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Since last autumn the federally-appointed Alaska Rural Justice and Law
Enforcement Commission has been examining various aspects of rural justice
services. The legislation that set up the commission requires it to make
recommendations on the following:
- Creating a unified law enforcement system, court system, and system
of local laws or ordinances for Alaska Native villages and communities
of varying sizes, including the possibility of first, second, and third
class villages with different powers;
- Meeting the law enforcement and judicial personnel needs in rural
Alaska, including the possible use of cross deputization in a way that
maximizes the existing resources of federal, state, local, and tribal
governments;
- Addressing the needs to regulate alcoholic beverages, including
the prohibition of the sale, importation, use, or possession of alcoholic
beverages, and to provide restorative justice for persons who violate
such laws including treatment; and
- Addressing the problem of domestic violence and child abuse,
including treatment options and restorative justice. (Public Law
108-199)
The commission is working toward releasing
a final report by the end of this June. Whatever the recommendations it
finally makes, some of the by-products from its work have already advanced
the public discussion of rural justice.
The main article
in this issue of the Alaska Justice Forum is a summary of
the evaluations made over the last quarter century with regard to the
Village Public Safety Officer Program—which has been one of the
most important focuses of the commission. The broader report from which
the article is derived is probably the most thorough overview of the VPSO
program yet prepared. It was researched and written by Justin Roberts
for the Alaska Federation of Natives. AFN has made the study available
to the Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission.
The Forum plans to publish other
articles and reports related to the work of the commission as they emerge.
* * *
As part of its public education mission,
the Justice Center at UAA is compiling a bibliography of studies, reports,
and other documents related to Alaska rural justice. This bibliography
covers the period since the early 1990s. It builds upon an earlier work
published by the Alaska Judicial Council that covers Alaska rural justice
from territorial days through 1992.
The Justice Center has made this new bibliography,
which is still in draft form, available to the Rural Justice and Law Enforcement
Commission. A monograph accompanies the bibliography. The document will
be released in final form later this spring. |
