Justice Center awarded contract to design evaluation strategy for Fairbanks domestic violence probationer pilot project

Rabinowitz Courthouse, Fairbanks

The Justice Center has been awarded a contract by the Alaska Department of Corrections to design and implement an evaluation strategy for a new pilot program in Fairbanks. The pilot program is aimed at ensuring accountability of misdemeanor domestic violence offenders while they are on probation.

Called the Fairbanks PACE (Probationer Accountability with Certain Enforcement) Pilot Project, this program is modeled on the PACE program in Anchorage for probationers who have substance abuse issues. A key component of this program ensures that even minor violations are responded to quickly by the court.  

The preliminary phase of the evaluation will run through June 30, 2012 and includes monitoring data collection, implementing a victim survey, and formulating a long-range evaluation component. Dr. Cory R. Lepage, Justice faculty, is the principal investigator.

In his State of the Judiciary address to the Alaska Legislature in February of this year, Chief Justice Walter Carpeneti talked about the possible expansion of the PACE program based on the positive results seen in Anchorage with probationers remaining "compliant and on the road to recovery."