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Evaluation
of a JAIBG-Funded Project: Emmonak Elders Group
by N.E. Schafer
and Corey Knox
Report prepared under Grant No. 1999-JR-VX-K005 from the Bureau
of Justice Statistics. Anchorage: Justice Center, University
of Alaska Anchorage, July 2001.
Not
available online
Abstract: Since 1999, the Emmonak Elders' Group
Project has handled certain non-felony juvenile cases in the
village of Emmonak, a predominately Yup'ik community on the Yukon
Delta of western Alaska. The project permits youth to remain
within the community while their offenses are adjudicated through
the body of elders – thus avoiding formal justice system
processing which usually entails removal from the village. Youths
are held accountable within the context of the local community
and its traditions. This article describes the results of an
initial evaluation of the program in early 2001, after the court
had been in operation for approximately a year and a half. The
evaluation comprised a review of program files, direct observations
of meetings, discussions with community residents and interviews
with parents and juveniles. It primarily focused on project implementation:
how the court was established, its procedures, and the working
relationships among institutions and individual participants.
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