Challenges of contaminated site cleanup in rural Alaska

Contaminated sites in Alaska, FY 2017.
Source: Contaminated Sites Database,
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

Alaska is ranked third in the U.S. for Formerly Used Defense Sites properties, most of which are in remote locations. Many of the sites were contaminated during World War II, or during the Cold War, when the long-term effects of chemicals were not understood. An article in the Summer 2018 Alaska Justice Forum looks at long term efforts to clean up these, and other contaminated sites in the state, and the disproportionate impact on rural Alaska Native communities.

AJiC Fact Sheet presents data on Alaska parolees and probationers 2002–2016

The June 2018 Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) Fact Sheet presents data on the characteristics of offenders who came under the supervision of the Alaska Department of Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole (DOC-PP) between 2002 and 2016. Probation and parole offender data are from the Alaska Department of Corrections’ annual Offender Profile publication.

Overall trends saw numbers of probationers and parolees increasing from 2002 to 2012, then decreasing through 2016. The majority of probationers and parolees are between 20 and 34 years old. The trend for both males and females followed the overall trend, increasing from 2002 to 2012 then decreasing. On average, from 2002 to 2016, Alaska Natives were 26.7% of the probation and parole population, Asian & or Pacific Islander 4.1%, Black 8.7%, and White 56.1%.

The fact sheet is by Random Reamey, Research Professional, Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) (http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/ajic/). The AJiC Fact Sheet series addresses various crime and criminal justice topics.

Citation:

* Reamey, Random (2018).  "Parole and Probation in Alaska, 2002–2016."  AJiC Fact Sheet 18-02 (Jun 2018).

Sequential Intercept Model: Framework for a 'wicked' problem

The Sequential Intercept Model offers conceptual points at which a person with serious mental illness could be diverted from the criminal justice system and into community-based treatment. A recent book that looks at the success of programs along the intercept continuum is reviewed in the spring 2018 edition of the Alaska Justice Forum. In May, the Department of Corrections is sponsoring a two-day workshop presented by Policy Research Associates and the SAMHSA GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation on the model and its reentry application.

Justice Center is temporarily relocating for Summer 2018

The Justice Center will be temporarily relocating over Summer 2018 due to renovations at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. We will be open as usual— 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m — for the summer session at our summer location at University Center, 130. The University Center is located at 3901 Old Seward Highway (see map below).

In the meantime, the Justice Center is a bit cluttered and messy, with packing boxes scattered about. Please don't let our mess dissuade you from stopping by  if you need to visit with faculty or staff. We are operating as usual, and are here to help in any way we can. Thanks for your patience and understanding while we work our way through this transition.

Sexual Assault Kit Initiative: Alaska making progress

Victim-centered policies being developed by the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS) for processing unsubmitted and untested sexual assault kits collected by Alaska State Troopers are one part of the state’s efforts to tackle more than 3,000 untested kits. DPS received Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) grants in 2016 and 2017 to address SAK's collected by Alaska State Troopers. Since DPS began work, the Alaska State Legislature passed SB55, a bill requiring a statewide SAK inventory, a plan to address untested kits statewide and a plan to prevent a future backlog. Read about progress being made on SAKI by DPS and how it could impact the more than 3,000 untested kits in Alaska in the spring 2018 Alaska Justice Forum.

Spring 2018 Alaska Justice Forum shows impact of VPSO involvement in sexual assault cases, Aleutian/Pribilof Island Alaska Victimization Survey results, Alaska Sexual Assault Kit Initiative and more

The 2018 spring edition of the Alaska Justice Forum includes articles dealing with Alaska’s high incidence of sexual violence including how VPSO-assistance in sex assault cases in western Alaska have high referral rates for prosecution.  An overview of results from the 2014–2015 Alaska Victimization Survey for the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands shows that 45% of adult women in the region have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both in their lifetime. In addition, an article on Alaska’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative provides an update on progress addressing unsubmitted and untested sexual assault kits collected by Alaska State Troopers and development of victim-centered policies by a group of statewide stakeholders.

The Justice Center recently developed a report for the Alaska Department of Public Safety showing that troopers in the Mat-Su Borough and part of the Valdez Cordova census area are chronically over-used, causing operational problems. The report is included in the spring Forum along with a book review that describes the Sequential Intercept Model. The model provides a framework for diverting a person with serious mental illness from the criminal justice system into community-based treatment.

The 2018 spring Alaska Justice Forum print and expanded web editions are now available and include:

• High referral rate for VPSO-assisted sex assault cases
• Alaska Victimization Survey: Aleutian/Pribilof Island
• Sexual Assault Kit Initiative: Alaska making progress
• Workload-based staffing model shows Troopers in B-Detachment chronically understaffed (web only)
• Sequential Intercept Model: Framework for a ‘wicked’ problem
• Myrstol is new Justice Center director 

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

Download spring 2018 Alaska Justice Forum print edition

View web edition

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Cravez speaks at Women's History Month event

Pamela Cravez, editor of the Alaska Justice Forum and author of The Biggest Damned Hat: Tales from Alaska's Territorial Lawyers and Judges, provided a presentation on Alaska's early women lawyers with lawyer and historian Barbara Hood. Cravez and Hood had both been coordinators of Alaska's Joint State-Federal Gender Equality Task Force. Their presentation was sponsored by the ACLU of Alaska, Anchorage Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section and the Anchorage Association of Women Lawyers. More than 50 lawyers attended the presentation in honor of Women's History Month.

Alaska Court System Annual Report FY 2017

The Alaska Court System Annual Report FY 2017, released last week, includes an overview of the court system, review of court initiatives over the fiscal year, photo directory of Alaska Court System judges and magistrate judges, maps of court locations, statistical tables of court system activity, and photos of Alaska courthouses and scenic areas around the state.

This is the sixth year that Melissa S. Green, Justice Center publication specialist, has worked with Antonia Moras, project coordinator for the court system and former editor of the Alaska Justice Forum, to produce the report. Ms. Green collaborated on design, did layout and compositing of text, statistical tables, maps, and photographs for both the annual report and a more abbreviated Profile of the Alaska Court System 2018.

Ms. Green also collaborated with Ms. Moras on a major redesign of the report in FY 2012.

Annual reports for FY 2007–FY 2017 are available on the Alaska Court System website.

Pretrial risk assessment tool provides Alaska courts new information on defendants

Bail hearing at Anchorage Correctional Complex Court
with Judge Douglas H. Kossler presiding.

Beginning January 1, Alaska courts began receiving information from a pretrial risk assessment tool to assist in bail decisions. The goal is to improve public safety by reducing the number of defendants who fail to appear for trial or commit a new crime while out on bail. Read about it in the Winter 2018 Alaska Justice Forum.

Pretrial Division Director explains new risk assessment tool

Geri Fox, Director of the Alaska Department of Corrections’
Pretrial Enforcement Division, speaks with Alaska Justice Forum
Editor Pamela Cravez about the advantages and
limitations of Alaska’s new pretrial risk assessment tool.

January 1, Alaska courts began using a pretrial risk assessment tool to assist in bail decisions. The goal is to improve public safety by reducing the number of defendants who fail to appear for trial or commit a new crime while out on bail. Geri Fox, Director of the Alaska Department of Corrections’ Pretrial Enforcement Division, speaks with Alaska Justice Forum Editor Pamela Cravez about the advantages and limitations of Alaska’s new pretrial risk assessment tool.  See the video

Learn more about the development of Alaska's pretrial risk assessment tool and pretrial assessment tools used nationally in the Winter 2018 Alaska Justice Forum.

AJiC Fact Sheet reports value of stolen property reported 1985–2016

The January 2018 Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) Fact Sheet presents data on the value of stolen property reported in Alaska from 1985 to 2016 as reported in the Department of Public Safety publication Crime in Alaska. Overall, the 31-year trend reveals that the total value of stolen property in Alaska was relatively steady with a trough beginning in 2008 and rising in 2014. The increase in stolen property value from 2014 to 2016 was mainly due to increases in the aggregate values of stolen motor vehicles and miscellaneous items.

After adjusting for inflation, the highest total value of stolen property was recorded in 1990 at $61,651,724. The lowest total value of stolen property recorded was in 2011 at $22,189,499.

Of the different property types, motor vehicles represented the largest value and share of stolen property. On average, motor vehicles were 53.7% ($24,246,790 per year) of the total value of stolen property.

The fact sheet is by Random Reamey, Research Professional, Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC). The AJiC Fact Sheet series addresses various crime and criminal justice topics.

Citation:

Reamey, Random. (2018). "Value of Stolen Property Reported in Alaska, 1985–2016."  AJiC Fact Sheet 18-01 (Jan 2018).

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.

Ben Ervin joins AJiC as research professional

Ben Ervin, AJiC research professional

Ben Ervin, B.A. Political Science and Communication, has joined the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) in UAA's Justice Center as a research professional. Ervin recevied the Kenneth Olenik Social Science Award at Aurora University in Chicago, where he graduated in 2017. A Colorado native, Ervin also received his Wilderness First Responder certification in 2017. When he isn't working on AJiC projects, he plans to be outdoors skiing, backpacking, climbing and working on trail crews.

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.

Cravez speaks at Tundra Vision and Justice Alaska about territorial lawyers

Pamela Cravez, editor of the Alaska Justice Forum, was featured speaker at the Tundra Vision Lecture Series this week. She told stories from her recent book, The Biggest Damned Hat: Tales for Alaska's Territorial Lawyers and Judges at the community history event.

Next week, Cravez will be a guest on Alaska Public Radio's Justice Alaska, a call-in radio show featuring topics on Alaska's justice system. The show will be broadcast on KSKA 91.1 FM at 2 p.m., Wednesday, December 20.

AJiC releases fact sheet on motor vehicle thefts

The most recent issue of the AJiC Fact Sheet, "Motor Vehicle Theft Arrests Reported in Alaska, 1986–2015," presents data on motor vehicle theft arrests reported in Alaska from 1986 to 2016 as reported in the Alaska Department of Public Safety publication Crime in Alaska. Overall, the motor vehicle arrest rate consistently declined between 1990 and 2014 when it reached the lowest level in the 1985–2016 period. The motor vehicle arrest rate rebounded in 2015 and 2016. Increases in Alaska motor vehicle arrest rates in 2015 and 2016 were particularly pronounced among adults and males, while motor vehicle arrest rates for juveniles and females remained minimal in comparison. On average, adults accounted for 62.6 percent and juveniles for 37.4 percent of all arrests for motor vehicle thefts reported in Alaska from 1985 to 2016. Males accounted for 81.8 percent of all motor vehicle theft arrests, females 18.2 percent.

The fact sheet is by Random Reamey, Research Professional, Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC). The AJiC Fact Sheet series addresses various crime and criminal justice topics.

Citation:

• Reamey, Random. (2017). "Motor Vehicle Theft Arrests Reported in Alaska, 1985–2015." AJiC Fact Sheet 17-03 (Dec 2017).

Random Reamey joins AJiC as research professional

Random Reamey, new AJiC research professional.

Please join us in welcoming Random Reamey to the UAA Justice Center. Random is a research professional in the Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC). Prior to working at the Justice Center, Random was a research professional and graduate research assistant at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER). At ISER he analyzed data from the American Community Survey and other sources to analyze how potential tax options used to balance the Alaska state budget would impact children and families in urban and rural Alaska. This included an analysis of the impact of the Permanent Fund Dividend on Alaskan households. Random began working at ISER as a First Alaskans Institute Intern as part of his undergraduate business degree and continued working there after graduating with a B.B.A. in Economics from UAA in summer 2016. He is currently enrolled in the M.B.A. program at UAA and is interested in business intelligence. Research and analysis for AJiC is similar to the research and analysis in business, according to Random. Decision makers in both fields require good data and analysis in order to make the best decisions possible.

Crime rates and criminal justice reform among articles in Fall 2017 Alaska Justice Forum

Crime rates and criminal justice reform, police staffing, and Crisis Intervention Teams are featured in the Fall 2017 Alaska Justice Forum.

• "Crime Rates and Alaska Criminal Justice Reform" by Brad A. Myrstol and Pamela Cravez 
• "How Do You Determine the Right Size of a Police Department? Don’t Look to Crime Rates" by Troy C. Payne 
• "Crisis Intervention Teams Assist Law Enforcement" by Pamela Cravez
• "When Mental Illness Becomes a Police Matter"

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.