20240129-101323-88

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.??
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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.???
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Update: CSG Justice Center staff spent the bulk of November analyzing domestic violence incidents from the Kentucky State Police?s compilation of electronic JC-3 forms. Descriptive statistics and trend analysis of these incidents have been developed for both victims and individuals suspected of the assaults. Additionally, the research staff began cleaning the incarceration, supervision, and risk assessment data provided by the DOC. Descriptive statistics of incarceration trends have been developed. Additional work is needed to process the supervision data, which arrived without column headings or a codebook. The preliminary findings and analysis have been shared on an internal website within the team to facilitate communication and expedite reviews of the material.
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.??
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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.i 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.ii 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 probation?especially misdemeanor probation?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.?
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Update: CSG Justice Center staff conducted a site visit to Kentucky November 13th ? November 15th and held focus groups with probation and parole staff (district supervisors, assistant district supervisors, and probation and parole officers). CSG Justice Center staff learned about the challenges and barriers probation and parole officers face such as being overworked, lacking the appropriate tools and resources to effectively supervise, and the inconsistencies in court responses to domestic violence. CSG Justice Center staff believe that these challenges lay the foundation to explore supervision more widely and for broader operational, administrative and policy reforms to be implemented to address these issues.??
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.??
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Update: In November, CSG Justice Center staff reached out to several BIP providers in hopes of meeting with them during the November site visit. Ultimately, CSG Justice Center staff were able to connect with two providers while on the ground. In conversations with those providers, CSG Justice Center staff learned that there are several obstacles that keep people out of BIP treatment, such as the lack of providers in the state and the fact that insurance will typically not cover BIP treatment.? ?
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.?
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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.??
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Update: In November, CSG Justice Center staff met with Katherine Comstock, the new Director at the Administrative Offices of the Courts (AOC) to introduce the CSG Justice Center team and share background information about Kentucky?s JRI project. Director Comstock predecessor, Laurie Givens, was a signatory on the JRI letter of interest, and Director Comstock confirmed AOC?s continued support of the project under her leadership and her intention to serve on the working group. AOC staff shared a compilation of DV forms standardized and created by the courts in an attempt to establish uniformity across the state in how DV cases are handled. They also provided CSG Justice Center staff with referrals for increasing engagement with judges and pretrial services staff in the upcoming months.??
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,iii 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.vii 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: CSG Justice Center staff met with the Kentucky State Director of Right on Crime to introduce the KY JRI DV project. CSG Justice Center staff initiated a conversation around the Safer Kentucky Act, in which the Director mentioned that he believes there?s an appetite in Kentucky to explore and address the commonwealth?s broader criminal justice issues.???