20240626-113222-97

"Priority Area 1: Data Analysis Analyze data from the Department of Corrections (DOC), KSP, AOC and other state agencies (where appropriate and available) to quantify the number of people involved in Kentucky’s criminal justice system for DV- and IPV-related offenses, with the goal of identifying the full scale and impact of these offenses on the state’s criminal justice system and the potential for reducing prison and jail populations and improving interventions. CSG Justice Center staff will also quantify the prevalence of domestic violence by identifying the number of people on community supervision with current or historical IPV-related offenses or protective orders.  Background: Kentucky has historically struggled to consistently collect and comprehensively analyze relevant data to effectively evaluate and address the state’s DV challenges. This is especially troubling given that lifetime prevalence rates of DV in Kentucky are far higher than the national average. About 45 percent of all women and 36 percent of all men in Kentucky experience DV during their lifetime compared to the national averages of 37 percent and 31 percent, respectively. Additionally, the Department of Corrections (DOC) is unable to adequately quantify how many people are incarcerated or on community supervision with a domestic violence-related history, which creates a missed opportunity for the state to comprehensively address the DV related population with programs and intervention. Because the DOC is contracted to handle misdemeanor probation in Jefferson County, the largest county in the state, additional information will be available for the analysis.  Update: CSG Justice Center staff continued cleaning and analyzing the data provided by KSP in February to compensate for the missing demographic data. Additionally, staff determined the number of people for whom multiple JC-3 incidents exist in the dataset, to identify those individuals who have repeated contact with law enforcement. Significant progress has been made with the DOC incarceration and supervision data files. The criminal defendant data provided by the AOC was matched to the DOC incarceration and supervision files to determine the overlap between people involved in the criminal justice system and people who have a documented history of domestic violence. An additional supervision data file was received in February that contains the start and end dates for individuals on supervision caseloads, allowing for more precise analysis of probation and parole events Priority Area 2: Assess Community Supervision  Conduct a qualitative assessment of community supervision systems in Kentucky, with a focus on DV caseloads. CSG Justice Center staff will assess the effectiveness of current policies and practices in reducing revocations and promoting successful and safe community reintegration. CSG Justice Center staff will conduct interviews and focus groups with DOC leadership, probation district supervisors, probation and parole officers, and clients on supervision with a DV-related charge (if available) to understand and assess the implementation practices for evidence-based supervision.  Background: Kentucky had the 14th-highest rate of people on probation or parole supervision in the country in 2019, with nearly 64,000 people under state or local supervision. Before the start of the pandemic, over 45 percent of the prison population was incarcerated due to supervision violations, which was the seventh highest percentage in the country at that time. Resources for people who are incarcerated or supervised in different parts of the system vary and may not support ensuring people receive the treatment and programming they need to reduce recidivism. Additionally, while the commonwealth is currently unable to identify the exact number of people on community supervision with underlying DV or IPV offenses, stakeholders in Kentucky report that people cycle through probationâ€"especially misdemeanor probationâ€"for DV offenses, which could be another driver of their prison and jail population growth. The DOC is contracted with Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, to manage those on probation with misdemeanor offenses, which could provide an estimate of the total misdemeanor population with an underlying DV or IPV offense and how that population fares on supervision. Update: CSG Justice Center staff continued to develop slides for future presentations that will explain the findings from completed probation and parole assessments. Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff gathered locations and contact information for county probation and parole offices and began strategizing for the timeline of conducting assessments, in preparation for upcoming outreach. Priority Area 3: Assess Responses and Interventions to Those Who Commit Domestic Violence Conduct a qualitative assessment of the efficacy, accessibility, and availability of services, treatment, and programming aimed at those who commit domestic violence, with an emphasis on Batterer Intervention Programs (BIP), to better understand if the interventions for the incarcerated and supervised populations reduce supervision failure and repeated criminal behavior. CSG Justice Center staff will evaluate the use of evidence-based programming, funding for such programming, the use of risk and need assessments, and reentry processes. This assessment work will inform evidence-based solutions for the commonwealth’s DV population.   Background: Kentucky stakeholders report that it is common for people convicted of IPV-related offenses to be sentenced to misdemeanor probation multiple times where they receive little support or services beyond the requirement to participate in a Batterers Intervention Program (BIP). However, stakeholders suspect that BIP may not be effective and have expressed interest in assessing these programs and developing recommendations for improvements. DOC leaders have explained that when a person is incarcerated, the DOC does not receive background information on that person’s either victim or perpetrator history with DV or IPV (beyond criminal convictions), which inhibits their ability to adequately manage and serve that person. Further, while DOC provides cognitive behavioral therapy and anger management, BIP is not available, which may indicate key areas of missing programming for people with criminal histories that include DV and IPV. Resources for people who are incarcerated or supervised in different parts of the system vary and may not support ensuring people receive the treatment and programming they need to reduce recidivism.  Update: During February, CSG Justice Center staff conducted two virtual focus groups with BIP providers, meeting with 19 providers from various areas of the state to learn more about how BIP is administered in Kentucky and what challenges providers are experiencing. There were several key takeaways: Curriculum â€" Providers used several different curricula, which are generally suggested by the state’s domestic violence agency. However, providers recognized a need for uniformity and are open to having the same curriculum. Behavioral Health Needs â€" Several providers recognized a link between domestic violence and mental health, or substance use disorders. Those that did were able to provide additional services or refer those clients to treatment. Need for Background Information â€" Providers varied with respect to how little information they receive from the courts or state agencies when clients are referred to them. While some were able to get that information, they generally stressed how the additional context leads to better outcomes. Concerns with Data Collection â€" While providers were open to providing data and information through annual reporting, some were concerned about whether data collected could have an adverse effect on their clients. Additionally, they we frustrated with the technology used to collect the data. Following the focus groups, CSG Justice Center staff provided these broad themes to the state domestic violence agency, ZeroV. ZeroV generally felt these were issues that providers have brought up before, and that ZeroV is in the process of addressing some of these issues. Additionally, they welcomed providers’ openness for more uniformity because the agency is already working on establishing a uniform curriculum. CSG Justice Center staff began compiling the key themes and summarizing them on slides for an upcoming presentation. Priority Area 4: General Stakeholder Engagement Connect with criminal justice stakeholders (law enforcement, judges, defense attorneys, prosecuting attorneys, corrections staff, lawmakers, victim and their advocates, and community-based organizations) across the commonwealth to fully understand the DV challenges and how it impacts the criminal justice system at different points and in different regions of the state. CSG Justice Center staff plan to engage with a diverse array of stakeholders at every step of the project to ensure proper context to CSG Justice Center’s data analysis, qualitative assessments, and policy recommendations. Background: Despite various local and regional efforts to address DV, it continues to be an issue that permeates the commonwealth. Louisville has a Criminal Justice Commission Domestic Violence Coordinating Council that meets to discuss domestic violence and has published reports on addressing domestic violence. Lexington created a Special Victims Unit to support survivors of domestic violence. The Attorney General’s Office created the Domestic Violence Resource Prosecutor position under the Prosecutor’s Advisory Council. CSG Justice Center staff can connect these efforts from across the commonwealth, help break down silos, and guide possible policy discussions.  Update: In February, CSG Justice Center staff visited the state to meet with several key stakeholders and solidify the project launch. Staff met with the Acting Director for the Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center who has been helping coordinate the launch. He provided CSG Justice Center staff with a copy of the executive order as well as suggestions for the launch presentation. He stressed that this was the first time Kentucky was embarking on something like JRI and wants to help working group members understand their role in the process. Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff met with legislative champions, and a state senator was particularly interested in how data can be tracked and analyzed to better understand the state’s criminal justice system and shared that he has sponsored bills in previous sessions related to data collection. During the site visit, staff also met with representatives from several state agencies. In meeting with the Office of Claims and Appeals, CSG Justice Center staff learned more about how victim compensation works in Kentucky. The office provided an overview of how the process works as well as statistics of how many claims there were and how many claims had instances of domestic violence. Additionally, the office discussed the challenges it faces in supporting victims of domestic violence, including staffing and the immediacy of victims’ needs. In meeting with the Department of Family and Juvenile Services (part of the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts), CSG Justice Center staff learned more about the challenges courts face regarding domestic violence including the need for judicial education on domestic violence in general and best practices regarding treatment for perpetrators. Priority Area 5: Assessing the need for broader criminal justice reforms Build momentum for fostering support for another JRI project focused on the broader criminal justice challenges. CSG Justice Center staff believe that the initial DV- and IPV-focused analyses will lay the foundation for the commonwealth’s understanding of larger criminal justice challenges and trends and motivate state leaders to request additional and broader analyses through another round of JRI.  Background: Kentucky jail and prison populations are increasing. From 2000 to 2018, the state’s prison population increased 13 percent, with a prison incarceration rate of 428.9 per 100,000 adult residents in 2018.iv During the same period, the jail population increased by 70 percent, and the jail incarceration rate reached 792.7 per 100,000 adult residents in 2018.v Following the pandemic, the commonwealth saw a 24 percent decrease in the number of individuals incarcerated by DOC in prisons, jails, and other state-funded facilities. Starting in 2022, the number of incarcerated people began to rise again.vi From 2021 to 2022, the DOC population incarcerated in jails increased 12 percent. In addition to housing people who are sentenced to incarceration for misdemeanor offenses, local jails in Kentucky house nearly half of people sentenced to incarceration for felony offenses. Without relying on local jails, Kentucky would be unable to house the total prison population in existing state facilities.   Update: While on site, CSG Justice Center staff met with state legislators to discuss the possibility of expanding the current JRI project beyond domestic violence and strategized around how to approach that possibility with other policymakers."