Legislature(2015 - 2016)BUTROVICH 205
02/02/2015 01:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Overview: Alaska Criminal Justice Commission | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 30 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
February 2, 2015
1:33 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Lesil McGuire, Chair
Senator John Coghill, Vice Chair
Senator Mia Costello
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Bill Wielechowski
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
OVERVIEW: ALASKA CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISSION
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
SUSANNE DIPIETRO, Executive Director
Alaska Judicial Council
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT:
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel
Administrative Staff
Office of the Administrative Director
Alaska Court System
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided the Court System perspective about
the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:33:12 PM
CHAIR LESIL MCGUIRE called the Senate Judiciary Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:33 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Costello, Wielechowski, Coghill, Micciche,
and Chair McGuire.
^Overview: Alaska Criminal Justice Commission
Overview: Alaska Criminal Justice Commission
1:33:49 PM
CHAIR MCGUIRE announced the business before the committee would
be an overview of the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission. She
explained that Senator Coghill began work last year through
Senate Bill 64 to rethink the approach for treating criminal
activities in the state. A driving force was expense and a
report that indicated that based on the current incarceration
rates, the state would need another Goose Creek Prison by 2025.
She added that this hearing is in anticipation of the Smart
th
Justice summit on February 25.
1:36:03 PM
SUSANNE DIPIETRO, Executive Director, Alaska Judicial Council
(AJC), opened her comments with the explanation that AJC staffs
the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC) and she is
speaking in that capacity in place of the chair of ACJC, retired
chief justice Alex Bryner, who is unable to attend.
She reminded members that ACJC was established on July 1, 2014
as part of the omnibus crime bill, Senate Bill 64. The
commission was envisioned as an entity that could study the
criminal justice system and make recommendations for
improvements to the legislature and administration.
MS. DIPIETRO directed attention to a handout listing all the
statutes relating to the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission and
provided a detailed review of AS 44.19.645 - Powers and duties
of the commission and AS 44.19.646 - Methodology. She explained
that the commission is comprised of 13 members who represent a
variety of perspectives including three judges, law enforcement,
corrections, prosecutors, victims, defense counsel, Alaska
Native and rural, and behavioral and mental health. Two
legislators serve as non-voting members.
CHAIR MCGUIRE highlighted the work Senator Ellis has done
partnering with Senator Coghill.
SENATOR COGHILL added that former Senators Dyson and French also
played key roles.
1:43:36 PM
MS. DIPIETRO reported that the commission is energized and
decided to meet monthly rather than four times a year as
required by statute. The full commission has met five times and
has another meeting scheduled for the end of February. At the
organizational meeting, the commissioners identified key topics
then formed workgroups to focus on those areas. The workgroups
have been meeting twice a month since September.
SENATOR COGHILL spoke of the work he and Senator Ellis did last
year advocating for the former governor to sign a letter
formally asking to partner with the Pew Charitable Trusts and
MacArthur Foundation through the Pew-MacArthur Results First
Initiative. The governor did not sign the letter, but he and
Senator Ellis feel strongly about the value of this partnership
and will try again this year, working with the new governor.
MS. DIPIETRO stated that the commission supports the effort and
believes the timing is right. Citing the three percent annual
rise in the prison population, she said the commission is
committed to looking at what other states have done and the
research findings from Right On Crime and Smart Justice in an
effort to bend the curve on rising incarceration rates. She said
the commission would appreciate some technical assistance
because it requires a complicated analysis to get detailed
information about what things are driving the prison population.
MS. DIPIETRO noted that the Department of Corrections has
reported that up to 40 percent of people occupying hard prison
beds are un-sentenced offenders. The Pre- and Post-trial Laws
and Processes workgroup is looking at that large pretrial
population to see if the people who have not been convicted of a
crime can be removed from a hard bed and monitored in some other
way. That workgroup is looking at the laws and practices on bail
and bail monitoring and later on will look at the probation
revocation process.
1:49:05 PM
MS. DIPIETRO explained that the Barriers to Reentry workgroup is
looking at whether people who come out of prison can be
supported in such a way that they are less likely to return to
their old behaviors and be reconvicted. As it turns out, the
barriers to successful reentry are numerous; some may be
statutory.
The Sentencing Alternatives workgroup is looking at potential
alternatives to the typical sentencing. The Rural Criminal
Justice workgroup was formed in recognition of the
disproportionate rural and Alaska Native population in prison.
It infuses the other groups to ensure that the things the other
groups are recommending will work in the rural areas as well as
in the urban areas. The Classification of Crimes workgroup is
looking at felony and misdemeanor conduct and the particular
sentence within a range that is imposed for a certain crime.
SENATOR COGHILL highlighted the issue of mandatory sentencing
and the practical outplay in light of subsequent court cases.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if other states have access to this data.
MS. DIPIETRO said the Judicial Council has done a number of
sentencing studies and it is more difficult to get the
information than one would hope. She could not speak to what
other states have done.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if the commission has plans to look at
the issue of deaths in pretrial facilities.
MS. DIPIETRO replied she had not heard the commission discuss
that issue.
CHAIR MCGUIRE advised that she intends to have the new
commissioner of the Department of Corrections (DOC) come before
the committee to talk about that and other issues that have come
forward from constituents.
1:55:20 PM
MS. DIPIETRO returned to the data issue that Senator Costello
alluded to. She explained that the type of analysis that would
be helpful to the commission's work is sophisticated and
requires substantial resources. Their work would move more
quickly with assistance. The staff did some research and the
commission reached out to a number of charitable organizations
and foundations that are active in the Smart Justice and Right
on Crime, providing technical assistance and research. They
currently are pursuing two programs. The first is a partnership
with the Pew Charitable Trusts and the MacArthur Foundation
through the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative. This
partnership would provide capacity building technical
assistance. A team would come to Alaska for a year and provide a
statistical model into which state-specific data would be
entered. The model uses software developed by the Washington
State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) to analyze the cost
benefits of certain programs. For example, it can analyze the
return on investment for every dollar put into an electronic
monitoring program. The sole goal of the initiative is to give
states the technical ability to use this software and give the
information to policy makers to do with as they see fit. She
noted that a Results First team is tentatively available the end
of February to talk to stakeholders in Alaska.
1:58:14 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE asked why the former governor was hesitant to
ask for assistance from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the
MacArthur Foundation.
SENATOR COGHILL speculated that the past governor felt the Pew
Charitable Trusts had a liberal bent. He added that he feels so
strongly that Alaska would benefit from a partnership on this
issue that he sent a staff member to a conference to gather
information. Alaska has unique challenges, but Pew has shown it
can work with those unique challenges, he said.
1:59:57 PM
MS. DIPIETRO said she cannot comment on Pew in general, but
their technical assistance in this particular area appears to
embrace all perspectives and be evidence-based.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if the commission has reviewed the
[Department of Corrections] audit and if it is a valuable
resource.
MS. DIPIETRO replied she and the commission staff attorney
reviewed it and found it has a lot of good information. She
could not speak to whether the commission members have read it.
She advised that the commission is also seeking technical
assistance for the Pew funded Justice Reinvestment Initiative. A
team of statisticians and analysts go to a state and perform a
very sophisticated analysis of the prison population data. They
are then able to tell policy makers what things are driving the
prison population and what has worked in other states with
similar profiles. It is up to the state to decide if it makes
sense to do the same thing. She highlighted that the important
point to get the process started is for the state to issue a
formal partnership invitation.
SENATOR COGHILL added that the request needs to come from both
the legislative and executive branches.
2:04:09 PM
MS. DIPIETRO suggested members visit the Alaska Judicial Council
website and scroll down to view the ACJC page and the resource
page.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if there is a deadline for requesting the
partnership.
SENATOR COGHILL replied sooner is better. He added that the
number of voting members on the commission was kept small to
facilitate decision making, but input from department
commissioners is valuable.
SENATOR MICCICHE asked if there are obvious outliers about doing
business in Alaska.
MS. DIPIETRO replied there are probably a handful of things that
could be efficacious, but there's not anybody who is completely
sure that they have something that will turn the curve.
2:10:04 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE expressed support for continuing the dialog over
the next two years.
SENATOR COGHILL related that the 24/7 program is just standing
up and will provide valuable data.
CHAIR MCGUIRE recognized Nancy Meade.
2:12:02 PM
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel, Administrative Staff, Office of
the Administrative Director, Alaska Court System, stated that
she is not a member of the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission
but she attends the meetings so she has background on the
legislation and is able to help the legislature as it does its
analysis of the bills. She explained that she is also
responsible within the Court System for implementing the bills
that come out of the legislature so it's important to understand
where they came from and the intent.
She advised that in accordance with the authorizing legislation,
the chief justice appointed three judges to the commission. The
first is former chief justice Alex Bryner. He retired after
serving 27 years on the bench, 17 of which was on the Alaska
Court of Appeals. In Alaska, that court handles only criminal
matters so he brings unique experience to the commission. He was
elected to be chair. Superior Court Judge Trevor Stevens is the
second appointment. He has been a judge in Ketchikan for 14
years and before that he was a public defender and a district
attorney. He has a tremendous breadth of knowledge. Judge
Stephanie Rhoades is the third appointment. She has been on the
district court in Anchorage for 22 years and is responsible for
establishing one of the first therapeutic courts in the state.
She has received awards for her work on therapeutic courts,
alternative justice, and in particular her interest in mental
health. She is able to think outside the box and is very
efficient at getting things done.
At the fall statewide judicial training conference the three
judges introduced themselves as commissioners and invited input.
All judges now know about the commission and are offering
topical suggestions. She related that the court is actively
supporting the commission and took the unusual step last year
during the deliberations of Senate Bill 64 and supported this
portion of the bill. The Supreme Court asked her to express its
optimism about a commission like this and how valuable it is to
periodically study and review all aspects of the criminal
justice system to identify areas for improvement.
MS. MEADE said her final point is that the court is interested
in all recommendations that may come out of the commission that
directly impact the court. That includes suggestion for bills
and also suggestions for changes to the court rules, which the
Supreme Court can consider and implement.
2:17:51 PM
SENATOR COGHILL highlighted the judges' full calendars and the
advantages of the Court System's robust computer system.
MS. MEADE confirmed that through the CourtView system, the court
often has the best data available on court cases. She added that
she agrees with Ms. DiPietro that system-wide, evidence-based
data could be improved upon.
SENATOR MCGUIRE thanked the presenters and said she looks
forward to continuing the dialog.
2:21:43 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair McGuire adjourned the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee
meeting at 2:21 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 2_2_2015 JUD Doc Statutes Concerning the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission.docx |
SJUD 2/2/2015 1:30:00 PM |
|
| 2_2_2015 JUD Mtg PEW Foundation.pdf |
SJUD 2/2/2015 1:30:00 PM |
|
| 2_2_2015 JUD Doc Public Safety in Texas.docx |
SJUD 2/2/2015 1:30:00 PM |
|
| 2_2_2015 JUD Doc Alaska Criminal Justice Commission Overview Sen Jud.docx |
SJUD 2/2/2015 1:30:00 PM |