceration
 Collaboration and Partnerships that Work
 A Change in Perspective
Delinquency, Disability, and The VR Process
“Billions of dollars have been channeled into rehabilitation programs with few
positive results. Yet the concepts of ‘rehabilitation’ as applied to the criminal
personality is a misconception and a misnomer. To ‘rehabilitate’ means to restore
to an earlier constructive state or condition. Offender rehabilitative measures
have included providing educational opportunities, job skills, social skills,
counseling and therapy. This resulted in criminals who have education, job skills,
social skills, and occasional personal insights. They remained, however,
criminals.
“The rehabilitative measures were well-conceived and somewhat useful, but they
did not touch the core of the criminal-the way he thinks…What is necessary is to
know who the criminal is and how he thinks. Then it becomes possible to
approach him more realistically in terms of making decisions and developing an
approach to help him become a responsible human being.”
(Stanton E. Samenow, Ph.D., in “The Criminal Personality”)
A Closer Look at the Research from Indian Country
Native American Gangs
 The following information is from research conducted
by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice, taken
from “Youth Gangs in Indian Country”, a Juvenile
Justice Bulletin, March 2004, and the 2000 Survey of
Youth Gangs in Indian Country
Native American Gangs
To address appropriate social issues and cultural sensitivity,
advisors from the following were consulted for the study:
National Youth Gang Research Staff
Researchers from Center for Delinquency and Crime Policy Studies
Representative from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
The Department of Justice
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Health and Human Services Indian Health Services
National Indian Court Judges Association
National Congress of American Indians
Tribal Leader as Initial Contact Instead of Law Enforcement
Native American Gangs
Law Enforcement Services:
 Vary from community to community
 Limited Resources (e.g. officer to resident ratio)
 Lack of sufficient crime data for these communities
Native American Gangs
Youth Gang Activity:
 Twenty-three percent of respondents (69 tribes)
reporting having actives gangs in their communities
during 2000. Seventy percent reported there was no
gang activity and seven percent could not make a
determination.
Of Importance: The 23% mentioned approved were
larger Indian country communities with greater gang
involvement.
Native American Gangs
By contrast, law enforcement agencies responding to the
same survey reported 40 percent of tribal jurisdictions
with active gang involvement.
The majority of respondents reported 1-5 different youth
gangs in their communities.
Half of the respondents said gang problems began after
1994, suggesting a relatively recent onset of gang activity.
Native American Gangs
 Navajo Nation Field Study (2002) found that the
importation and spread of youth gangs are the result
of several factors:
 Frequency with which families move off and on the
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reservation
Poverty
Substance Abuse
Family Dysfunction
Cluster Housing verses Traditional Single-Family
Housing
Waning Connection to Native American Culture and
Traditional Kinship Ties Among Cousins
Native American Gangs
“These changes in structural forces weaken families,
schools, and other institutions traditionally associated
with social control, thus allowing youth to be socialized
on the street by gangs.”
(from Armstrong, T.L., Bluehouse, P., Dennison, A., Mason, H., Mendenhall, B.,
Wall, D, and Zion, J. Finding and knowing the gang nayee-Field initiated
gang research project: The judicial branch of the Navajo Nation, 2002)
Native American Gangs
Additional Statistics:
Gangs in Schools:
 Eighty-six percent of Indian country communities with
gang problems reported gang activity in the schools.
 This resulted in higher levels of violent victimization,
availability of drugs and students who carry guns.
Native American Gangs
Criminal Involvement:
 56 percent of respondents reported that youth gangs
committed crimes both within and outside the
community. 36 percent reported only crimes within
Indian country.
 47 percent of communities with a gang problem
reported a significant graffiti issue; 40 percent
reported vandalism; 22 percent reported drug sales;
and 15 percent report aggravated assault.
Native American Gangs
Program and Policy Implications:
“Survey findings suggest that the most critical concerns
in Indian country communities are the social problems
that contribute to youth gang involvement, not the
gangs themselves. Respondents identified a variety of
factors that promote delinquent behavior and gang
activity, including parental apathy, erosion of family
structure, low self-esteem, social problems in the
community, and lack of positive activities for youth.”
Native American Gangs
 “…programs incorporating a range of strategies to
prevent, control, and reduce youth crime in Indian
country could effectively combat gangs…”
 Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Strategies
with Programs that have Proven Success
IMPROVING THE VISION OF OFFENDERS
 “Looking for their glasses”
 Nearsightedness (look in the mirror/not pleased with the view)
 Through Rose Colored Glasses
 Creating Shatter-Resistant Lenses
 Daily Wear Contacts
 Focusing
 Field of Vision
 Finding Contact Lenses
 “Four Eyes”/Role of Mentors
 Blindness/Finding the Way
 Color Blindness
 Is there a prescription for all offenders?
© J. Gordon Swensen
The Five I’s of Involvement (Working Towards a Solution)
I. IDENTIFICATION- Finding the offender affected by the social
diseases of delinquency, violence, substance abuse, and/or poor life
choices
II. ISOLATION- Separating the offender from the harmful influence
III. INOCULATION- Vaccinating with “surround services” to eradicate
the spread of illness
IV. INCUBATION- A period of protected preparation for entry into a
healthier existence
V. INTEGRATION- Moving the offender into a more productive,
healthier, lifestyle, including employment
©J.
Gordon Swensen
“Surveys conducted by the NIC’s (National Institute of
Corrections) Transition and Offender Workforce
Development Division among offender workforce
development specialist trainees indicated that
approximately 65% of offender workforce practitioners
have received no formal training in offender workforce
development.”
(35th IRI Monograph, Moore, Carter, Simpson, & Wade)
Professional “Tricks of the Trade”- the Things
That Work
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Adjust the dials on your ‘Paradigm Viewmaster’
Treat offenders with respect-Have no ‘fear of fair’
Develop rapport carefully and caringly
Respect is deserved, trust is earned
Watch for ‘games criminals play’/don’t be manipulated
Become culturally informed (those ‘native nuances’)
See the offender through Superman’s lenses (beyond the mask)
Channel productive, yet illegal skills into marketable ones
Identify the possible disabilities behind, or affected by, the conduct
Provide a way out of crime/break the cycle
Search for answers in the scattered pieces of a family’s puzzle
“Tricks of the Trade” (continued)
 Avoid the ‘Big Picture’-focus on the rainbow’s path instead of the
pot at the end of it
 Talk ‘straight up’ with offenders/test their realities
 Don’t try to save the Titanic alone…trust the advice of those with
sturdy lifeboats
 Change the expectation, and you change the destination
 Be specific in vocational planning (short-term objectives, key
players, evaluation and time-lines)
 Advocate for offender employment with employers, the
community, and lawmakers (more harvests/fewer obituary
columns)
 Educate employers about disability and delinquency
 Gate-keepers and Key-Masters
Let’s Talk Offender Re-Entry in
Indian Country
Are there strategies that work?
How to collaborate with state and
federal partners?
An Example of a Partnership That Works
This information comes from the document
“Strategies for Creating Offender Reentry
Programs in Indian Country”, American
Indian Development Associates, prepared
for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of
Justice Programs, Washington, D.C., August,
2010
Tribal Challenges with Offender ReEntry
 “Indians and non-Indians may have different
perceptions of wrong-doing and the most effective
means to address crime. In the non-Indian
community, a person who commits a crime is deemed
a law breaker who must be punished. Many Indian
communities, however, traditionally view offenses as
misbehavior that calls for corrective action or
mentoring or an illness that requires healing.”
Tribal Challenges (Continued)
 “The clash between worldviews and practices becomes
evident in correctional facility construction, operations,
programming, and reentry planning for offenders, which
lack cultural relevancy.
 “…jails in Indian Country frequently operate under
substandard conditions.”
 “A U.S. Office of Inspector General study found that Indian
jails are understaffed, overcrowded, and underfunded.”
 “The poor conditions, lack of programming, and
transitional services of BIA and tribal jails require vast
improvement to support offender success in addressing the
root causes of their incarceration.”
State Challenges
 “Tribal-state relations vary among tribes from
progressive to non-existent.”
 “For most tribes, state law enforcement is limited for
tribal apprehension or prosecution.”
 “The lack of formal relations between tribal and state
criminal justice authorities compromises justice for
victims and tribal communities.”
State Challenges (continued)
 Lack of tribal-state relationships prevents
 Involvement of tribal criminal and juvenile justice
representatives , who could assist in all aspects of
transitional planning.
 Proper notification by state authorities to tribal authorities
that the state is housing or will release an Indian offender.
 Service agencies from coordinating and collaborating to
develop an offender rehabilitation or care plan and assist
with reintegration.
 Tribal justice and other service agencies from remaining in
contact with tribal members serving sentences in offreservation prisons or facilities.
Federal Challenges
 “Federal prisons or contracted correctional facilities often
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lack…
Formal relationships with tribal criminal justice
authorities.
Tribal involvement in planning the return of Indian
offenders.
Notification policies or procedures to inform tribal
authorities that they have custody of a tribal citizen or that
an ex-offender is returning.
Culturally relevant care or services.
Culturally competent staff to assist ex-offenders in
obtaining supportive services.
“Reentry is a process and not an event. It
necessitates that tribes resolve reentry
issues with culture-based methods and
approaches to integrate offenders back into
their tribal communities.”
“Reentry is not limited to the physical
process of how offenders will return to their
families and communities, but also includes
how various stakeholders and partners will
assist with transitional services and
discharge planning; arrange for structured
services to support ex-offenders and their
families; and ensure victim and community
protection and safety.”
Strategies to Develop Tribal Reentry
Programs
 “Identify stakeholders and providing the rationale as to
why they should participate in reentry.
 Defining the roles of participating stakeholders.
 Articulating the stakeholder benefits for participation in
reentry.
 Understanding the challenges for stakeholder
participation.
 Identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by
stakeholders to participate in reentry programs.
 Identifying the resources needed for a reentry program or
initiative.
Playing Nice in the Sandbox
 The state agency and AIVRS agency partnerships are varied and reflect
the culture of each state agency and the culture of the various
American Indian Rehabilitation Vocational Rehabilitation Service
(AIVRS) agencies within those states.
 Quality collaboration is just like VR, it is a process.
 The collaborative process is not quick and easy, it must start with a will
to persist regardless of how rocky the start and/or what the history may
be like.
 Each partner must work to develop an understanding as to the needs
and requirements of the other.
 The partners must take time to develop a relationship of respect.
 Partners need to communicate clearly and honestly.
 Set attainable goals or objectives to begin with and be willing to be
patient…
(from 10/4/11 National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials webinar)
Advantages to Collaboration
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Leverage resources
Create opportunities for efficiency
Standardization
Increased communication and cooperation between
agencies (joint benefits)
 Cooperative problem-solving
 Impact recidivism and decrease costs
Diplomacy, Partnering, and Collaboration
Big Words that can equal Big Outcomes
Negotiation, Teamwork, and Sharing When
Orchestrated Carefully Can Impact the Bottom Line of
Services to Offenders
It is All About Team, Not About Turf
Creating Pathways of Promise: Sustaining the Project for
the Future
Returning to the Reservation
NO WORK IS INSIGNIFICANT!
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and
importance and should be undertaken with
painstaking excellence.
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he
should sweep even as Michelangelo painted, or
Beethoven composed, or Shakespeare wrote.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King
Making It Work
Some Key Strategies for Partnering Between Programs
 Overcoming Barriers/Finding Common Ground
 Communication and Problem-Solving
 Dealing with Change
 The Political Climate
 Paradigm Shifts
 The Establishment of Trust
 Identifying a Liaison
 Understanding the “Common Goal”
Making It Work
Are There Additional Strategies to Consider?
 Everyone Wins…Especially the Client
 Critical to Maintain Focus on the Client
 Evidence of Collaboration Between 121 Projects and State
Agencies Critical to Refunding Those Programs
 Make No Assumptions
 Collection of Data
 Data Information Sharing
 Being Able to go to the Tribes
 Relationship Building and Rapport
 Frequent Opportunities to Exchange Information
Making It Work
Strategies (continued):
 Getting Past the “Native Nuances” (cultural
differences)
 Being Visionary and Forward-Minded
 Avoiding Turf Issues
 Looking for Additional Partners
 The Value of a Memorandum of Understanding
 Administrative Buy-In Efforts and Constant Work on
the Partnership
Making It Work
Strategies (continued):
 The Art of Diplomacy and Negotiation
 Being Able to Go to the Tribes/Outreach
 Relationship Building and Rapport
 Cultural Competency Development (where needed)
 Learning to “Walk Your Talk”
“eye of god” (Helix nebula)
The Value of Perspective:
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Seeing the World Through a Different Lens
Making Sense of the Needs of Those Around You
Improving One’s Vision
Allowing for Differences
Finding Commonalities
Landscape Changes
Focus on What Matters Most
Improving the Hood (aka “The Rez”) One
Gang Member At A Time
 The Value of a Partnership
 Politics and Diplomacy
 Turf and Agendas
 Finding the Right Folks
 Not Business As Usual
 Trust and Accountability
Improving the “Rez” One Gang Member At
A Time
 Looking for “Buy-In”
 Principles and Practice
 Relationship-Building
 Seizing the Opportunities
 Streamlining Pathways
 Actions…Not Words…
Always Remember: Working
Together Can Be A Good Thing
When Working With Gang
Issues…Always Work In
Large Groups…
And If That Doesn’t
Work…
Questions?