A Publication of the Justice Center<

Vol. 22, No. 1

Rosay, André and Chamard, Sharon. (Spring 2005). "Youth Violence in Anchorage." Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 1, 8-10. In the wake of several violent incidents in Anchorage in late 2003 involving juveniles with guns—some involving homicide—efforts were initiated to explore the issue of youth violence in Anchorage. This article presents statistics of youth violence to show how Anchorage compares to other cities, shows how Alaska today compares to 5 and 10 years ago, and examines community residents’ perceptions of youth violence. The data indicate that youth violence is Anchorage and in Alaska is comparable to national levels; that youth violence is declining, as it is nationally; and that overall Anchorage residents do not perceive youth violence to be a serious problem. A descriptive report based on data collected from case files of the Anchorage Police Department, to be released in late 2005, will provide in-depth information on suspects, victims, and incident characteristics, spatial patterning of youth violence and the social networks that may exist among young offenders and their victims.

Carns, Teresa W. (Spring 2005). "Therapeutic Justice in Action: An Evaluation of Three Therapeutic Courts." Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 2-6. Therapeutic justice courts represent a relatively new approach to dealing with chronic offenders whose criminal activity appeared to be primarily fueled by alcohol or drug abuse. Defendants who “opt-in” to therapeutic court programs are sent to outpatient treatment, tested frequently for drug or alcohol use, required to obtain work or education, make restitution to victims, and make regular appearance before judges, who use incentives and sanctions to encourage defendants to stay with their plans. Alaska now has several therapeutic courts in Anchorage and Bethel, and major new funding has been obtained for the extension of therapeutic concepts to district courts in Ketchikan, Juneau, Fairbanks, Palmer and other sites. This article reports on an Alaska Judicial Council evaluation of the three therapeutic courts in Alaska that handle felony cases: the Anchorage Felony Drug Court, the Anchorage Felony DUI Court, and the Bethel Therapeutic Court.

Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage. (Spring 2005). "Reports and Websites Relevant to Therapeutic Courts in Alaska." Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 2. A selected bibliography of reports and other works providing information about therapeutic courts in Alaska.

Langworthy, Robert H. and McKelvie, Alan R. (Spring 2005). "Drugs and Crime in Anchorage: A Note." Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 7. This article examines the relationship between drug use and offense charged through data collected in 2003 from 259 recent arrestees in Anchorage, Alaska using the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) protocol. The analysis is restricted to examining those ADAM participants who tested positive for marijuana and cocaine use.

Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage. (Spring 2005). "Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM)." Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 7. A bibliography of articles about the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program and findings from the Anchorage ADAM effort.

Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage. (Spring 2005). "Victimization of Native Americans." Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 11. Based on a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this article presents statistics showing that Alaska Natives and American Indians experience criminal victimization at twice the reate of the general U.S. population.

Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage. (Spring 2005). "SAC Coordinates Data Sharing." Alaska Justice Forum 22(1): 6. This brief article describes the effort by the Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) to improve access by researchers and administrators to data from various Alaska criminal justice agency data bases.