Agency Information: Kansas Sentencing Commission

About the Position

• Who can apply: Anyone
• Classified/Unclassified Service: Unclassified
• Full-Time/Part-Time: Full-Time
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Hybrid working environment may be considered
• Eligible to Receive Benefits: Yes
• Veterans' Preference Eligible: Yes
• Application Deadline: Open Until Filled

Compensation:

• Annual Salary Range: $60,000-$63,000
• Note: Salary can vary depending on education, experience, or qualifications.

Employment Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical, mental, dental, vision, and additional coverage
• Sick & Vacation leave
• Work-Life Balance programs: parental leave, military leave, jury leave, funeral leave
• Paid State Holidays (designated by the Governor annually)
• Fitness Centers in select locations
• Employee discounts with the STAR Program
• Retirement and deferred compensation programs

Visit the Employee Benefits page for more information

Position Overview:

This role is crucial for the Kansas Sentencing Commission (KSSC) as it involves collecting, managing, and analyzing KSSC's adult felony, probation revocation, and other sentencing data. Key responsibilities include:

• Manage access to the Kansas Sentencing Application (KSApp) and troubleshoot issues experienced by users.
• Manage agency sentencing data and update agency dashboards annually.
• Ensure quality of agency sentencing data and perform thorough analyses to maintain data integrity.
• Merge, clean, update, and recode sentencing data files annually in accordance with sentencing policy changes.
• Perform data analysis for various reports and presentations.

Other Duties:

• Conduct virtual trainings and webinars on how to use the KSApp and dashboards.
• Produce monthly data reports for submission to the Research Director and Executive Director.
• Assist with projections for adult prison populations and custody classifications.
• Draft data requests and legislative impact assessments.

Job Description:

Maintain Kansas Sentencing Application (KSApp), KSApp Data, and Dashboards

• Manage user account access for the statewide sentencing form application (KS App).
• Troubleshoot KSApp issues reported by pre-sentence investigation writers, attorneys, and judges using the app.
• Assist the Senior Research Analyst with complex problem-solving in the KSApp and related communication and coordination with the vendor to resolve issues.
• Collect, manage, and analyze data collected by forms submitted in the app.
• Collaborate with the Senior Research Analyst, Research Director, and Executive Director on updates to the app.
• Lead virtual training sessions and webinars for practitioners on how to use the KSApp and dashboards.
• Update the Annual Report Dashboard annually and collaborate with the Senior Research Analyst to improve the dashboard. This includes efforts to:
  • Consolidate and analyze each year's sentencing data and trends and prepare sentencing information for the dashboard, including prison admission, probation, probation revocation, and parole/postrelease violator data.
  • Conduct statistical analyses necessary for producing the dashboard, including those on sentencing practices in Kansas, supervision violations, sentencing trends, and prison population forecasts.
• Assist the Senior Research Analyst with the development of other relevant agency dashboards (e.g., SB 123 mandatory drug treatment dashboard).

Management of KSSC Sentencing Data

• Design, develop, and maintain KSSC sentencing datasets, including:
  • Adult felony sentencing data,
  • Probation revocation sentencing data, and
  • Other datasets as requested
• Update data elements for all datasets every year according to sentencing policy changes.
• Redesign or recode files for those data elements or variable changes.
• Perform data quality assurance of the KSSC sentencing database
  • Merge, clean, and maintain sentencing data files so that the data is always ready for analyses and research.
• Perform quality control of the inputs of sentencing data, including monthly

¿ Running analysis on each sentencing data to ensure the quality of each dataset,

¿ Checking data validity and reliability of each sentencing dataset,

¿ Cleaning data and fixing problems or errors if any.

• Produce monthly data entry reports to
• Track and monitor the submission of sentencing journals from each county.

Adult Prison Population Projections and Custody Classifications Projections (Assist Research Director)

• Assist in the preparation of sentencing data, including KDOC’s various data files and KSSC sentencing data necessary for the annual adult prison population projections
• Assist in performing analysis on current and historical sentencing practices and provide data information in tables or graphics for projection consensus meetings, including:
• Descriptions of the characteristics of various offender groups,
• Key findings of each year’s admissions and stock population,
• Prison admission trends by admission type and prison population trends by severity level, and
• Comparison between projected prison population and actual prison population for the previous year.

Legislative Bed Space Impact Assessments (Assist Research Director)

• Assist in the preparation of legislative bed space impact assessments on the incarcerated adult population as instructed by the Research Director or Executive Director.
• Utilize current and historical sentencing trends to generate assumptions.
• Translate the proposed policy changes into quantifiable metrics.
• Coordinate the results with the direct supervisor and write impact assessment statements of the proposed bill to the Executive Director.

Data Requests

• Assist with responses to various kinds of data requests from the legislature, federal, state, and local government agencies, the public and private sector, and individuals.

Other Duties

• Perform analysis on current and historical sentencing practices and provide data information in tables and graphics for various stakeholders.
• Other research duties as assigned by the Research Director or the Executive Director.

Minimum Qualifications

• One year of experience in collecting, cleaning, analyzing, and reporting on criminal justice, administrative, statistical, economic, or legislative data

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience utilizing Domo or other data collection, transformation, analysis, and visualization software (e.g., Tableau, Microsoft Power BI)
• Experience utilizing statistical software (SPSS or similar software like R, Stata).
• Experience developing, designing, and conducting research studies, including data collection, analysis, and interpretation of results.
• Familiarity with criminal justice terminology and processes is helpful.
• A minimum of a master’s degree and advanced knowledge or prior experience in the research fields of criminal justice, criminology, social sciences, economics, or a similar field
• Understanding of both quantitative and qualitative research designs
• Experience in data management and analysis
• Experience with cross-sectional, longitudinal, and cohort studies
• Proficient skills in Microsoft Word, SPSS (or similar software like R, Stata), Excel, and Graphics
• Strong SPSS syntax writing and problem-solving skills
• Strong SPSS statistical analysis skills, including basic, advanced, professional, and trend analyses
• Experience in forecasting techniques, developing and designing various forecasting models in fields of criminal justice, such as regression modeling, exponential smooth forecasting, and simulation modeling
• Excellent writing and communication skills

Post Offer Requirement:

State of Kansas Tax Clearance Certificate. The successful applicant (even non-residents) must obtain a valid Kansas Certificate of Tax Clearance by accessing the Kansas Department of Revenue's website within 10 days of the date the applicant has been offered the employment position. A Tax Clearance is a comprehensive tax account review to determine and ensure that an individual's account is compliant with all primary Kansas Tax Laws. A Tax Clearance expires every 90 days. This is in accordance with Executive Order 2004-03. If you need assistance with the tax clearance, please contact (785) 296-3199.

Visit the Tax Clearance site for more information on and where to obtain this Kansas Department of Revenue document.

Recruiter Contact Information:

Name: Sarah Aasen

Email: Sarah.aasen@ks.gov

Mailing Address: 900 SW Jackson, Suite 401, Topeka, KS 66612

Job Application Process:

• First Sign in or register as a New User.
• Complete or update your contact information on the Careers> My Contact Information page. *This information is included on all your job applications.
• Upload the required documents listed below for the Careers> My Job Applications page. *This information is included on all your job applications.
• Start your draft job application, upload other required documents, and Submit when it is complete.
• Check your email and My Job Notifications for written communications from the Recruiter.

Helpful Resources at jobs.ks.gov: “How to Apply for a Job – Instructions” and “How to Search for a Job – Instructions"

Required Documents for this Application to be Complete:

Upload these on the Careers - My Job Applications page

• DD FM 214 (if you are claiming Veteran’s Preference)

Upload these on the Attachments step in your Job Application

• Resume
• Letter of Interest / Cover Letter

How to Claim Veterans Preference:

Veterans' Preference Eligible (VPE): Former military personnel or their spouse that have been verified as a "veteran"; under K.S.A. 73-201 will receive an interview if they meet the minimum competency factors of the position. The veterans' preference laws do not guarantee the veteran a job. Positions are filled with the best qualified candidate as determine by the hiring manager.

Learn more about claiming Veteran’s Preference

How to Claim Disability Hiring Preference

Applicants that have physical, cognitive and/or mental disabilities may claim an employment preference when applying for positions. If they are qualified to meet the performance standards of the position, with or without a reasonable accommodation, they will receive an interview for the position. The preference does not guarantee an applicant the job, as positions are filled with the best qualified candidate as determined by the hiring manager.

Learn more about claiming Disability Hiring Preference

PLEASE NOTE: The documentation verifying a person's eligibility for use of this preference should not be sent along with other application materials to the hiring agency but should be sent directly to OPS. These documents should be scanned and emailed to Gustavo.Victoriano@ks.gov, or can be mailed/delivered in person to:

ATTN: Disability Hiring Preference Coordinator
Office of Personnel Services

DSOB, 915 SW Harrison, Suite 260 | Topeka, KS
Topeka, KS 66612

Equal Employment Opportunity:

The State of Kansas is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified persons will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, political affiliation, disability or any other factor unrelated to the essential functions of the job.

If you wish to identify yourself as a qualified person with a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act and would like to request an accommodation, please address the request to the agency recruiter.