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
Justice Reinvestment is a data-driven approach to improve public safety, reduce corrections…
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Face to Face
Face to Face creates meaningful interactions between policymakers and people who have…
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.
Kansas News
October 15, 2021
Some states have started engaging landlords as partners to expand housing options…
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May 20, 2021
The Kansas legislature recently enacted a package of bipartisan criminal justice bills…
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May 3, 2021
Each year, roughly two million people with serious mental illnesses are admitted…
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April 28, 2021
Local leaders in Wichita wanted to find opportunities to strengthen supervision and…
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April 12, 2021
We spoke with Claudette Humphrey, director of stabilization services for Catholic Charities…
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February 25, 2021
Not only is treatment a more cost-effective use of taxpayer dollars than…
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February 23, 2021
A package of criminal justice bills aiming to keep people with substance…
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December 1, 2020
The Kansas Criminal Justice Reform Commission voted on final policy recommendations to…
Read MoreKansas Publications
Face to Face: Kansas Governor Laura Kelly
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