State of Maryland

A Social Worker I, Criminal Justice is the intermediate level of professional social work providing clinical and therapeutic or forensic social work services in either a criminal justice or indigent defense environment.  Employees in this classification that work in a criminal justice environment provide clinical and therapeutic services to clients who have demonstrated a need for rehabilitative intervention because of behavioral factors or personality disorders and co-existing mental health, health, substance abuse or other social adjustment factors.  Employees in this classification that work in an indigent defense environment provides forensic social work services, including mitigation, to clients charged with crimes or delinquent offenses and create defense strategies with Assistant Public Defenders for the legal disposition of criminal or delinquent cases.  Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive moderate supervision from a Social Work Supervisor, Criminal Justice or other designated administrator, or a District Public Defender, Division Chief or designee when assigned with the Office of the Public Defender.  Employees generally work in juvenile facilities, other criminal justice or juvenile services environments, or public defender offices.  Employees are frequently exposed to hazardous situations and must exercise vigilance and sound judgment when working with clients.  Employees in this class may be required to work evenings and weekends.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Social Worker I, Criminal Justice is differentiated from the Casework Specialist, Criminal Justice in that Social Worker I is licensed as a Social Worker and performs the duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending upon the complexity of the specific duty being performed while the Casework Specialist, Criminal Justice is not yet licensed as a Social Worker in the State of Maryland and performs the duties under close supervision.  The Social Worker I, Criminal Justice is differentiated from the Social Worker II in that Social Worker II, Criminal Justice performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.

Applies social work values, principles and techniques to assist clients to confront their personality disorders including anti-social behaviors and any co-existing health, mental health, substance abuse or other social adjustment factors;

Provides individual therapeutic social work counseling, crisis intervention and on-going treatment to clients with chronic health or mental health conditions and other presenting social adjustment factors, such as substance abuse, physical or developmental disability or communicable disease;

Provides psycho-social assessments and remediation plans and makes treatment recommendations;

Completes required institutional or court reports and recommendations;

May conduct therapeutic group sessions with a cognitive behavioral theory base to remediate clients’ personality disorders, including anti-social behaviors;

May participate in multidisciplinary treatment teams;

May participate on special work groups to develop proposals for treatment interventions and new treatment protocols or recommendations for agency social work policies and procedures;

May conduct support groups to address social and emotional issues of special concern to clients, such as grief, pregnancy, parenting skills and domestic violence;

May provide case management services and act as liaison to community organizations to develop and coordinate after-care plans for special needs clients scheduled for transitional services for clients in various stages of the adjudication process;

May act as a mentor to social work interns by providing guidance in specialized areas of group and individual counseling and may provide guidance in case management;

May assist assistant public defenders with developing a defense strategy for clients charged with criminal or delinquent offenses;

May provide forensic social work services including mitigation to clients charged with criminal or delinquent offenses;

May provide expert testimony in court proceedings;

Performs other related duties.

1. Employees are required to meet mandatory standards for continuing education as determined by the hiring department. Employees who fail to obtain the required continuing education credits shall be subject to disciplinary action including demotion, suspension and dismissal.

2. Employees of the Department of Juvenile Services must complete an approved training program in group counseling techniques.

3. Employees of the Department of Juvenile Services may be required to complete the Level I Counseling course certified by the Maryland AIDS Professional Education Center.

4. Employees of the Department of Juvenile Services are required to qualify for and successfully complete the Entry Level Training Academy operated by the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions.

Class Descriptions are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies.  Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position. 

Class Descriptions for Professional Service classes provide information about the Nature of Work, Examples of Work, General Requirements and Acknowledgements.  The Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities; Minimum Education and Experience Requirements; Special Requirements; and recruitment and testing procedures are set by the using agency.

This is a Professional Service classification in the State Personnel Management System. All positions in this classification are Professional Service positions. Some positions in Professional Sservice classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is not assigned to a bargaining unit, as indicated by the designation of S (Supervisor), M (Manager), T (Agency Head), U (Board or Commission Member), W (Student), X (Used by Agency or Excluded by Executive Order), or Z (Confidential).  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.