The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.
Under this award, the Kansas Sentencing Commission (KSC) will collect data for the Arrest Related Deaths study and provide the information to BJS annually. The SAC also plans to research and conduct a study on the topic of domestic violence in the state of Kansas, and compare its findings with national trends in the areas of conviction, sentencing policy, and sentencing practices. In addition, KSC proposes to use funds to continue its drug policy study. The SAC will continue collecting, analyzing, and reporting statistics on alternative sentencing to determine the impact on the following areas: recidivism, incarceration as punishment for non-violent drug offenders, and state resources attributed to this program. The agency will refine the scope of the evaluation and reassure that relevant measurements to the impact of the program are based on substance abuse treatment participation and results of the treatment received, but excludes those offenders who never received treatment or who were in treatment less than one month. Also the agency will develop methods to identify the particular drug usage of those convicted. Findings will be presented in several reports that will be submitted to the Kansas Sentencing Commission, as well as the State Legislature, for determining whether recidivism has been reduced for those successfully completing the SB 123 treatment program, and for review and discussion in recommending policy changes and determining the cost/benefit of the treatment programs. The reports will also be made available on the SAC's website.
CA/NCF
