Dr. Lepage and 5 other UAA faculty to attend team-based learning collaborative conference

Dr. Cory R. Lepage, Justice faculty, received a UAA travel award to attend the Team-based Learning (TBL) Collaborative Conference in San Diego on February 28 - March 1. The mini-grant was funded by WWAMI. the College of Health, and the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE).

Six UAA faculty members received travel awards to attend the conference:  Dr. Lepage from the College of Health, 2 faculty from WWAMI, 1 from CAS, 1 from School of Engineering, and 1 faculty member from the Community and Technical College (CTC).

After the conference, in addition to implementing at least one TBL module into a course,  Dr. Lepage will join the other UAA TBL conference attendees in facilitating 3 TBL sessions for faculty during the spring 2013 semester.

In the Team-Based Learning approach, at the beginning of a course, each student is designated a member of a team. The teams are then given assignments that focus on fostering student interaction as students solve problems using course content. Management of the teams, team accountability, instructor feedback, and assignment design are all integral parts of TBL.

The Team-Based Learning Collaborative (TBLC) is a group of educators dedicated to supporting faculty from a variety of disciplines that have implemented, or wish to implement, Team-Based Learning.

Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center releases Fact Sheet on state and local law enforcement personnel in Alaska 1982 - 2011

The Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center (AJSAC) has released, "State and Local Law Enforcement Personnel in Alaska: 1982-2011,"  issue number 3 in its Fact Sheet publication series.  

This report looks at the number of sworn police officers and civilian employees in law enforcement agencies in Alaska, the ratio of sworn police officers to civilian employees, the number of female sworn police officers in law enforcement, and  presents comparisons with national data.  Data are drawn from the annual Crime in Alaska report of the Alaska Department of Public Safety and the FBI's Crime in the United States, both of which are part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) program.

The AJSAC is housed within the UAA Justice Center and publishes a monthly Fact Sheet addressing various crime and criminal justice topics. Dr. Brad Myrstol, Justice faculty, is the AJSAC director.

Fall 2012/Winter 2013 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum

The Fall 2012/Winter 2013 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum features articles on an integrated approach to mediation, Alaska correctional populations and trends in 2011, U.S. correctional populations in 2011, and a progress update on the Alaska Prisoner Reentry Task Force and the Alaska Five-Year Prisoner Reentry Strategic Plan.

Articles:

"Moving Beyond Brands: Integrating Approaches to Mediation" by Brian Jarrett

Mediation has become a competition among brands vying for distinction based more on market concerns than genuine difference. This is not a positive development for a professional field of endeavor. Mediation has much more to offer than competing claims of superiority that attempt to deride and disparage the competition. This article, which is written from a sociological viewpoint, challenges these claims and suggests that the mediation community should develop instead a broader integrated approach to mediation that is pragmatic, flexible, open-source, and based on a robust theoretical foundation.

"Alaska Correctional Populations 2011"

This article provides a description of Alaska correctional populations in 2011 based upon the Alaska Department of Corrections 2011 offender profile. At the end of 2011, there was a total of 5,727 offenders in prisons, jails, community residential centers, treatment centers, or offsite monitoring programs, and an additonal 5,951 offenders on probation or parole.

"Trends in Alaska Offender Demographics"

An aging offender population, a change in the proportion of offenders sentenced for violent versus non-violent crimes, an increase in offenders in community residential caenters and offiste programs, and an increase in average length of stay for felony and misdemeanor convictions are among the trends in Alaska offender demographics as described in the Alaska Department of Corrections 2011 offender profile.

"U.S. Correctional Populations 2011"

At year-end 2011, 1,504,150 offenders were incarcerated in the U.S. under federal or state jurisdiction, and an additional 735,601 individuals were in custody under local jurisdiction, for a total of 2,239,751 incarcerated individuals in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The U.S. corrections population in 2011 declined for the third consecutive year, but the U.S. continues to lead all other nations in both the rate of incarceration and the actual number of incarcerated persons.

"Alaska Prisoner Reentry Task Force Update"

The Alaska Prisoner Reentry Task Force, a sub-committee of the Criminal Justice Working Group (CJWG), focuses on promoting the goal that individuals released from incarceration do not return to custody. This article presents an update on progress on the The Alaska Five-Year Prisoner Reentry Strategic Plan, 2011–2016, which was released by Task Force in February 2011.

"Staff Changes"

Charlotte Titus has joined the Justice Center staff as office manager.

Panel of experts speak on working in Alaska corrections system on March 1 for National Criminal Justice Month

The  Justice Center, Justice Club, and the Pre-Law Society present the first in a series of lectures for National Criminal Justice Month in March 2013. 

Working in Institutional and Community Corrections

• Anthony Piper, Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP) Program Manager, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
• Rebecca Tozer, Probation Officer II, Alaska Department of Corrections
• Lt. Scott Dial & Sgt. Rodney Ramirez, Alaska Department of Corrections  

Date/time: Friday, March 1, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: UAA/APU Consortium Library, LIB 307
Parking is free in the library surface lots.

All events are free and open to UAA students, faculty, staff, and the public.

This is the 3rd annual National Criminal Justice Month series of presentations focusing on criminal justice issues.

Click here for information on all the presentations for National Criminal Justice Month.

Prof. Brandeis invited to address American Constitution Society for Law and Policy in Vermont - via Skype

Prof. Jason Brandeis, J.D., Justice faculty,  has been invited to address the Vermont Law School chapter of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) on his work in the field of constitutional law.  Via Skype, he will be a participant in the Career Panel on February 27 which focuses on what it is like to be involved in constitutional law practice.  Law students and members of the Vermont Law School community will be in attendance.

Prof. Brandeis' experience in constitutional law includes his tenure as staff attorney for ACLU of Alaska, and  his work as one of the attorneys who represented Joseph Frederick in Morse v. Frederick (also known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case), a student free speech case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007. Prof. Brandeis is a graduate of Vermont Law School.

Attorneys speak to Legal Studies students about ethics in prosecuting and defending criminal cases

Center l to r: Municipal Prosecutor Cynthia Franklin and defense attorney Michael Logue, Gorton & Logue.

Anchorage Municipal Prosecutor Cynthia Franklin, and defense attorney Michael Logue, Gorton & Logue, spoke to students in Prof. Deb Periman's "Legal Ethics and the Role of the Legal Professional" class on February 13.

Discussion focused on the ethical duties of prosecutors and defense counsel under the Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys and on the rules that govern the conduct of prosecutors specifically.  Ms. Franklin and Mr. Logue highlighted the working relationship between prosecutors and defense counsel, and responded to numerous questions from students.

Ms. Franklin has said that her view of prosecutorial ethics is reflected in a quote from Joseph Choate Hodges, a prominent and respected lawyer who practiced in New York at the turn of 20th century: "...while it is his [the prosecutor's] duty to bring to justice those whom he believed guilty, it is equally his duty to protect the innocent and to refrain from prosecuting those against whom no sufficient or reasonable proofs can be found."

L to r: Prof. Deb Periman, J.D.; Municipal Prosecutor Cynthia Franklin; defense counsel Michael Logue.

Justice Club to tour state crime lab on February 27 - sign up today!

Justice Club members and Justice majors are invited to tour the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, Wednesday, February 27, at 4:00 p.m. The tour is limited to 15 students.

If you are interested in going on the tour, email Kyle Mansfield, Justice Club Treasurer, by Monday afternoon.

The Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory is responsible for:
1.    Providing Biological Screening, DNA, latent fingerprint, firearm/toolmark, Blood Alcohol, and drug identification forensic science services to the law enforcement agencies in Alaska;
2.    Providing expert court testimony on lab results of tested evidence;
3.    Administering the statewide breath alcohol testing program; and,
4.    Training law enforcement officers in proper evidence collection and preservation techniques.

Former Justice Center directors engage in publication and research projects

Founding Justice Center Director and former Alaska Attorney General John Havelock is the author of Let's Get It Right: Why We Need An Alaska Constitutional Convention which explores the issues related to the convening of a constitutional convention, and highlights the need for various constitutional revisions to meet changing circumstances.

In 1975, he established the UAA Criminal Justice Center (today called the Justice Center) and served as Director, as well as a professor. During this time,  he also served as Director of Legal Studies for the UA system and developed a statewide major in legal studies. Today the Justice Center offers 5 undergraduate program options in Legal Studies approved by the American Bar Association.

Former Director John Angell is involved in researching and writing a history of the UAA Justice Center. He served as Assistant Director of the Justice Center from 1975 to 1979, and in 1979 became Director. In 1988 Dr. Angell accepted an appointment as Executive Director of the Department of Justice Services for Multnomah County, Oregon. He returned to the position of Director of the Justice Center in 1990 and retired in 1997.  He currently serves as Justice emeritus faculty.

Pre-Law Society web page is live! Check it out!

Check out the Pre-Law Society web page! Membership is open to all UAA students who are considering going to law school or any other career as a legal professional. 

Faculty advisors are Professor Ryan Fortson, J.D. - hrfortson@uaa.alaska.edu -  and Professor Jason Brandeis, J.D. -  jbrandeis@uaa.alaska.edu.

Prof. Periman chairs drafting committee for Alaska Youth Law Guide - now online!

The Alaska Youth Law Guide: A Handbook for Teens and Young Adults, a web project  of the Alaska Bar Association Law Related Education (LRE) Committee, is now online.  Prof. Deb Periman, J.D., was chair of the drafting subcommittee for the guide; Prof. Ryan Fortson, J.D., was also a member of the law guide subcommittee. Former adjunct faculty member Virginia Rusch served as principal editor. Barbara Armstrong, editor of the Alaska Justice Forum; Toni Moras, former Alaska Justice Forum editor; and Legal Studies faculty members Prof. Jason Brandeis, J.D. and Prof. Kristin Knudsen, J.D. were also among the more than 50 volunteers, lawyer and non-lawyer, who participated in this project.

 The website is a public education resource presented by the Alaska Bar Association Law Related Education Committee to help young Alaskans understand the law and how it may affect them. It provides general information about many of the legal issues teens and young adults are likely to encounter, and resources for getting more information or assistance. A number of other states also have youth law guides to assist young people in understanding and navigating the legal system.

Nearly 150 articles appear in chapters on Law Enforcement; Sex, Drugs & Rock n' Roll; Entering the Real World; Cars and Guns; Family Life; and Schools. Art work was selected from entries in the 2011 "Justice For All" art contest sponsored by the Alaska Court System and the Alaska Bar Law Related Education Committee.