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Alaska Justice System Expenditures, 1984–2001

Sidebar story:Justice System Employment

Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage. (Summer 2004). "Alaska Justice System Expenditures, 1984-2001." Alaska Justice Forum 21(2): 1-3. Justice system operating expenditures in Alaska have been increasing much more quickly than the overall state budget. To a great extent, this is due to the steep rise in the correctional budget. This article provides figures on operating costs for Alaska's major justice system agencies—the Alaska Court System, the Departments of Public Safety, Corrections, and Law, and the Public Defender and Office of Public Advocacy—for state fiscal years 1984-2001. An accompanying sidebar story on justice system employment indicates that, compared with most other U.S. states, Alaska has a larger public employment sector in which justice system positions form a smaller segment.

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Alaska criminal justice system

Justice system operating expenditures in Alaska have been increasing much more quickly than the overall state budget. To a great extent, this is due to the steep rise in the correctional budget.

From FY 1984 through FY 2001, total operating costs for the major state justice system agencies (Court System, Public Safety, Corrections, Law and the Public Defender and Office of Public Advocacy) grew by 96.2 percent, from approximately $196 million to over $384 million. (Figure 1, Table 1). The total state operating budget, for all agencies, rose 59.4 percent over the same period, and the state population grew 20.7 percent (Figure 2).

These justice system totals do not include capital expenditures or local costs, such as for local police departments; nor do they include the budgets of those divisions that handle the administration of juvenile justice.

A significant portion of the overall increase in justice system expenditures can be attributed to the increase in the budget for the Department of Corrections. As Figure 1 shows, in dollars, the DOC budget rose the most sharply of any of the agencies. It almost tripled, increasing from just under $58 million in FY 1984 to close to $168 million in FY 2001.

The total operating expenses for these major justice system agencies also consumed a slightly bigger share of the overall state operating budget in FY 2001 (Figure 3). In FY 1984, the justice system share was about 7 percent. By FY 2001 it had climbed to close to 9 percent.

Figure 1. Alaska Justice Agencies, Operating Budgets, FY 1984 to FY 2001

Table 1. Alaska Justice Agencies, Operating Budgets, FY 1984 to FY 2001

Table 2. Alaska Justice Agency Budgets as Percentage of Total State Budget, FY 1984 and FY 2001

Figure 3. Alaska Justice Agencies, Operating Budgets, FY 1984 and FY 2001

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Figure 3. Alaska Justice Agencies, FY 1984 and FY 2001. Click through for full size.

Justice System Employment

The number of people employed in justice system positions in Alaska in 2001 was among the lowest in the country, as a percentage of overall public employment. According to figures released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 9.8 percent of all Alaska public sector employees worked in the justice system in 2001. On average among the fifty states and the District of Columbia, 12.9 percent of public sector workers were employed by the justice system. Twelve states showed a lower percentage, with West Virginia the lowest, at 7.8 percent. Nevada was the state with the highest percentage—17.4 percent.

Alaska, however, employed more people per capita in justice system positions than most other states. With 75.9 full-time equivalent positions per 10,000 population, it was above the national mean of 69.7 and higher than all but six other states and the District of Columbia. West Virginia had the lowest justice system employment per capita, with 41.7 positions per 10,000 population, and the District of Columbia had the highest, at 118.6.

What these two sets of figures say , in other words, is that in comparison to much of the rest of the country, Alaska has a larger public employment sector, in which justice system positions form a smaller segment.

The figures presented in this article were taken from Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin “Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 2001,” NCJ 202792.