In January, CSG Justice Center staff continued its engagement of Arkansas criminal justice stakeholders and analysis of data provided by state agencies. During a site visit from January 11-14, 2016, CSG Justice Center staff met with leadership and staff of victims' organizations, the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC), Arkansas Community Corrections (ACC), and others. CSG Justice Center staff was joined onsite by Subject-Matter Experts in Community Corrections/Behavioral Health and Victims Services.
On January 12, 2016, CSG Justice Center staff met with leaders from the Arkansas’s victims advocacy community, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Parents of Murdered Children, and the Victim Justice Assistance Program within the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. CSG Justice Center staff also visited an Arkansas Community Corrections (ACC) field office in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Finally, the team presented to ACC Assistant Area Managers at a meeting in Little Rock on the justice reinvestment project.
On January 13, the team conducted tours/observation of ACC operations at the field office in Little Rock, Arkansas and the Omega Technical Violator Center (TVC) in Malvern, Arkansas. Other members of the team met with leadership of the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) in Pine Bluff and toured ADC facilities, meeting with inmates, staff, and administrators.
CSG Justice Center staff continued to revise the Arkansas Overview document. Feedback was received from stakeholders and funders, which was then incorporated into the Overview. The Overview was finalized and posted on The CSG Justice website and was distributed during onsite stakeholder engagement meetings.
Data analysis and presentation development continued throughout the month. The next presentation to the Legislative Criminal Justice Task Force is scheduled for Wednesday, February 17, 2016. Prior to this presentation, the team will travel to Little Rock to vet initial findings and analysis with various stakeholder groups and task force leadership.
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CSG Justice Center staff will return to Arkansas twice during February 2016: once for presentation vetting (February 10-12) and again for the second presentation (February 16-18). The team will be joined on site by former elected prosecutor and CSG Justice Center consultant. Site visits are also planned during March 8-11 and April 6-8, 2016. These site visits will likely focus on behavioral health services and judicial engagement, respectively.
o Meeting with Mother's Against Drunk Driving State Program Director to discuss the role of victim advocacy in the justice reinvestment project.
o Meeting with the Program Manager of Victim Justice Assistance from Department of Finance & Administration Office of Intergovernmental Services to discuss compensation and restitution in Arkansas and the justice reinvestment project.
o Meeting with two representatives from Parents of Murdered Children to discuss the role of victim advocacy in the justice reinvestment project.
o Meeting with AR Coalition Against Sexual Assault Executive Director, and Board Chair to discuss the role of victim advocacy in the justice reinvestment project.
o Meeting with ADC Director and other ADC leadership (approximately 10-12 staff) to discuss justice reinvestment and its impact on the Department of Correction. The Director and her staff shared recent data on behavioral health services, internal operations, and interagency cooperation in Arkansas.
o Toured ADC facilities with Chief Deputy. Visited Cummings Unit (toured farm facilities, housing, programming, education, and recreation areas) and Varner Unit (toured vocational training program) to discuss operations with ADC staff and review the justice reinvestment project.
o Meeting with ACC Pine Bluff Field Office Area Manager to introduce justice reinvestment and discuss probation and parole supervision in Arkansas. Conducted a focus group with four probation and parole staff and one SAPL (Substance Abuse Program Leader, in-house treatment staff, Pine Bluff Field Office, ACC).
o Meeting with Assistant Area Managers (ACC) to introduce justice reinvestment and discuss probation and parole supervision in Arkansas.
o Observed probation officer interactions with offenders, parole revocation hearings, and conducted a small focus group of probation and parole officers at the North Little Rock Field Office.
o Toured Omega Technical Violator Center in Malvern, Arkansas. Observed a session of substance use disorder treatment, interviewed participants on their experiences in the center, and debriefed with Treatment Supervisor and Center Administrator.
• (1/5) Call with members of ACC and the Arkansas Parole Board (APB) to discuss their feedback for the Arkansas Overview.
In January, CSG Justice Center research staff performed additional analyses on sentencing data. CSG Justice Center research staff analyzed sentences for property and drug offenses falling into high-volume grid cells, examined the relationship between defenders and sentences, and explored departures from the sentencing guidelines.
CSG Justice Center research staff cleaned data from ADC and ACC and completed a preliminary analysis of the data to identify data strengths and shortcomings. CSG Justice Center research staff reached out to ADC staff to clarify any issues with the data.
• (1/20) Cleaned the ACC intake, snapshot, and termination data sets. These data sets, which combine parole and probation cases, were then transformed into SPSS data sets.
• (1/21) Further explored sentencing data, examining the relationship between defender type, race, and sentence. This will require in-depth analyses of certain sentencing grid cells.
• (1/22) Cleaned ADC snapshot data sets, transforming data sets into SPSS data files and labeling important variables. Initial analyses of the data sets indicated there is a need for further discussion with ADC staff.
Northwest Arkansas Democratic Gazette - Parole Board Cases up 41% since 2010 (http://csgjusticecenter.org/jr/arkansas/media-clips/parole-board-cases-…)
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