Prof. Brandeis is faculty responder for CAFE debate February 2 on corporate personhood

Prof. Jason Brandeis, J.D., Justice faculty, will be a member of the faculty response panel for the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE) public policy debate on Thursday, February 2, 2012. The topic of the debate is: "The U.S. should adopt a Constitutional Amendment banning corporate personhood."

The event is from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm at the UAA/APU Consortium Library, 3rd floor, LIB 307, and features the award-winning UAA Speech and Debate Team, a faculty response panel, and a facilitated public discussion.

This program is part of a series of debates and discussions sponsored by the UAA Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence since 2003 to offer the Anchorage community access to university resources as a basis for discussions of policies and issues affecting its future.  Previous debates have addressed such issues as the Patriot Act, U.S. energy policy, state support for rural villages in Alaska, presidential campaigns, and the Iraq war.  Prof. Brandeis also participated on the faculty response panel for the Fall 2010 CAFE public policy debate.

For information:  aner@uaa.alaska.edu or 786-4605.

Justice Center faculty meet for strategic planning

Eric Britten, facilitator, discusses the process.  L to r: Dr. André Rosay; Dr. Troy Payne; Dr. Cory Lepage;
Dr. Sharon Chamard;  Prof. Jason Brandeis, J.D.; and Dr. Brad Myrstol. Foreground l to r: Prof. Deb
Periman, J.D.; and Dr. Allan Barnes. Not visible in photo: Dr. Ron Everett and Dr. Marny Rivera.

Justice Center faculty met for a two-day strategic planning retreat in mid-January and reviewed the Center's mission and values, and developed a strategic plan.  The retreat was a follow-up to shorter meetings with faculty and staff, individual work groups, and surveys of students and community partners.  The process is being facilitated by Eric Britten of Britten Associates, and the final revised mission statement, vision, and values will be posted on the Justice Center website.

L to r: Dr. Troy Payne, Dr. Cory Lepage,
Dr. Sharon Chamard, Dr. Brad Myrstol.

Faculty have been assigned items from the strategic plan, and the Center will continue to work on identified issues as part of an ongoing process of internal evaluation and development.

UAA volunteers at Project Homeless Connect

Some of the UAA community volunteers - l to r: Barbara Armstrong,
Editor, Alaska Justice Forum, Justice Center; Kristi Powell,
Student Worker Supervisor/Reserves Manager, UAA/APU
Consortium Library; Heather MacAlpine, Justice major and
Justice Center Research Aide.

Members of the UAA community volunteered at the 10th Anchorage Project Homeless Connect (PHC) held at the Egan Center on Wednesday, January 25, 2012.  The Anchorage Coalition on Homelessness presents this day-long program twice each year (January and July) with the help of community sponsors and volunteers. The goal is to move our community closer to ending homelessness.

This event brings together service providers and government agencies under one roof to assist homeless persons in identifying their top 3 issues of concern, and then links individuals with the appropriate provider.  Hospitality is an important part of the day and a lunch is offered to attendees, as well as canned food items to take with them.  Similar programs are presented in cities across the United States.

The initial interview with each attendee also presents an opportunity for collecting information about who is homeless and why.  This data is aggregated and provides a tool to assist service providers and government agencies in policy making and structuring services. In  2010 Anchorage Project Homeless Connect assisted 769 clients in January and 578 in July.  At the January 2011 PHC, 847 clients received help, and 601 clients were assisted in July 2011. It is estimated that over 750 clients were provided some typed of needed service at the January 2012 PHC.  The final report for this event will be available shortly.

The article "A Look at Homelessness in Alaska" in Alaska Justice Forum 26(2) Summer 2009 looked at data for the homeless in Alaska for the years 2007–2009.

Dr. Rosay presents January 25 at Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee Crime Summit

Dr. André Rosay, Justice Center Director, will make a presentation at the Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee Crime Summit on Wednesday, January 25 in Juneau.

He will be the luncheon keynote speaker and will discuss Justice Center research, including the ongoing Alaska Victimization Survey.

View this event on Gavel to Gavel:

• Senate Judiciary Committee Crime Summit, part 1 (8:30–11:15 AM)
• Senate Judiciary Committee Crime Summit, part 2 (11:15 AM–3:00 PM)
  

The Crime Summit will open with a presentation by Annie Pennucci, Senior Research Associate with the Washington State Institute for Public Policy on "More Education, Less Crime: Research Evidence and Policy Implications." Representatives from agencies and organization will make presentations to the group about justice in Alaska: what is new, what strategies are working, what resources are needed, what programs are successful, and  how the legislature can assist agencies and organizations in this work.

Participants include the Alaska Court System,  Alaska Public Defender Agency, Office of Public Advocacy, Standing Together Against Rape (STAR), Alaska Native Justice Center, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Partners for Progress, Division of Juvenile Justice, Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Alaska State Troopers, Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Police Department, Palmer Police Department, and others.

A similar Crime Summit was held four years ago in Juneau in 2008. Senator Hollis French (D) is the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  

UAA/APU books of the year program "Criminalizing the Working Poor" with Dr. Chamard

Dr. Sharon Chamard, Justice Center faculty, was the moderator for the discussion "Criminalizing the Working Poor" on  January 17 at the Loussac Library. This event  was part of the Conversation Salon Series: The Working Poor, co-hosted  by UAA/APU Books of the Year and the Anchorage Public Library.  The discussions in this series are based on David Shipler's book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America.

Issues around this topic included restrictions on receiving public benefits such as Food Stamps, unfair payday and credit loans, and America's history as a meritocracy. Dr. Chamard also presented sociological theories concerning how the working poor are perceived and treated, such as rabble management.

L to r: Christina Gheen, Coordinator, UAA/APU Books of the Year
and Dr. Sharon Chamard in the Ann Stevens Room at the library.

 
Conversation Salon Series discussions are held every third Tuesday of the month, from September to May, at  5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Ann Stevens Room of the Loussac Library.   The sessions are not presentations, but opportunities for attendees to discuss issues relevant to themselves and the community. For more information contact Nancy Clark at 343-2972.

Dr. Rivera awarded contract to evaluate Oregon program for offenders with children

Dr. Marny Rivera, Justice faculty, has been awarded a contract by  Jackson County Community Justice in Oregon  to evaluate their Second Chance Family-Based Offender Program.  This program provides treatment and services to medium and high risk drug dependent offenders who are custodial parents of minor children in Jackson County.  In addition to treatment services, the grant covers costs for staff to help facilitate visits between parents and their children in a setting other than jail.  Dr. Rivera will examine the success of this program in meeting the needs of the offenders and their families, and reducing recidivism.

According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report, in 2007, 53% of offenders incarcerated in the U.S. were parents with an estimated total number of 1.7 million children under the age of 18.  Drug and public-order offenders were more likely than violet offenders to have children. The Oregon project is part of the federal Second Chance Act which is designed to aid offenders with reentry into their communities by providing substance abuse treatment, employment assistance, and other services to reduce recidivism.

Dr. Chamard discusses "Criminalizing the Working Poor" tonight at Loussac Library

Dr. Sharon Chamard, Justice Center faculty, moderates  "Criminalizing the Working Poor" tonight, January 17,  at 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. in the Ann Stevens Room of the Loussac Library. This event  is part of the Conversation Salon Series: The Working Poor, co-hosted  by UAA/APU Books of the Year and the Anchorage Public Library.  The discussions in this series are based on David Shipler's book, The Working Poor: Invisible in America. 

Conversation Salon Series discussions are held every third Tuesday of the month, from Septetmber to May, at  5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Ann Stevens Room of the Loussac Library.   The sessions are not presentations, but opportunities for attendees to discuss issues relevant to themselves and the community. For more information contact Nancy Clark at 343-2972.

Alaska Justice Forum 2010 and 2011 issues now in EBSCOhost Criminal Justice Abstracts database

The 2010 and 2011 issues of the Alaska Justice Forum are now "live" in the EBSCOhost database "Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text."   Additional issues of the Forum will be added over time. 

Criminal Justice Abstracts is available on the Consortium Library website with a link to digital copies of the Alaska Justice Forum. Digital copies of the Forum from 1993 to the present are also available on the Justice Center website.

EBSCOhost of EBSCO Publishing is the leading search platform for full-text online research databases in institutions worldwide. "Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text" includes bibliographic records and full text covering essential areas related to criminal justice and criminology and contains more than 300,000 records selected from the most important sources within the discipline. This resource includes full text for more than 200 magazines and journals, as well full-text books & monographs.

Dr. Rosay presents at Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee Crime Summit

Dr. André Rosay, Justice Center Director, will present at the Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee Crime Summit to be held Tuesday and Wednesday, January 24 and 25 in Juneau.  Dr. Rosay will be the luncheon keynote speaker on January 25 and will discuss Justice Center research, including the ongoing Alaska Victimization Survey.

The Crime Summit will open with a presentation by Annie Pennucci, Senior Research Associate with the Washington State Institute for Public Policy on "More Education, Less Crime: Research Evidence and Policy Implications." Representatives from agencies and organization will make presentations to the group about justice in Alaska: what is new, what strategies are working, what resources are needed, what programs are successful, and  how the legislature can assist agencies and organizations in this work. Participants include the Alaska Court System,  Alaska Public Defender Agency, Office of Public Advocacy, Standing Together Against Rape (STAR), Alaska Native Justice Center, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Partners for Progress, Division of Juvenile Justice, Department of Public Safety, Department of Corrections, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Alaska State Troopers, Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Police Department, Palmer Police Department, and others.

A similar Crime Summit was held four years ago in Juneau in 2008. Senator Hollis French (D) is the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The 2012 Crime Summit will be on Gavel to Gavel and will be livestreamed.

Justice Center research highlighted in PickClickGive.org donation guide

PickClickGive.org distributed a special donation guide with the January 1 Anchorage Daily News called, "Your Guide to Making a Difference in the New Year: Learn How to Transform Alaska with Just $25 of Your PFD."  This guide listed the many organizations Alaskans can help by donating $25 of their PFD using the online PickClickGive.org tool.

 Justice Center research was featured in the descriptions of organizations that provide help in emergency situations and organizations that help feed the hungry. The guide highlighted the Alaska Victimization Survey research in the description of the need for assistance to emergency safe shelters for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, and noted the Justice Center report examining homelessness in Alaska in the piece about food banks. The reference is to the Summer 2009 Alaska Justice Forum article, "A Look at Homelessness in Alaska."

Dr. Chamard and Dr. Payne to present at Western Society of Criminology Conference

Dr. Sharon Chamard and Dr. Troy Payne, Justice Center faculty, will present at the 2012 Western Society of Criminology (WSC) Annual Conference in Newport Beach in February.  Both researchers are on the panel highlighting "Criminological Analyses of Ownership, Collective Efficacy, Public Awareness, and Temperature."

Dr. Chamard will speak on "Growth in the Mat-Su: Effects of Collective Efficacy, Social Ties, Fear of Crime and Self-Protection."  Dr. Payne will discuss "Exploring Non-Geographic Concentration of Crime: The Importance of Ownership."

The WSC is a regional professional society devoted to the scientific study of crime. The society attracts scholars, students, government officials, and practitioners from both the public and private sectors from around the world.

Dr. Myrstol publishes article on homelessness among drug-using arrestees in Journal of Drug Issues

Dr. Brad Myrstol, Justice faculty, recently published an article, "Risk Factors and the Duration of Homelessness Among Drug-Using Arrestees: Evidence from 30 American Counties," in the Journal of Drug Issues, Volume 41, Number 4, 2011.  He co-authored this article with Dr. Kevin M. Fitzpatrick, Professor of Sociology and Jones Chair in Community at the University of Arkansas.

The article examines risk factors influencing length of homelessness among a sample of drug-using adults booked into jails in 30 American counties during the years 2002-2003. Interviews were conducted with 30,634 arrestees.  The authors found that the persistently homeless were a demographically distinct group with significant social and human capital deficits and distinct health risk profiles, and argue that jails are well positioned to serve as a focal point for the delivery of public health and psychiatric services to homeless persons.

 The Journal of Drug Issues (JDI) is dedicated to providing a professional and scholarly forum centered on the national and international problems associated with drugs, especially illicit drugs. It is a refereed publication with international contributors and subscribers. As a leader in its field, JDI is an instrument widely used by research scholars, public policy analysts, and those involved in the day-to-day struggle against the problem of drug abuse.