Eight-year recidivism study offers greater understanding

Araceli Valle, research professional with the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) at the UAA Justice Center, writes about a new eight-year recidivism study in the Winter 2018 Alaska Justice Forum. As part of its Alaska Results First analysis, AJiC followed offenders for eight years after they’d been released from an Alaska Department of Corrections facility, expanding our understanding of recidivism patterns for a large group of offenders well beyond any prior study.

Alaska Justice Forum looks at evidence-based practices, including new pretrial risk assessment tool, and new 8-year recidivism rate study

The 2018 Winter edition of the Alaska Justice Forum looks at  evidence-based practices in Alaska’s criminal justice system including the development of a new pretrial risk assessment tool and benefit to cost analysis of adult criminal justice programs.

The benefit cost analysis is part of the Alaska Justice Information Center’s (AJiC) Alaska Results First Analysis. Alaska Results First has yielded wide ranging information about Alaska’s evidence-based programs as well as a groundbreaking eight-year recidivism rate study.

Also in the Winter 2018 edition you’ll find the most recent AJiC Fact Sheet presenting data on motor vehicle theft arrests reported in Alaska from 1986 to 2016.

Articles in the 2018 Winter edition include:

• Editor’s note: Alaska’s evidence-based investment
• Pretrial risk assessment tool developed for Alaska
• Advantages and limitations of new pretrial risk assessment tool, video with Geri Fox, Director of the Alaska Department of Corrections Pretrial Enforcement Division and Alaska Justice Forum Editor Pamela Cravez (web only)
• Benefit vs. cost of Alaska criminal justice programs
• Expanded view of recidivism in Alaska
• Alaska Justice Information Center Fact Sheet: Motor Vehicle Theft Arrests reported in Alaska from 1986-2016 (web only)

Subscribe to the Alaska Justice Forum and receive it quarterly.

The Alaska Justice Forum is a publication of the UAA Justice Center.

Valle co-authors article advocating oral vocabulary training

Araceli Valle, Research Professional with the Alaska Justice Information Center at UAA's Justice Center, recently co-authored an article published in PLOS ONE, "Oral vocabulary training program for Spanish third-graders with low socio-economic status: A randomized controlled trial."

Araceli Valle

Valle and her co-authors recommend explicit and rich vocabulary instruction as a means to fostering vocabulary knowledge in low socio-economic status (SES) Spanish elementary third graders.  The researchers developed and applied two rich oral vocabulary training programs (definition and context), based on literature about vocabulary instruction for English-speaking children, to a sample of 100 Spanish elementary school third-graders recruited from areas of predominantly low SES. Compared to an alternative read-aloud method which served as the control, both explicit methods were more effective in teaching word meanings when assessed immediately after the intervention. Five months later, though, only the definition group continued to demonstrate significant vocabulary knowledge gains.

Gomes-Koban C, Simpson IC, Valle A, Defior S. (2017). Oral vocabulary training program for Spanish third-graders with low socio-economic status: A randomized controlled trial. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0188157.

AJIC report features information about the effectiveness of Alaska's adult criminal justice programs

The Alaska Results First Initiative, a new report from the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) at the Justice Center, shows that most of Alaska's evidence-based adult criminal justice programs are showing positive return on state investment of money. Notably, all but one of those programs are shown to measurably reduce recidivism (the likelihood that an inmate will re-offend when released), which not only improves public safety, but saves the state the costs associated with criminal activity.  Learn more.

Myrstol and Valle present Results First data to Alaska Criminal Justice Commission

L-R: Emlyn Struthers, Pew-MacArthur Results First,
Dr. Brad Myrstol, and Dr. Araceli Valle.

Dr. Brad Myrstol, Justice Center faculty and director of the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) and the  Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center (AJSAC),  and Dr. Araceli Valle, AJiC research professional, presented Results First benefit to cost model estimates on Alaska adult criminal justice programs to the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission and Alaska Criminal Justice Working Group this week. The commission is charged by the Legislature with evaluating and making recommendations to improve criminal laws and practices, with the goal of enhancing public safety, offender rehabilitation, victim restitution, and reducing costs.

UAA College of Health Dean and Vice Provost for
Health Programs Jeff Jessee at Criminal Justice Commission.

Alaska is one of more than 30 jurisdictions throughout the country partnering with the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative to use innovative research tools to analyze the benefit to cost ratio of evidence-based programs to reduce recidivism.  Representatives from Pew-MacArthur Results First were in Anchorage this week for the presentations. They discussed the importance of this work with the Commission and Working Group.

The Results First analysis of evidence-based programs provides policymakers with a tool to better understand the relationship between the state’s monetary investment in programs and the return on that investment in terms of the benefits of reduced recidivism.

Alaska Criminal Justice Working Group reviews preliminary Results First data

Dr. Brad Myrstol, Justice Center faculty and director of the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) and the  Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center (AJSAC),  presented Results First benefit to cost model estimates on a dozen Alaska Department of Corrections (ADOC) programs to the Alaska Criminal Justice Working Group (ACJWG)  in Juneau last week.  Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, Supreme Court Justice Joel Bolger,  Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth,  Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams, Mental Health Trust Authority Chief Operating Officer Steve Williams, were among those who responded to the findings with vigorous discussion, including how results might be used to inform future decision-making by policy makers and program heads in the criminal justice system.

Dr. Brad Myrstol

Dr. Araceli Valle

Dr. Myrstol and Dr. Araceli Valle, AJiC research professional, fielded questions from the working group regarding how costs of programs were determined as well as how recidivism rates were calculated. They told the working group that program costs were provided by ADOC and only the state’s investment in programs was used to calculate each program’s benefit cost ratio, a monetary measure of the state’s return on investment. Estimates of recidivism reduction and victimization costs avoided when recidivism is reduced were derived from research conducted outside of Alaska.

Alaska is one of more than 30 jurisdictions throughout the country to partner with the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative. The initiative  uses innovative research tools to analyze the benefit cost ratio of evidence-based programs designed to reduce recidivism.

“The presentation went well,” Dr. Myrstol said. “It generated a lot of discussion and gave the group a lot to think about how this specific resource can be used to inform future program investment decisions.”

Other programs to be run through the Results First adult criminal justice model include therapeutic courts, ASAP (Alcohol Safety Action Program), and Alaska’s batterers’ intervention programs.

Dr. Myrstol and Dr. Valle provide Alaska Results First benefit cost on Alaska Department of Corrections programs

Dr. Brad Myrstol, Justice Center faculty and director of the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) and the Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center (AJSAC), and Dr. Araceli Valle, AJiC research professional, presented findings from the Alaska Results First Initiative to Dean Williams, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections (ADOC), this week. Alaska is one of more than 30 jurisdictions throughout the country partnering with the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative to use innovative research tools to analyze the benefit to cost ratio of evidence- based programs to reduce recividism. Alaska Results First analysis of evidence-based ADOC programs provides policymakers with a tool to better understand the relationship between the state’s investment in programs and the return on that investment in terms of the reduced future costs of recividism.

Alaska Justice Information Center presents report to Alaska Criminal Justice Commission and Criminal Justice Working Group

Dr. Brad Myrstol speaks to the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission.

The Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) recently presented its first progress report and initial findings describing work on the Alaska Results First Initiative to the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC) and the Criminal Justice Working Group (CJWG).  This work is in partnership with the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, a joint effort of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Results First focuses on helping states identify evidence-based programs that reduce recidivism.

Dr. Brad Myrstol (center) and Dr. Araceli Valle (on right) discuss Results First
at the Criminal Justice Working Group meeting.

Dr. Brad Myrstol, AJiC Director, made the presentation in June to the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission and described the steps taken to identify adult criminal justice programs in Alaska that receive state funding, to match them to evidence-based programs in a national database, and to determine the benefit-cost of the programs. Five baseline cohorts of offenders have been identified and will be used in the benefit-cost model for the recidivism follow-up period of 7 years.

In August, Dr. Myrstol and Dr. Araceli Valle, AJiC Research Professional, discussed the Results First report with the Criminal Justice Working Group.  The CJWG will be working with the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission to evaluate data collected and analyzed by AJiC for the Results First project.

Alaska Justice Information Center issues first report on Alaska Results First Initiative

Dr. Brad Myrstol (standing center), AJiC Director, welcomed the group.
Dr. Araceli Valle (far right at podium), AJiC Research Professional, presented
data from the report.

The Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) recently presented its first progress report and initial findings describing work on the Alaska Results First Initiative to the AJiC Steering Committee. The steering committee was formed to provide the AJiC Director with ongoing input and guidance, and to facilitate the work of AJiC. The AJiC Steering Committee comprises key criminal justice policymakers and stakeholders, including state government and tribal entity representatives.

This first report describes the development of an inventory of adult criminal justice programs in Alaska  - both prison- and community-based, and the process to determine each program's level of effectiveness. 

Dr. Myrstol, (standing), AJiC Director, and Sarah Galgano,
Pew Results First Technical Assistance Team, discussed how
recidivism data are collected and analyzed.

AJiC will next be working with the Pew-MacArthur Results First benefit-cost model which calculates the monetary benefits of an adult criminal justice program based on its expected effect on recidivism. Baseline cohorts have been identified and will be studied during a 7-year follow-up period to analyze recidivism rates.

The Pew-Mac Arthur Results First Initiative technical team  provides assistance to AJiC, and team members also attended and presented information  to the steering committee.  In spring 2015, Alaska became the 19th jurisdiction to partner with the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative, a joint effort of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The goal of this initiative is to encourage states to be good stewards of public monies by developing policies and investing in program that rigorous research has shown to be effective.

Summer-Fall 2015 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum

The Summer/Fall 2015 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum presents articles on a survey of studies on judicial selection methods used by U.S. states, selected milestones from the UAA Justice Center's 40-year history, an intervention to reduce public disorder in Anchorage's Town Square Park, 2014 institutional populations under authority of the Alaska Department of Corrections, and smart justice initiatives in Alaska.The 12-page issue includes the following articles:

"A Survey of Studies on Judicial Selection" by Ryan Fortson and Kristin S. Knudsen

The Alaska legislature is considering a bill — Senate Joint Resolution 3 — that would put before voters a state constitutional amendment to change the composition of the Alaska Judicial Council and the way its members are selected. The Alaska Judicial Council plays a constitutionally-mandated role in the selection of Alaska’s judges and also makes recommendations to voters concerning retaining or not retaining judges as part of the judicial retention election process. This article reviews selected existing studies relevant to potential effects of this proposed change to the council composition — studies that examined judicial effectiveness, responsiveness of judges to public opinion, and public perception of judges.

"UAA Justice Center 40th Anniversary 1975–2015"

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the UAA Justice Center presents a timeline of selected milestones from its history.

"'Activating' Park Spaces in Anchorage’s Town Square Park (Research Note)"
by Troy C. Payne and Daniel Reinhard

This brief research note describes an intervention designed to increase activity in Anchorage's Town Square Park in an effort to reduce public disorder in the park. An abbreviated evaluation of the intervention is included.

"2014 Alaska Department of Corrections Institutional Population"

This article looks at highlights from the 2014 Alaska Offender Profile published by the Alaska Department of Corrections (DOC), with a focus on the 2014 institutional population defined as pretrial detainees, post-conviction inmates, and probation and/or parole violators housed in a correctional facility. A brief sidebar describes Alaska's unified system of corrections.

"Smart Justice in Alaska" by Barbara Armstrong

Smart justice initiatives seek to reform criminal justice systems by reducing correctional populations and recidivism while lowering costs, maintaining offender accountability, and ensuring public safety. This article describes two smart justice initiatives underway in Alaska, “Results First” and “Justice Reinvestment."

"Faculty Notes"

Dr. Brad Myrstol and Prof. Kristin Knudsen have been recognized with Chancellor's Awards for Excellence. Prof. Deb Periman has been promoted to Professor of Justice. Prof. Jason Brandeis has been awarded tenure and been promoted to Associate Professor.

"Alaska Justice Information Center Welcomes Staff"

Araceli Valle, Ph.D., and Karin Thomas, M.S., have joined the staff of the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJIC) as Research Professionals.

Alaska Justice Information Center welcomes new staff

Araceli Valle, Ph.D., and Karin Thomas, M.S., have joined the staff of the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJIC) as Research Professionals.

Dr. Araceli Valle received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Developmental Psychology and her M.S. in E.E. Computer Engineering from Stanford University.  She is a former faculty member of the UAF School of Education and, is an adjunct faculty member of the UAA College Preparatory & Developmental Studies Department.

Karin Thomas received her M.S. in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and formerly worked for the New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center in the University of New Mexico Institute for Social Research. She has an intermediate proficiency in Russian, and has taught English as a second language (ESL) in Russia.


The Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative in Alaska is being guided by AJIC and the AJIC steering committee made up of representatives from First Alaskans Institute, Alaska Judicial Council, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Alaska Division of Legislative Finance, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Alaska Department of Corrections, Alaska Department of Law, Alaska Public Defender Agency, and the Alaska Department of Public Safety. Dr. Brad Myrstol is the director of the Alaska Justice Information Center and director of the Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center.

AJIC is jointly funded by the state of Alaska and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and housed within the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center.