Priority Area 1: Work with state agencies to receive and analyze data to identify drivers of Arkansas's high recidivism rates and understand how recidivism contributes to overall crime and incarceration rates.
Update: In August, research staff focused on analysis of the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC) arrest data and on analysis of the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) crime data in preparation for the first data presentation. The ACIC arrest file was merged with an extract of the Department of Corrections (DOC) supervision data to identify the number of people who were on active felony supervision in 2022 and experienced a rearrest. Additionally, staff continued analyzing the Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) data in preparation for the October presentation. Planning for analysis of the DOC data also took place.
Priority Area 2: Work with practitioners and justice-impacted individuals around the state to engage in qualitative assessments of the effectiveness of supervision practices, identify barriers to successful reentry, and determine potential gaps in needed services for individuals reentering society.
Update: In August, CSG Justice Center staff traveled to Little Rock and met with law enforcement officials to continue learning about the challenges of developing successful reentry programming in correctional facilities. Additionally, after DOC leadership approved CSG Justice Center staff's plan to visit northeast Arkansas, staff began internally developing our schedule to visit sites in Jonesboro, Paragould, and Osceola. Staff plan to continue our community supervision assessment with visits to several supervision offices and a community correction center. Furthermore, CSG Justice Center staff plan to continue our reentry assessment by visiting a work release facility and reentry treatment facility.
Priority Area 3: Cultivate strong relationships with policymakers and stakeholders in the state to ensure that Arkansas's JRI project has the greatest possible impact on the criminal justice challenges facing the state.
Update: The Legislative Recidivism Reduction Task Force met in August to hear a presentation from the IT Project Manager for the DOC and the state's Chief Data Officer. Several of the topics covered included the development of a data sharing hub across state agencies and the use of data to improve outcomes for justice-involved populations in Arkansas. The presenters indicated that the data hub would enable agencies to access and share data about the same individuals across systems, thus improving efficiency. Task force members raised concerns about people being issued warrants for failing to appear at a hearing due to being in custody; the presenters clarified that a centralized data hub would improve communication between courts and correctional facilities to mitigate this issue.
In August, CSG Justice Center staff met individually with the state's JRI champion and the chair of the Task Force - both state senators - to discuss project updates and upcoming site visits. Staff also met with a representative of the counties association to learn how county jails are affected by recidivism and the backlog of state prisoners. During this conversation, staff continued to hear concerns about counties' inability to administer misdemeanor justice due to the jail backlog. Lastly, CSG Justice Center staff met with a court administrative office director to hear about their progress in developing one case management system for courts across the state.
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