Kansas
COVID-19 Assistance for the Justice Community
The ever-changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic requires policymakers and criminal justice practitioners to rapidly adapt their day-to-day operations to the situation at hand. While the pace and scale of the crisis can be overwhelming, the CSG Justice Center is committed more than ever to supporting its members—state and local officials working in all three branches of government in criminal and juvenile justice, behavioral health, housing, and labor.
Kansas Initiatives
In partnership with Kansas state leaders, the CSG Justice Center is working on several key criminal justice initiatives to increase public safety, including Stepping Up and Justice Reinvestment.

Justice Reinvestment is a data-driven approach to improve public safety, reduce corrections…
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Face to Face helps create meaningful interactions between policymakers and people who…
Read MoreJustice Reinvestment in Kansas
In early 2012, the CSG Justice Center embarked on a Justice Reinvestment approach in Kansas to help state leaders identify and address the most pressing criminal justice system challenges.
Overview
Between 2009 and 2012, the number of people in Kansas’s prisons increased by almost 9 percent and was projected to increase by an additional 23 percent by 2021. Accommodating this growth would cost at least $81 million in prison construction and operating costs. From 2012 to 2013, the CSG Justice Center worked with Kansas state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. CSG Justice Center experts interviewed stakeholders across the criminal justice system and conducted a comprehensive analysis of Kansas’s criminal justice data. Justice reinvestment legislation (House Bill 2170) was enacted in 2013. Among other things, the law:
- Requires supervision agencies to respond to minor probation violations with swift, certain, and cost-effective sanctions, including 120-day and 180-day prison sanctions, to be imposed by the judiciary in response to more serious violations;
- Imposes progressive sanctions for repeat violations; and
- Focuses supervision resources on higher-risk individuals.
These policies are projected to avert $56 million in prison operating costs and $25 million in construction costs between 2014 and 2018. Kansas reinvested $8 million in community-based behavioral health treatment resources from 2013 to 2016.
The CSG Justice Center provided technical assistance to Kansas on the implementation of the justice reinvestment policies, including helping the Kansas Department of Corrections improve probation supervision through training, quality assurance, and risk-driven practices and enhancing collaboration between supervision staff and behavioral health providers in the state.
Presentations
Justice Reinvestment (since 2012)
- Justice Reinvestment in Kansas: Initial Working Group Meeting (
- Justice Reinvestment in Kansas: Second Working Group Meeting Presentation
- Justice Reinvestment in Kansas: Third Working Group Meeting Presentation
Justice Reinvestment Archive Publications (2006–2008)
Final Report
- Justice Reinvestment in Kansas: Analyses & Policy Options to Reduce Spending on Corrections & Reinvest in Strategies to Increase Public Safety (January 30, 2013)
- Justice Reinvestment in Kansas: Strengthening Probation Supervision and Promoting Successful Reentry After extensive analyses identified key challenges in the state’s criminal justice system, policymakers developed a policy framework designed to strengthen probation supervision and promote successful reentry. Justice reinvestment legislation was enacted in April 2013 and the state is projected to avert $81 million in construction and operating costs by FY2018.

We spoke with Claudette Humphrey, director of stabilization services for Catholic Charities…
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Not only is treatment a more cost-effective use of taxpayer dollars than…
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A package of criminal justice bills aiming to keep people with substance…
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The Kansas Criminal Justice Reform Commission voted on final policy recommendations to…
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Mental Illness still remains prevalent in jails despite the pandemic.
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Through the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, Kansas Rep. Stephen Owens is helping lead…
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Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett is leading efforts to safely improve…
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Few receive training in Kansas prisons. Thaddeus Watts is one of the…
Read MoreBipartisan support for three key criminal justice programs shows Congressional commitment to increasing public safety and reducing recidivism.
Read MoreVermont Governor Phil Scott recently signed a bipartisan criminal justice bill designed to reduce recidivism and dissect racial…
Read MoreDuring COVID-19, telehealth has become an essential practice to connect people to services from jails.
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Bipartisan support for three key criminal justice programs shows Congressional commitment to increasing public safety and reducing recidivism.
Read More
Vermont Governor Phil Scott recently signed a bipartisan criminal justice bill designed to reduce recidivism and dissect racial disparities in the state’s prisons.
Read More
During COVID-19, telehealth has become an essential practice to connect people to services from jails.
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Justice Reinvestment legislation recently passed in Vermont is the latest example of a state turning pessimistic parole into “presumptive parole.”
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Reentry and behavioral health programming are among the issues the state is examining.
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Staff from the CSG Justice Center met with the Kansas Criminal Justice Reform Commission last week to present findings and policy recommendations based on recent assessment activities as part of the state’s Justice Reinvestment effort, which launched in September.
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