Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/14/1994 09:07 AM Senate STA
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ED MCNALLY, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Law (DOL) thanks the chairman and members of the committee for their attention to the governor's crime package legislation. Mr. McNally states the five bills before the committee (SB 349, SB 350, SB 351, SB 352, and SB 353) will help to protect Alaska's women and children, and will also help prevent some crime from occurring in the first place. All of the bills are inexpensive; several will actually save money and, at the same time, put more law enforcement personnel on the street without any budget increases. MR. MCNALLY states the governor's crime package has been endorsed by nearly every major victim's rights group, women's advocacy group, and law enforcement group in Alaska. The committee's desire to hear the bills as a package speaks well of the consensus and the recognition that more must be done in responding to violence against Alaska's women and children. MR. MCNALLY says some of the elements in the governor's crime package have to do with budgetary concerns, while some provisions address other concerns, such as "three strikes, you're out", juvenile waivers, and conspiracy. These bills are designed to combat the crimes that most threaten Alaska's women and children: domestic violence, stalking, rape, and child abuse. MR. MCNALLY states that, at the core of this initiative, are six new laws to level the playing field. The governor filed six bills in the house, but only five in the senate, because Senator Donley has already filed a bill, SB 24, which would extend probation. Four bills are designed particularly for protecting women and children, those are SB 350, SB 351, SB 352, and SB 24. The other two bills in this package, SB 349 and SB 353 would serve to provide new protections for all victims of crime. These last two bills would put more law enforcement personnel on the street and would give prosecutors and defendants an equal number of jury challenges, as recommended in the American Bar Association's National Standards. Number 103 MR. MCNALLY stresses that these bills have very few moving parts. There is not an extraordinary amount of language in these bills which would open them up for amendment, the way the complex legislation that has been previously worked on involves. Mr. Mcnally would contrast the governor's crime legislation package with President Clinton's crime legislation package, which is the size of a telephone book. The legislation before the committee is an Alaska package; it was designed by Alaska's police, Alaska's prosecutors, and Alaska's women's advocacy groups, to meet an Alaskan problem. MR. MCNALLY says that brings him to the second point he would like to make today: the problem of rape, domestic violence, and child abuse is enormous. Alaska does not have the number one murder problem in the United States. We do not have the number one drug abuse problem. On a per capita basis, Alaska has one of the highest rates of rape, domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual abuse of children in the nation. Not only are these cases among the most difficult and sensitive to prosecute, they are also among the most devastating in terms of the outrage, the grief, and the emotional trauma inflicted on victims, their families, and the entire community. The offenders in these cases are clearly among those most deserving of aggressive prosecution. They are cowards. They prey on our most vulnerable citizens: children, the elderly, and women. The problem of domestic and sexual violence in Alaska cuts across all boundaries of race, culture, status, educational background, and other demographic factors. It is acute in both urban and rural areas. Mr. McNally shows the committee several statistic charts. The charts show the rising number of reported cases in the early 1990's. Number 156 SENATOR TAYLOR asks Mr. McNally how many cases, of those that were reported, were found to have no substance. The senator had heard that DFYS (Division of Family & Youth Services) reported 67% had no substance and asks Mr. McNally if that percentage is accurate. Number 165 MR. MCNALLY responds he is not familiar with that number and is not in a position to address it. However, he is familiar with the cases that are actually brought to prosecution by law enforcement agencies that state they have reason to believe they have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the abuse actually occurred. Number 170 SENATOR TAYLOR would like to see the number of actual prosecutions. The senator says there is probably a corresponding rise in those numbers too, but he has suspicions about DFYS's numbers. MR. MCNALLY says he appreciates Senator Taylor's concern, and he is not familiar with the 67% figure from DFYS, but Mr. McNally states he is not familiar with any law enforcement professional, court system professional, or advocacy professional who is not under the impression that Alaska's problem is significantly greater than that of other similarly sized populations in the country. SENATOR TAYLOR says he agrees with that, and believes it is due to the high alcohol abuse rate. MR. MCNALLY shows a chart indicating the number of rapes reported to the Anchorage Police Department. Certainly, 150 or so reported rapes a year is highly unacceptable to any community. In 1991 and 1992, Anchorage saw about 200 to 250 reported rapes a year, but in 1993 that figure jumped to over 400 reported rapes. Mr. McNally states, to give the committee an idea of how the prosecution in the state has voted with its' feet, that the number of assistant district attorneys in Anchorage has dropped from 26 to 22 in the past few years. Despite the loss in personnel, the number of personnel assigned full-time to rape, domestic violence, and child abuse cases has gone from zero to four in that same time period. Obviously, that means less prosecutorial resources are going into prosecuting any number of other categories of crime, primarily business crime, shoplifting, bad checks, burglaries, and other crimes against property. That gives you an indication of how seriously these problems are viewed by those of us who are obliged to respond to them. Number 208 MR. MCNALLY states another indication of the enormity of the problem can be gleaned from an editorial which appeared in the Anchorage Daily News (Mr. McNally passes a copy of the editorial out to each committee member). Mr. McNally says one of the most acute problems is the first item underlined in the editorial: that 84% of victims do not file a police report. That is a national figure, and is another part of the problem before the state. Part of the purpose of this legislation is to encourage women to come forward and report these crimes by making the court room a safe place for them; a place where they will be respected, and where their dignity will be respected. Everyone is talking about violent crime, but in Alaska, we are talking about crime against women and children. People of our communities are angry and disgusted by these crimes and by the archaic and unacceptable attitudes, sometimes in the system itself. MR. MCNALLY says that concludes his general testimony on the governor's crime package, and he would now be happy to discuss individual pieces of legislation. MR. MCNALLY states SB 350 (ARREST FOR VIOLATING RELEASE CONDITIONS) is in many ways similar to SB 351 and works as a companion to SB 351. We are increasingly recognizing that legislation needs to be passed allowing law enforcement to act. Before the anti- stalking law, women who were scared to death and told police and troopers that their lives were in danger, were told there was nothing law enforcement could do until a crime had been committed. The anti-stalking law has somewhat changed that situation. MR. MCNALLY says there is a similar problem in regards to accused stalkers, wife-beaters, and other abusers who are out on bail pending trial. Inevitably, in a significant number of cases, these defendants, usually in the middle of the night and usually involving alcohol, they show up at the victim's home. The woman calls law enforcement personnel, but by the time police reach the woman's home, the defendant is gone. At that point, the police are not able to immediately arrest that person, who is already charged with a crime, though they have violated bail. The police first have to wake up a prosecutor, find a magistrate, and do the legal paperwork before they can get a warrant for the defendant's arrest. The result of having to go through that process is that law enforcement does not do it. Not because they're lazy, but because it ties up law enforcement personnel for five or six hours of an eight hour shift. So as a consequence, law enforcement wait until morning before attempting to get a warrant. When something like this happens with someone who has already been charged with a crime, the police should be able to arrest the person and put them in jail that night. The fiscal note by the Department of Corrections is 11,000 dollars. It is a cheap, simple concept which will have great value. Number 540 SENATOR TAYLOR asks if SB 350 would only impact those people released on criminal charges. MR. MCNALLY replies that is correct. SENATOR TAYLOR asks if SB 350 would involve situations where a domestic violence petition exists. MR. MCNALLY responds the irony lies in the fact that if a woman has a D.V. (domestic violence) writ, and the man comes to her home, he can be arrested on the spot, even if he has previously not been charged with a crime. However, if the man has been charged with a crime, but the woman does not have a D.V. writ, he cannot be arrested. That is the loophole as it exists. In a civil D.V. case, the person could be arrested promptly, but in a criminal case such as the one previously described, law enforcement cannot make an arrest without a warrant. Ironically, SB 350 would bring criminal cases to the same footing as civil cases. JAYNE ANDREEN, Executive Director, Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault says she will testify on several bills at once. She thinks Mr. McNally did an excellent job of presenting the governor's legislation, and states she cannot add a whole lot to his testimony, but wants to emphasize the impact this legislation will have for victims. Ms. Andreen states she has worked in this field in Alaska for twelve years and estimates that between 75%-90% of all these types of cases never get reported to the authorities. There are a number of reasons for that, but one of the primary reasons is that the system, at least from the victim's perspective, does not work, does not help her, and will not protect her. Too often, it is her word against the offender's word, and frequently it is the offender who is believed. MS. ANDREEN states these bills will go a long way in helping to tighten that up. Once the process starts, victims are going to know there will be justice. Ms. Andreen encourages support for these bills. Number 552 CHAIRMAN LEMAN states a case comes to his mind in which two men were convicted of rape, but found not guilty of attempted murder. He says the victim was a prostitute, and unfortunately the status of the victim places doubt in the jurors minds as to the validity of the victim's testimony. Number 542 MS. ANDREEN states these types of cases happen on a daily basis. As she was listening to testimony today, many cases came to her mind of many cases which were not successfully prosecuted because of the fact that too often it ends up being the victim who is put on trial: why was she in that position, look at her past, look at her background. Or in domestic violence case and the victim and the offender are in a marital or dating relationship puts some question in the jurors minds as to why she was staying in the relationship. Anything that can be done to tighten that up will go a long way toward helping victims. With these types of cases, the earlier the intervention, the stronger the message will be from society that this abuse is not o.k. In the long term, we will hopefully see a lessening of these types of crimes, but not until there is a strong system. Number 533 CHAIRMAN LEMAN asks Ms. Andreen if she knows of any cases where a man is attacked by a woman. The chairman states the bills are designed to work both ways. MS. ANDREEN states it is estimated that about 4% of adult domestic violence victims are men. In her years in the field, she has had contact with about a half-dozen men who said they were victims of domestic violence. In the cases she is familiar with, the men were not victims, but were the primary perpetrator of domestic violence. Number 519 MR. MCNALLY says he would like to comment on the case just mentioned by the chairman, which was Jackson-Osborne. What is so extraordinary about that case really stresses the chairman's and Ms. Andreen's point about the status of the victim playing a part in the sentencing of the defendant. The victim was kidnapped, raped several different ways by two different men, beaten, stripped, thrown in the snow, clubbed about the head, shot in the back of the head, buried in the snow, and left for dead. She actually heard one man say to the other, "Is she dead?" The other said, "If she's not already, she will be soon." Incredibly, she got up out of the snow, brushed herself off, prostitutes obviously have a tough go in life, was picked up hitch-hiking, brought back to her home, not to the hospital, and did not report the crime. The victim thought, "I'm a hooker, nobody cares, people are allowed to do anything they want to me." A couple of days later, the people who had given her a ride home told the police, and the police, to their credit, searched for her, found her, and got her to report the crime. But this is how the women of our community and our state have given up on the system's ability to protect them, that they don't think anybody would care. This was a wonderfully prosecuted crime. Ironically the police and the individual prosecutor are really disappointed that the jury did not convict on attempted murder, and really disappointed that the men were only sentenced to twenty-some years. Mr. McNally thinks, "My God, but for the cops, these guys never would have seen the inside of a courtroom." Laws like the bills before the committee today will hopefully change the thoughts of women like this particular victim, who will have more faith. CHAIRMAN LEMAN brings up (SB 350 ARREST FOR VIOLATING RELEASE CONDITIONS) for consideration. SENATOR TAYLOR makes a motion to discharge SB 350 from the Senate State Affairs Committee with individual recommendations. CHAIRMAN LEMAN, hearing no objection, orders 350 released from committee with individual recommendations.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|