Ark. Code Ann. § 16-93-1202 (2026)

As used in this subchapter:

1. “Board” means the Board of Corrections;
2. “Community correction” means:
   1. Probation, a judicially imposed criminal sanction permitting varying levels of supervision of eligible offenders in the community;
   2. Economic sanctions programs, including an active organized collection of fees, fines, restitution, day fines, day reporting centers, and penalties attached for nonpayment of fines;
   3. Home detention programs, ranging from curfew programs to house arrest with and without electronic monitoring;
   4. Community service programs, including both supervised and unsupervised work assignments and projects such that offenders provide substantial labor benefit to the community;
   5. Work-release programs, including residential and nonresidential forms of labor, with salary, in the community;
   6. Restitution programs, an organized collection and dissemination of restitution by a designated entity within the community correction range of services, including, when necessary, the use of restitution centers such that the offender is held accountable and the victim receives restitution ordered by the court in a timely fashion;
   7. 1. Community correction facilities, multipurpose facilities encompassing security, correction, and services such that offenders can be housed therein when necessary but can also be assigned to or access correction programs and services which are housed there.
      2. Included therein are revocation centers, restitution centers, work-release centers, and community correction centers;
   8. Boot camps, highly regimented programs encompassing strict discipline, education, treatment, and counseling designed to have the greatest positive impact on the offender in the shortest period of time;
   9. Drug and alcohol treatment services, including both inpatient and outpatient drug and alcohol abuse treatment and counseling provided by qualified community correction service provider programs for correctional clients;
   10. Educational programs, including programs focused on the acquisition of basic learning skills, general educational developmental preparation, literacy training, and other applicable areas of education that are of value to correctional clients;
   11. Vocational programs, focused on the learning of a marketable skill by correctional clients utilizing qualified vocational and technical community correction service provider programs whenever possible;
   12. Job skills programs, focused on the acquisition of basic job skills, especially those related to how to get a job and how to keep a job;
   13. Mental health treatment services, including both inpatient and outpatient mental health, family, and psychological counseling and treatment provided by qualified community correction service provider programs for correctional clients;
   14. Parole, an administrative condition permitting state supervision of eligible offenders sentenced to state correctional facilities and released therefrom to community correction programs or supervision;
   15. Post-prison supervision, an administrative condition permitting state supervision of offenders sentenced to state correctional facilities and transferred from there to community correction programs or community supervision; and
   16. Pretrial programs, including the supervision and monitoring of certain defendants while awaiting sentencing or disposition by a court;
3. “Community correction service provider program” means a public or private organization which provides treatment, guidance, training, support, or other rehabilitative services to individual offenders, offender groups, and their families in such areas as health, education, vocational training, special education, social services, psychological counseling, alcohol and drug treatment, and other applicable correctional concerns;
4. “Division of Community Correction” means the administrative structure in place to oversee the development and operation of community correction facilities, programs, and services, including probation and parole supervision;
5. “Division of Correction” means the administrative structure in place to oversee the daily operation of secure prison facilities;
6. “Eligibility” or “eligible offender” means any person convicted of a felony who is by law eligible for such sentence or who is otherwise under the supervision of the Division of Community Correction and who falls within the population targeted by the General Assembly for inclusion in community correction facilities and who has not been subject to a disciplinary violation for a violent act or for sexual misconduct while in the custody of a jail or correctional facility and does not have a current or previous conviction for a violent or sexual offense listed under subdivision (10)(A)(iii) of this section;
7. “Incarceration” means commitment to the Division of Correction;
8. “Supervision” means direct supervision at varying levels of intensity by either probation officers, in the case of sentences to probation with a condition of community correction, or parole and post-prison supervision officers, in the case of offenders eligible for release on parole or offenders transferred to community correction or community supervision from the Division of Correction;
9. “Suspended imposition of sentence” means a procedure whereby a defendant who pleads or is found guilty of an offense is released by the court without pronouncement of sentence and without supervision;
10. 1. 1. “Target group” means a group of offenders and offenses determined to be, but not limited to, theft, theft by receiving, hot checks, residential burglary, commercial burglary, failure to appear, fraudulent use of credit cards, criminal mischief, breaking or entering, drug paraphernalia, driving while intoxicated, fourth or subsequent offense, all other Class B felonies, Class C felonies, or Class D felonies that are not either violent or sexual and that meet the eligibility criteria determined by the General Assembly to have significant impact on the use of correctional resources, Class A controlled substance felonies and Class B controlled substance felonies, and all other unclassified felonies for which the prescribed limitations on a sentence do not exceed the prescribed limitations for a Class B felony and that are not either violent or sexual.
       2. Offenders committing solicitation, attempt, or conspiracy of the substantive offenses listed in subdivision (10)(A)(i) of this section are also included in the group.
       3. As used in this subdivision (10)(A), “violent or sexual” includes all offenses against the person codified in § 5-10-101 et seq., § 5-11-101 et seq., § 5-12-101 et seq., § 5-13-201 et seq., § 5-13-301 et seq., and § 5-14-101 et seq., any offense containing as an element of the offense the use of physical force, the threatened use of serious physical force, the infliction of physical harm, or the creation of a substantial risk of serious physical harm, and an offense for which the offender is required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act of 1997, § 12-12-901 et seq.
       4. For the purpose of the sealing of a criminal record under § 16-93-1207, “target group” includes any misdemeanor conviction except a misdemeanor conviction for which the offender is required to register as a sex offender or a misdemeanor conviction for driving while intoxicated.
    2. Except for those offenders assigned to a technical violator program, only those offenders and offenses falling within the target group population may access community correction facilities whether by judicial transfer, administrative transfer, drug court sanction, or probation sanction.
    3. Final determination of eligibility for placement in any community correction center or program is the responsibility of the Division of Community Correction;
11. “Transfer” means an administrative condition permitting transfer of eligible offenders sentenced to traditional state correctional facilities to community correction facilities, programming, and community supervision, provided that only target offenders are eligible for the facilities;
12. 1. “Transfer date” means the earliest date on which an offender is eligible for transfer from the Division of Correction to the Division of Community Correction.
    2. The date may be extended based on disciplinary behavior while under the custody of the Division of Correction; and
13. “Trial court” means any court of this state having jurisdiction of an eligible offender and the power to sentence the eligible offender to the included options, subject to eligibility determination by the Division of Community Correction.

History. Acts 1993, No. 531, § 3; 1993, No. 548, § 3; 1995, No. 577, § 1; 1997, No. 279, § 1; 1997, No. 945, § 2; 2001, No. 1255, § 1; 2003, No. 245, § 1; 2003, No. 1018, § 1; 2005, No. 1994, § 287; 2007, No. 744, § 3; 2013, No. 1460, § 14; 2015, No. 549, § 2; 2017, No. 423, §§ 24-26; 2019, No. 910, §§ 936-939.

Publisher's Notes. Acts 1993, No. 548, § 3, provided, in part:

“Community Punishment Target Group Table in Code Section Numerical Order Code Section Name of crime 5-36-401 Nonsupport 5-36-103 Theft of property (Class B, C, and D) 5-36-104 Theft of services (Class B and C) 5-36-105 Theft of property lost, mislaid, delivered by mistake 5-36-106 Theft by receiving (Class B and C) 5-36-115 Theft of leased or rented prop. (Class B and C) 5-37-201 Forgery (first and second degrees) 5-37-203 Defrauding secured creditors 5-37-204 Fraud in insolvency 5-37-207 Fraudulent use of a credit card 5-37-209 Criminal possession of forgery device 5-37-210 Obtaining signature by deception 5-37-211 Defrauding judgment creditors 5-37-212 Using slugs of $100 or more 5-37-213 Criminal simulation 5-37-302 Hot checks (Class B and C) 5-37-524 Fraud in acquisition of authority to provide motor vehicle transportation of property 5-37-525 Defrauding a materialman of $5000 or more 5-38-203 Criminal mischief I 5-38-204 Criminal mischief II 5-39-201 Commercial burglary 5-39-202 Breaking and entering 5-54-120 Failure to appear 5-56-102 Illegal use of food coupons 5-56-103 Illegal presentation of food coupons 5-64-403 Delivery, possession or manufacture of drug paraphernalia 5-65-103 DWI4”

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Amendments. The 2001 amendment, in (l)(1)(A), inserted “residential burglary,” deleted “and” following “subsequent offense” and inserted the language following “correctional resources” at the end.

The 2003 amendment by No. 245 inserted “Class A and Class B controlled substance felonies” in (j)(1)(A).

The 2003 amendment by No. 1018 added “or who is otherwise under the supervision of the Department of Community Correction” to the end of (f).

The 2005 amendment substituted “community correction” for “community punishment” throughout this section; and substituted “community correction” for “Regional punishment” in (b)(7)(A).

The 2013 amendment substituted “As used in” for “For the purpose” in (10)(A)(iii); substituted “the sealing of a criminal” for “an expungement or a sealing of a” in (10)(A)(iv); and deleted “§ 16-93-1206 or” following “pursuant to” in (10)(B).

The 2015 amendment added “and who has not been subject to a disciplinary violation for a violent act or for sexual misconduct while in the custody of a jail or correctional facility” in (6).

The 2017 amendment, in (6), inserted “or who is otherwise under the supervision of the Department of Community Correction”, deleted “or who is otherwise under the supervision of the Department of Community Correction” following “community correction facilities”, and added “and does not have a current or previous conviction for a violent or sexual offense listed under subdivision (10)(A)(iii) of this section”; in (10)(A)(i), inserted “Class B felonies” in the middle and substituted “Class B” for “Class C” near the end; added “and an offense for which the offender is required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act of 1997, § 12-12-901 et seq.” in (10)(A)(iii); in (10)(B), substituted “Except for those offenders assigned to a technical violator program, only those offenders” for “Offenders” and “whether by judicial transfer, administrative transfer, drug court sanction, or probation sanction” for “pursuant to § 16-93-1208”; added (10)(C); and added “subject to eligibility determination by the Department of Community Correction” in (13).

The 2019 amendment substituted “Division of Community Correction” for “Department of Community Correction” and “Division of Correction” for “Department of Correction” throughout the section.