Thursday, February 15, 2018

Alaska data in national survey of criminal information systems

The most recent survey of criminal history information systems throughout the country shows that there is one day or less elapsed time between issuance of a protective order in the Alaska Court System and entry into the state file. This is similar to 20 other states, with the rest taking longer. Entry onto the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) File takes longer, 2–7 days, which puts Alaska slower than 19 other states and among the 13 states and Guam that take this amount of time.

SEARCH: The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics (click through to SEARCH website)Tracking of Alaska's criminal information systems and those throughout the country — including fingerprints, criminal warrants and disposition of cases — is covered in the newly released "Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2016." This is the fourteenth survey since 1989 conducted by SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, with funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) (click through to website)Authors of the newly released report caution comparing statistics from year to year due to the impact of fiscal constraints and other factors on state information systems. While Alaska has timely posting, within a day or less, of warrants on the state and NCIC Wanted Person file, it does not retain tracking information on criminal history records to show case status through the criminal justice process and does not post indictment information to the criminal history record. Final case disposition is posted.  Elapsed time between the occurrence of a felony court case disposition and its receipt by the repository is 2-7 days.

Alaska is one of 26 states that do not provide web-based noncriminal justice background checks to the public.

Finally, the report indicates that Alaska has plans to replace it's computerized criminal history systems between 2019 and 2021. The cost is yet to be determined.