Alaska Victimization Survey data on violence against women presented to Alaska Senate committees

Dr. André Rosay, Justice Center Director, and Lauree Morton, Interim Executive Director, Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, presented data from the 2010 Alaska Victimization Survey to a joint meeting of the Alaska Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Health and Social Services Committee on Monday, January 24, 2011. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are Senators Hollis French (Chair), Bill Wielechowski (Vice-Chair), Joe Paskvan, Lesil McGuire, and John Coghill. Members of the Senate Health & Social Services Committee are Senators Bettye Davis (Chair), Dennis Egan, Johnny Ellis, Kevin Meyer, and Fred Dyson.

The statewide Alaska Victimization Survey was conducted in 2010 and was modeled upon the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Surveillance System (NISVSS) developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the National Institute of Justice and the U.S. Department of Defense.  It provides the first definitive measures of the incidence and prevalence of violence against women in Alaska.  FY11 Alaska Victimization surveys in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and rural Alaska are currently in progress.

The January 24 presentation addressed study methodology, limitations, findings, and questions posed by legislators present at the meeting. The Powerpoint presentation to the joint committee meeting can be viewed at the UAA Justice Center website. Video of the full presentation before the joint meeting is available online from Gavel to Gavel Alaska, a statewide television service of KTOO-TV, Juneau’s public TV station.

The presentation and results of the survey were widely reported in the media:

• "Alaska's women suffer 'astonishingly high' rates of abuse" by Jill Burke, Alaska Dispatch, January 24, 2011.
• "Poll aims to get baseline data for Alaska domestic violence — 'ALARMING': Officials in Alaska may learn if efforts to curb the problem work" by Becky Bohrer (Associated Press), Anchorage Daily News, January 25, 2011.  (Also published in the Juneau Empire and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.)
• "Our view: Stunning numbers — Victimization survey quantifies a brutal Alaska reality," Anchorage Daily News (editorial), January 24, 2011.
• "Report: Rape, sexual assault often go unreported in Alaska" by Ted Land, KTUU Channel 2 News, January 24, 2011.
• "Alaska sexual violence far worse than reported: study" by Yereth Rosen, Reuters, January 24, 2011.
• "UAA Justice Center Survey Highlights Violence Against Women in Alaska" by Daysha Eaton. (KDLG 670-AM/89.9-FM Public Radio for Southwest Alaska, 4 Feb 2011). [No longer available online.]

See the UAA Justice Center website for further information on the Alaska Victimization Survey and on other Justice Center research on violence against women.