Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Dr. Rivera awarded grant to evaluate Oregon drug court program

Dr. Marny Rivera, Justice faculty, was recently awarded a $20,000 grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission to evaluate the Jackson County, Oregon community justice program called Recovery Opportunities Court. This multi-year evaluation project will examine the results of this unique adult court program in Oregon.

The Recovery Opportunities Court was designed in response to increased prison sentences for non-violent property and drug offenders. This intensive post-adjudication drug court program diverts medium and high risk drug dependent offenders from prison into treatment. The impact of the Recovery Opportunities Court will be assessed, in part, by comparing offenders randomly assigned to this court program and offenders assigned to a traditional probation program.

The Jackson County Court home page describes the current treatment court programs.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Spring 2010 issue of Alaska Justice Forum

The most recent issue of the Alaska Justice Forum features articles on juvenile sex offenders, housing for chronic inebriates, justice projects in Alaska funded through Recovery Act funds, and the Alaska Prisoner Re-entry Task Force.

The 8-page issue includes the following articles:

"Sex Offenders in the Alaska Juvenile Justice System" by André B. Rosay and Ronald S. Everett

Though juvenile sex offenders are often viewed as an intractable problem, the sex offender treatment program at McLaughlin Youth Center (MYC) in Anchorage, coupled with supervision and maturation, offers evidence of successful treatment. This article describes the characteristics of 29 juvenile sex offenders awho participated in the MYC sex offender treatment program and were released during the period July 1, 2004 – June 20, 2007 and examines their delinquency history up to age 18.

"A Look at Chronic Inebriate Housing in Seattle" by Sharon Chamard

The issue of the chronically homeless, which includes hard-to-house subpopulations, is a common problem in cities across the U.S. A new way of addressing this problem, called Housing First, provides housing for chronically homeless people in their own permanent housing units at the very outset, rather than initially treating their underlying problems (e.g., substance abuse, mental illness, etc.) to make them “housing ready.” This article reports on observations during a facility tour in March 2010 of 1811 Eastlake, a property operated by Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) in Seattle which provides supportive housing for Seattle's chronic alcohol-addicted population. An accompanying sidebar article briefly describes Karluk Manor, a proposed Housing First facility for chronic inebriates in the Fairview neighborhood of Anchorage.

"Recovery Act Funds: Justice Projects in Alaska"

A projected $1.6 billion in stimulus funds under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has been allocated for over 1,000 projects in Alaska. Included in the stimulus package for Alaska are funds administered by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) totaling $18,906,593 for 39 justice-related projects in 22 rural and urban communities statewide through grants to state agencies; Alaska Native tribes, villages, and councils; municipalities; and nonprofits.

"Alaska Prisoner Re-entry Task Force" by Teresa White Carns

The Alaska Prisoner Re-entry Task Force, a subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Working Group, met in April 2010 to establish a work plan, identify major areas of focus, and create strategic work groups to address each area. The Task Force goal is: “Individuals who are incarcerated do not return to custody.” To achieve this, the Task Force will look for community partners and identify evidence-based strategies to improve the re-entry process.

"Faculty Changes"

Deborah Periman, Justice Center faculty member, has been awarded tenure and been promoted to Associate Professor; Adrienne Freng, visiting faculty member during the Spring 2010 semester, is returning to University of Wyoming, where she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Justice Center sponsors Anchorage Youth Court meetings on campus

The Justice Center is sponsoring monthly meetings on campus of Anchorage Youth Court (AYC) beginning in September 2010. These monthly meetings involve the Anchorage Youth Court student attorneys and student judges, and local Alaska Bar members who volunteer to provide continuing legal education training for this group.

In Anchorage Youth Court, student lawyers and judges, and members of the legal community, informally adjudicate lower level juvenile offenses committed by middle and high school students. Student offenders agree to participate in this diversionary program.

Holding AYC meetings on the UAA campus provides an opportunity for local students to experience being on campus and to become familiar with UAA facilities. UAA is providing a community service in granting facility use to an organization that is part of the juvenile justice system.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

UAA auxiliary emergency team highlighted by Int'l Assn of Chiefs of Police

The UAA Auxiliary Emergency Team was one of the programs recently highlighted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police/Volunteers in Police Service Program (VIPS) in their publication, "VIPS in a College or University Setting."

Dr. Sharon Chamard, Justice faculty, has been a member of the UAA Police Department auxiliary team since its inception in 2007. The auxiliary team trains monthly during the academic year in areas such as traffic and crowd control, infectious disease control, handling of hazardous materials, pet rescue and shelter during disasters, radio communications, and search and rescue.

Many on the auxiliary team, including Dr. Chamard, have also been certified as Campus Community Emergency Response Team (CCERT) members. The auxiliary team participates in mock disaster drills (i.e., for pandemics and natural disasters) and assists the University Police Department in planned building evacuations.

Click here for UAA emergency information.

Prof. Wolfe presents at National Institute of Justice/FBI conference

Prof. James Wolfe, Justice Center adjunct faculty, will make a presentation at the Impression and Pattern Evidence Symposium, August 2-5, 2010 in Clearwater, FL. His presentation is titled "Innovative Techniques for Collecting Snow Impression Evidence."

The presentation will take a look at techniques Prof. Wolfe has developed and/or implemented in Alaska for evaluating, documenting, and collecting snow impression evidence at crime scenes. This type of evidence includes impressions from shoes, vehicle tires, ATV tires, snowmachines, and airplane skis.

This event is co-sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the FBI Laboratory Division. The symposium is specifically designed to bring together practitioners and researchers to enhance information-sharing and promote collaboration among the impression and pattern evidence, law enforcement, and legal communities. In addition, the symposium will provide unique educational opportunities for impression and pattern evidence examiners.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Katie TePas, Justice Center co-author, named state DV & sexual assault response coordinator

Katie TePas, former domestic violence/sexual assault services program coordinator for the Alaska State Troopers, has been a frequent co-author of Justice Center reports and articles on violence against women in Alaska.

She has recently been appointed by Governor Sean Parnell as Alaska's first domestic violence and sexual assault response coordinator as part of the Governor's initiative to combat the statewide epidemic of violence against women.

Her new role is to provide direction to all relevant executive branch agencies and to collaborate with municipal, federal, tribal, and non-profit entities, with the goals of reducing the rates of sexual assault and domestic violence, ensuring adequate services for victims, and raising public awareness of the epidemic and the responses to it.

Pictured above left to right: Katie TePas and Dr. André Rosay, Justice Center Director, at the 2010 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) conference in Washington, D.C. in June.

Dr. Chamard interviewed by media about chronic inebriate housing

Dr. Sharon Chamard, Justice Center faculty, was interviewed by TV and print media in her capacity as president of the Fairview Community Council concerning the proposed Karluk Manor housing project for chronic inebriates. The proposed facility is located in the Fairview neighborhood.

The KTUU Channel 2 News interview and the KTVA Channel 11 News story ran July 1, 2010. An article ran in The Anchorage Daily News on June 29, 2010.