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:?CSG Justice Center staff delivered the data use agreements (DUA) and data requests to the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC), and the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC) in the middle of September. Our contacts at AOC were amenable to the DUAs and the data requests; however, they informed CSG Justice Center staff that an administrative order placed additional requirements and fees on requests that included personal identifiable information. During our October site visit, CSG Justice Center staff spoke with the court administrator who informed us that the fees were required and that there was no ability to waive them. The representative for ADC requested some additional language be added to the agreements to ensure they had some oversight in presentations and recommendations that the CSG Justice Center plans to draft with the data. CSG Justice Center staff determined that the request was in line with current practices and agreed to the additional language. The ADC DUAs are currently with its legal department, and the data request is being processed. Data should be available shortly after the DUAs are signed. Despite having sent the agreements and requests to ACIC in mid-September, CSG Justice Center staff have not received any update on their status from either our original request or subsequent follow-ups. In the past, ACIC has expressed concerns over the volume of data needed and their capacity as an agency to handle a large request.
During our conversations with the chair of the task force, he expressed his willingness to intervene on our behalf if we feel that state agencies are having difficulty processing data requests in a timely manner.
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:?This month, CSG Justice Center staff met with the Arkansas Department of Corrections secretary to discuss his vision for the Arkansas DOC. The secretary outlined some of his goals, including reevaluating and standardizing programming within facilities. The secretary also indicated that CSG Justice Center staff should speak with the quality improvement and program evaluation administrator for the department. Several other stakeholders suggested that administrator was a key individual to work with within the state due to her current efforts in assessing program effectiveness across the department.
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:?In October, CSG Justice Center staff met and worked with stakeholders in the state to build relationships within the state. Staff met with a representative from the governor?s office to discuss strategies for engaging stakeholders and fostering strong relationships, particularly with the secretary of corrections. Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff attended the October meeting of the task force. While on site, CSG Justice Center staff met with several stakeholders and policymakers to provide updates on the progress of the project and data requests, discuss stakeholder engagement, and learn more about current efforts going on in the state to address recidivism. Following the site visit, CSG Justice Center staff met with Representative Steve Unger after he reached out to find out more about the project.
Additionally, CSG Justice Center staff met with members of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute?s Incarceration: Recidivism, Reentry and Reunification (iR3) program to discuss some of their efforts in the past as well as their recommendations following their recent workshop concluding their program in the state.
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