Editor’s Goodbye

     This will be the last regular issue of the Alaska Justice Forum to appear under my editorship. I will be leaving the Justice Center at the end of April.
     The Forum is a collaborative work: It involves the combined efforts of all those who work at the UAA Justice Center—and also many individuals outside the Center. I want to thank all who have contributed during my tenure as editor—the editorial board; those who have written articles, discussed ideas and provided feedback; and those who have done the layout, printing and mailing. I am grateful to the many police and correctional officers, attorneys, judges, research analysts, database managers, social service administrators, court administrators, and other civil servants, as well as members of the general public, who have helped me learn about the Alaska community. Their willingness to take my phone calls and answer my questions about the details of their work has helped me shape the publication.
     As editor, I have tried to present social science research and writing in a way that bridges the gap between the world of academic scholarship and the daily routines of those who work in the Alaska justice system.
     The research underlying many Forum articles is quantitative in nature. While statistical studies can seem rarefied, it would be dangerous to try to fashion public policy for a community of 600,000 people without the insights such research can facilitate. Quantitative research can steady policy discussion which otherwise might be distorted by the latest crime report or by inaccuracies stemming from political posturing. With the Forum the Justice Center attempts to foster a solidly grounded discussion that is both humane and accurate.
     A final comment—for me, this editorship has been an incomparable position from which to view the state, and I am very grateful to have had this opportunity to participate in Alaska’s civic conversation.

— Antonia Moras