Justice Center disproportionate minority contact research now on National Criminal Justice Reference Service database

The Justice Center study, "Final Report: Anchorage Disproportionate Minority Contact Study" (2010) prepared in partnership with the Anchorage Disproportionate Minority Contact Initiative has recently been added to the National Criminal Justice Service (NCJRS) database.

Co-authors of the report are Dr. André B. Rosay and Dr. Ronald S. Everett of the Justice Center, and Will Hurr, Co-chair of the Anchorage Disproportionate Minority Contact Initiative.  The study was funded by the National Institute of Justice.

NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and substance abuse information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide.

Prof. Brandeis attends program on U.S. Supreme Court appellate advocacy

Prof. Jason Brandeis, J.D., Justice faculty, attended a program on U.S. Supreme Court appellate practice which highlighted the complexities of arguing a case before the highest court in the nation. Carter G. Phillips, J.D., managing partner of the Washington D.C. office of Sidley Austin LLP, was the featured speaker at this June 25 continuing legal education event sponsored by the Alaska Bar Association. Mr. Phillips, a veteran of 75 U.S. Supreme Court arguments and 90 Federal Circuit Court arguments, is one of the country's preeminent appellate lawyers. 

Prof. Brandeis was one of the attorneys who represented Joseph Frederick in Morse v. Frederick, a student free speech case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007.  He noted that “Carter Phillips is one of the most experienced Supreme Court attorneys in the country. He shared many stories from his years of practice before the Court —stories that helped humanize the lawyers and justices who work on such important matters. He also explained a number of tips and strategies for effective appellate advocacy and gave insight into the how the current makeup of the Court will shape major decisions for years to come.”

Dr. Chamard and Dr. Payne participate in Rutgers risk terrain modeling workshop webinar

Dr. Sharon Chamard and Dr. Troy Payne, Justice faculty, are participating in a Rutgers Center on Public Security workshop webinar, "Risk Terrain Modeling for Spatial Risk Assessment."

Risk terrain modeling (RTM) is an approach to risk assessment that combines separate map layers to produce risk terrain maps showing the compounded presence, absence, or intensity of all risk factors at every location throughout the landscape. It paints a picture of place-based context for criminogenesis - the likelihood of a crime occurring.

This place-based context permits the forecasting of future crime locations not because crimes occurred there yesterday, but because the environmental conditions are ripe for crimes to occur there tomorrow. RTM produces meaningful and actionable information that can also be used for resource allocation, needs assessment, tactical operations, strategic planning, and place-based evaluation.

Dr. Rosay presents at National Institute of Justice conference

Dr. Rosay speaks to participants.

Dr. André Rosay, Justice Center, presented on "Crimes Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women: Research Informing Sustainable Practice and Policy" at the recent National Institute of Justice (NIJ) conference held June 18-20 in Virginia.  Katie TePas, Office of the Governor, State of Alaska, co-presented with him.

Their presentation focused on the use of data to sustain the domestic violence and sexual assault “Choose Respect” initiative in Alaska. Goals of the “Choose Respect” initiative include prevention, education, strengthening law enforcement, enforcing tougher prosecution, protecting survivors and helping survivors heal.

The theme of the conference was "Turning to Science: Enhancing Justice, Improving Safety, Reducing Costs."

L to r: Katherine TePas and Dr. Rosay at the conference.

Dr. Payne to attend Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) summer program

Dr. Troy Payne, Justice faculty, will attend an Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) summer program in July on "Time Series Analysis" which examines how time series methods can be applied to social science research.

Time series data - chronological sequences of observations - can be used with statistical models that allow researchers to look at the movement of social science variables over time (e.g., public opinion, government policy, judicial decisions, socioeconomic measures). The results allow analysts to estimate relationships between variables and test hypotheses regarding time-ordered data.

ICPSR’s summer program was established in 1963 and is recognized internationally for its basic and advanced training in social science research methodologies and technologies.  The focus is multidisciplinary and addresses the theoretical and practical concerns that arise in research on substantive social issues.

ICPSR also acts as a data repository and archive. ICPSR's data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences, and 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism and other fields is available to UAA-affiliated faculty, staff, and students through the Justice Center's maintenance of active ICPSR membership. Researchers at member institutions can access data from a wide range of studies for secondary data analysis at no per-project cost. Dr. Payne is the UAA representative for ICPSR and can facilitate requests from the UAA community to access and utilize ICPSR data. Contact Dr. Payne about ICPSR data access.

Alaska Justice Forum editor appointed to board of directors of Partners for Progress

Barbara Armstrong, editor of the Alaska Justice Forum, the quarterly research publication of the UAA Justice Center, was recently appointed to the board of directors of Partners for Progress.

Partners for Progress is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in Anchorage that works to support therapeutic justice throughout Alaska's criminal justice system.  One focus of Partners for Progress has been the Startup Fund for participants in the Anchorage and Fairbanks Wellness Courts. The Wellness Court is a jail diversion program offering intensive substance abuse treatment and community supervision to support the participant’s abstinence and recovery.

Participants in the Wellness Courts must pay for their own food and shelter, as well as meet the requirements of the court to attend treatment and sobriety groups and maintain employment.  If they are addicted to alcohol, they generally must take a medicine that quells their craving for alcohol and pay for a device that monitors their sobriety. 

The Partners for Progress Startup Fund provides money for housing, food, bus passes, medicine, monitoring and other essentials to participants who are making a good faith effort to follow the court-ordered treatment program to gain and maintain sobriety.  The Wellness Court Team and Partners for Progress work together to assure that funds are not used as a substitute for employment nor where other public or private resources are available to the participant.  

Dr. Rivera publishes report for Alaska ABC Board on analysis of strategies to reduce underage tobacco and alcohol sales

Dr. Marny Rivera, Justice faculty, has published a report for the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, "An Analysis of Strategies Designed to Reduce Sales of Alcohol and Tobacco to Underage Persons: A Preliminary Report."  Khristy Parker, Research Specialist, is a co-author of the report.

The study was requested by the Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) which is responsible for enforcing age-of-sale laws, and focuses on identifying ways enforcement practices for alcohol sales could be modified to achieve higher compliance rates with age-of-sale laws, comparable to those seen in tobacco enforcement.

Among the study recommendations are:

• Amending ABC Board regulations to implement a penalty structure that includes mandatory license suspensions, revocations, and mandatory fines.
• Increasing the number of compliance checks at each licensed location in the state.
• Enhancing funding and resources for merchant education and compliance check enforcement efforts.
• Developing a multi-pronged underage drinking reduction strategy.
• Collecting data and evaluating enforcement efforts to assess effectiveness of strategies.

Data from the report were presented by the ABC Board to the Alaska Legislature in February of this year.

Dr. Rivera honored for research on underage drinking in Alaska

Dr. Rivera holds the certificate of recognition
as a community partner of the VOA Alaska
Juvenile Alcohol Safety Action Program.

Dr. Marny Rivera, Justice faculty, was recently honored for her research work in 2011 on underage drinking; this research was conducted in partnership with the Volunteers of America Alaska (VOA Alaska) as part of VOA Alaska's Juvenile Alcohol Safety Action Program (JASP). JASP was selected as a Merit Finalist  for the 2011 Community Partnership Award  from the Mutual of America Foundation.

UAA was recognized as a community partner of VOA Alaska at the Community Partnership Award Luncheon hosted by the Mutual of America Foundation on May 24 in Anchorage.

VOA Alaska has partnered with the UAA Justice Center, as well as the State of Alaska District Attorney's Office, the Alaska Court System, and others, in administering the Juvenile Alcohol Safety Action Program (JASP). Since 2005, JASP has worked with Alaska youths 13-20 years old. The program streamlines underage drinking cases by providing a model and services  for screening, case management, treatment evaluation, and verification of program completion by juvenile offenders.

The Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award honors outstanding contributions that nonprofit organizations, in partnership with public, private, and other social sector organizations, make to society. The Foundation sponsors a yearly competition and selects 10 organizations from nationwide submissions for recognition. As a Merit Finalist, the Volunteers of America Alaska Juvenile Alcohol Safety Action Program will be featured in a documentary video produced by the Foundation.