Privately Run Juvenile Facilities

In the state of Alaska, there are privately run juvenile facilities. In the year 2000, there were 14 privately ran juvenile facilities. The number then increased in 2002, making the number of private juvenile facilities 16 and then a decrease occurred in 2004 making it 12 private juvenile facilities. There may be many reason for the fluctuation of juvenile facilities between 2000 and 2004. One possibility may be that the court systems are actually working and juveniles are thinking twice about becoming criminals and are choosing the right path. Another reason may be that judges may be letting off first time offenders with a warning and some other form of punishment rather than sending them to a juvenile facility. Thirdly, the increase from 2000-2002 may have been the court systems trying to show juvenile criminals that they will be punished. They could have been making an example of them.

*JW *VP

Jail Capasity

In 1999 there were 15 jails with a total of 160 prisoners in the state of Alaska. Only putting it at 46% full.


This is not full or anywhere close to full let alone over capacity.

1. 160 prisioners just doesn't sound like a lot period.
2. Plus it is almost 2 correctional officer per inmate
3. There is almost 1 staff person of some sort alone to each inmate.

This is good in my eyes because an overcrowded jail is just ridiculous and causes too much chaos. This way they can keep a close watch on them as they do their day to day activities. If there was anymore inmates and the same amount of staff it would not even out and i would consider it crowded even if the percent was still low.


Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2003, page 91 retrieved from
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t198.pdf

- SF

Increase in inmates population

According to the Bureau Justice Statistics the number of female prisoners in Alaska in 2000 were 284, in 2006(518) and in 2007 were (564.) There annual average was 10.5% with a percent change of 8.9% in the year 2006-2007. The male prisoners in Alaska in the year of 2000 were 3,889, 2005 (4551) and 2007 were (4603.) There annual average was 2.7% with a 1.1 percent change in the year of 2006-2007
As you can see for both male and female there was an increase in the prison population. From research on Alaska crime, drug abuse seems to be a major issue in the state. According to Drug trends from 1991-2000 the number of arrest for drugs for men increased. The increase in the prison system for both male/female could be the increased use of drugs, alcohol, perscribiton pills etc.
Another reason for the increase in the prison system for men could be due to socioeconomic factors. Men are more likely to commit robbery, and sell drugs as a way to make more money.


Another factor is that women in society based of studies done in 2000, women have been more app to commit more crimes in America than they usually would have committed in these studies female mostly were found guilty of committing relationship's crimes such the Lorena Bobbitt story for example. Males numbers aren't moving than much differently than before articles have shown more drug trafficking crimes in Alaska than any other crimes, besides moving violations.
L.B & C.C

(n.d.). Alaska bureau of alcohol and drug enforcement. Retrieved from http://www.dps.state.ak.us/ast/abade/default.aspx

Denial of DNA testing .

This picture is the location that an Alaska prisoner tried to receive DNA testing to prove his innocents and the Supreme Court of Alaska denied him that privilege.

If the test would actually prove this man, William Osborne, innocent or guilty then why would the state deny him of that. You could possibly be holding the wrong person accountable for an action he did not do.

They were basically saying that the states are doing a fine job with the testing of DNA and that the federal courts in the state of Alaska does not need to get involved for a case such as this. Also saying that if they were to give this man testing it would open doors to a lot of other people who would suddenly request testing as well. Sounds skeptical in my eyes, and probably in the eyes of a lot of others. Entirely too much skepticism within the judgments of the courts. Maybe it should be granted to those that request it. It is up in the air.

SF . :)

Alaska parole and probation

In alaska the rates on probation and parole differ. The probation rate that enters and exists is 1350 for the reported entered ones , and reported exited are 935. The probation number per 10,000 residents is 1,239. The parole rates for Alaska were smaller. The reported entered number for parole is 705, exited reported is 634. Per 100,000 residents the number was 212. Alaska has a higer rate of probation than parole.

*VP

Compared to Colorado, Alaska has a much lower rate for probation populations. Colorado had 30,328 entries and 24,071 exits. The probation population was 63,032 and the number of probation per 100,000 adult residents was 1,743. Alaska's probation population rates may be much lower because of where it is located. There may be more people willing to live in Colorado than in Alaska, therefore the rates would be much lower as shown.

Statistics used from Colorado Crime Family : http://coloradocrimefamily.blogspot.com/

*JW

Executions in Alaska

The first recorded execution in Alaska was a Native American man named Scutdor. On December 29,1869 he was hanged and his crime was murder and his age is unknown. The last recorded execution in Alaska was on April 14, 1950. It was a black man named Eugene Lamoore. His crime and age are both unknown and the method was hanging as well. They were both part of minority groups. They were both executed by hanging so the method didn't change over time. They were both men. The only differences were that the black man's crime isn't recorded and of coarse both of these executions happened in different years. (LW)

Restorative Justice

The Victim Offender Mediation Association, is a program offered in 30 states,and 7 countries,designed for victims and offenders to meet face to face with a trained mediator.(Heffelbower, 2009)During this mediation both victim and offender are given the opportunity to discuss the crime,and their feeling about the crime.They also discuss the effects the crime has had on their lives.
Both victim and offender benefit from the mediation. The victim now has answers about the crime and the person who committed the crime.During the mediation the offender has the opportunity to take responsibility for what they have done,and learn the impact it has had on the victims life.The offender takes an active role to make things right by either serving some form of community service,or apologizing to the victim.

Research does show that offenders who participate in the mediation are treated more fairly than those who did not.They also have a higher rate of restitution completion than those who did not participate. While victims who participate in the mediation receive more restitution than others and feel safer and less fearful in comparison to others. CC&LB

Heffelbower, Duane. (2009, June 7). Victim offender mediation association. Retrieved from http://voma.org/index.html

Fairbanks man pleads not guilty

In fairbanks Alaska one of their current trials is with a man by the name of Roger Lee. Roger Lee is a 59 year old business man who resides in the town of Fairbanks.

He is being accused of evading federal income taxes for eight years. Roger Less is pleading inncoent on this case. The court date is on the 28th of December at a U.S district court. Lee will be representing himself day of trial. The court has evidence with the telephone and telegraph company. According to court documents, he did not pay 133,000 from 1996 to 2003.

This charge has a sentence of five years in prison and up to 250,000 dollars in fine.

The courts evidence as of right now is pretty concrete, the evidence that he brings will have to be good and concrete as well to be able to support his side of the case and story especially since he has choosen to represent himself.

links:http://searchalaska.adn.com/sp?skin=&aff=1132&keywords=court%20trials

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/1000885.html

VP & JW *

Jury Selection in Alaska

Defendant Joseph Bruno, who is also an New York State senate Republican leader has been accused of using his position to collect more than $3 million in commissions. Also, he is being accused of giving gifts in return for using his influence to benefit the labor unions and private businessmen. With this jury selection, none of the jurors were challenged for cause or preemptory challenges. The prosecution would want a jury that is against bribing. Since he is being accused of giving others gifts. The defense would probably want a jury that has very high political views and would definitely be on Joseph Bruno's defense on his actions. Meaning, the would possibly see nothing wrong with what he did.

-- T.D. & S.F.

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=11427324

Grand Jury

According to the Alaska court system they use both preliminary hearing and grand jury method in criminal court cases.A grand jury consists of a group of people who are responsible for examining evidence presented by the prosecutor and issuing indictments. A preliminary hearing is the initial proceeding after a criminal charge has been filed by the prosecutor. At that time information is gathered to determine whether there is enough evidence for a trial. The difference between the two is that the preliminary hearing is conducted first without a grand jury. The grand jury’s decision is the result of the trial. ("Grand jury," 2009) CC&LB



(2009, October 30). Grand jury. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_jury
(2009, October 14). Alasks court system. Retrieved from http://www.courts.alaska.gov/ev.htm#104