Priority Area 1: Engage and educate Kansas stakeholders on Justice Reinvestment policies and legislation to promote oversight and sustainability.
Update: In January, CSG Justice Center staff met with a range of stakeholders, including the Governor’s Office, Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and legislators, to provide education on the KCJRC recommendations, research underpinning the policies, and plans for implementation. Additionally, members of the KCJRC presented an overview of 2021 policy recommendations to the Topeka Bar Association.
Priority Area 2: Assist Kansas with monitoring progress, collecting data, and tracking outcomes associated with JRI policies.
Update: In January, CSG Justice Center staff met with the Kansas Sentencing Commission (KSSC) to discuss how the subaward could be used to improve data collection and monitoring in Kansas. The KSSC would like to create electronic forms for the use of pre-sentence reports, journal entries, and revocation forms, which will allow information inputted into the electronic forms to be analyzed. Currently, forms are scanned into a database requiring manual extraction of data needed for analysis. The Office of Judicial Administration continues to implement their new data system, Odyssey. The new data system is being implemented gradually with only a few districts “going live” at a time and is anticipated to take a year before full implementation is complete.
Priority Area 3: Improve the community supervision system by creating efficiencies, consistency, coordination, and collaboration between OJA, KDOC, and Community Corrections entities.
Update: In January, CSG Justice Center staff met with stakeholders in Kansas to answer questions and provide information about the community supervision related recommendations made by the KCJRC.
Priority Area 4: Implement standardized general conditions of supervision and utilize a risk, need, responsivity (RNR) framework to select special conditions of supervision.
Update: In January, CSG Justice Center staff met with stakeholders in Kansas to answer questions and provide information about the community supervision related recommendations made by the KCJRC.
Priority Area 5: Engage with KDOC and KDADS to improve reentry and behavioral health services for people in the criminal justice system.
Update: In January, the KCJRC presentation to the Topeka Bar Association produced conversation and support for the policy recommendation of a state-level co-responder oversight board. CSG Justice Center staff also explored ways for Kansas to potentially use funding for sequential intercept mapping and training, which was a policy recommendation from the 2020 KCJRC.
New Insights:
• Tension remains in Kansas between Court Services, Community Corrections agencies, and KDOC due to pay discrepancies between the agencies. The governor’s budget provides some temporary relief, but pay discrepancies and high turnover remain within KDOC and Community Corrections agencies.
• Senator Kellie Warren (Chair, Judiciary Committee, District 11), a conservative, is running for Attorney General in Kansas, which may make it more difficult for her to engage thoughtfully on criminal justice issues, as she will not want to be viewed as “soft on crime.” This is one example but highlights a dynamic that is apparent across the state. Even with years of work by the KCJRC, some stakeholders and criminal justice practitioners appear hesitant to support and work on implementing meaningful policies. CSG Justice Center staff will continue briefing sessions and close coordination with agencies to generate momentum toward progress.
Press Clips:
• Hays Post: Community Corrections in Kansas in Crisis
• KWCH: Sedgwick County DA addresses justice reform before Kansas Senate committee
• WIBW: Exhausted and overworked Kansas corrections employees make case for pay increase
• Hays Post: Advocates: Ban on food aid to Kansans with felonies leads to recidivism
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