Legislature(2007 - 2008)BUTROVICH 205
01/17/2008 08:30 AM Senate JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Crime Summit | |
| Doug Wooliver, Administrative Attorney for the Alaska Court System | |
| Larry Cohn, Executive Director, Alaska Judicial Council | |
| Steve Mccomb, Director, Division of Juvenile Justice | |
| Barb Henjum, Superintendent, Mclaughlin Youth Center | |
| Rob Wood, Chief Probation Officer, Division of Juvenile Justice | |
| Joe Schmidt, Commissioner, Department of Corrections | |
| Sam Edwards, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Corrections | |
| John Cyr, Executive Director, Public Safety Employees Association | |
| Rob Cox, Alaska State Trooper, Department of Public Safety | |
| Diane Schenker, Integrated Justice Project Manager, Alaska Court System | |
| Diane Ingle, Director, Municipality of Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services | |
| Adrienne Bachman, District Attorney, Department of Law | |
| Dan Hoffman, Chief, Fairbanks Police Department | |
| Rob Heun, Chief, Anchorage Police Department | |
| Janet Mccabe, Chair, Partners for Progress | |
| Jeff Jesse, Chief Executive Officer, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
January 17, 2008
8:36 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Hollis French, Chair
Senator Charlie Huggins, Vice Chair
Senator Lesil McGuire
Senator Gene Therriault
Senator Bill Wielechowski
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Senator Johnny Ellis
Representative Jay Ramras
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Crime Summit
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
See Senate Judiciary minutes from January 16, 2008
WITNESS REGISTER
DOUG WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney
Alaska Court System
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the dramatic increase in felony
filings in Alaska over the last several years.
LARRY COHN, Executive Director
Alaska Judicial Council (AJC)
Alaska Court System
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on studies the Alaska Judicial
Council has done and those it has had occasion to review.
STEVE McCOMB, Director
Division of Juvenile Justice
Department of Health &
Social Services
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Stated that DJJ has the opportunity to be
the best juvenile justice system in the nation, but it has to
bring the 32 percent recidivism rate down to the 20 percent
level.
BARB HENJUM, Superintendent
McLaughlin Youth Center
Division of Juvenile Justice
Department of Health &
Social Services
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Delivered a PowerPoint presentation on
juvenile justice trends in Anchorage.
ROB WOOD, Chief Probation Officer
Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ)
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Delivered a PowerPoint presentation on
juvenile justice trends in Anchorage.
JOE SCHMIDT, Commissioner
Department of Corrections
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Responded to questions related to the
criminal justice system.
SAM EDWARDS, Deputy Commissioner
Population Management
Department of Corrections
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Responded to questions related to
population statistics in the criminal justice system.
JOHN CYR, Executive Director
Public Safety Employees Association Alaska (PSEA)
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Said PSEA has a list of suggestions to
potentially change the way the criminal justice system works in
Alaska.
ROB COX, Alaska State Trooper
Department of Public Safety
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided boots on the ground perspective
applying policies and available resources to real life
incidents.
DIANNE SCHENKER, Integrated Justice Project Manager
and Chair of MAJIC
Alaska Court System
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information about the Multi-Agency
Justice Integration Consortium (MAJIC) and what it is doing to
improve electronic data sharing.
DIANE INGLE, Health Director
Department of Health and Human Services
Municipality of Anchorage
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the relationship between
substance abuse and crime.
JOSH FINK, Director
Office of Public Advocacy
Department of Administration
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supplemented the record on conviction/report
ratio for sexual assaults.
ADRIENNE BACHMAN, District Attorney
Criminal Division
Department of Law (DOL)
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supplemented the record on conviction/report
ratio for sexual assaults.
DAN HOFFMAN, Chief
Fairbanks Police Department
Fairbanks, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Emphasized the need and value of electronic
reporting for pawn shops and secondhand stores and raised the
issue of tort reform.
ROB HEUN, Chief
Anchorage Police Department (APD)
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Asked for assurance that local voices would
be heard because they are integral players in the criminal
justice system.
JANET MCCABE, Chair
Partners for Progress
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Suggested the committee ask the Criminal
Justice Working Group to investigate a reentry program.
JEFF JESSE, Chief Executive Officer
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Offered support and partnership to form
community programs using evidence-based practices to work with
target populations in corrections to reduce recidivism.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR HOLLIS FRENCH called the Senate Judiciary Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:36:51 AM. Present at the call to
order were Senators Huggins, Therriault, and Chair French.
Senators Wielechowski and McGuire arrived during the course of
the meeting.
^CRIME SUMMIT
8:36:56 AM
CHAIR FRENCH opened the second day of the Crime Summit.
Yesterday the committee heard from law enforcement and state
prosecutors. Today the committee will hear from other entities
that deal with criminal justice beginning with the Court System.
^DOUG WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney for the Alaska Court
System
8:37:35 AM
DOUG WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney for the Alaska Court
System and LARRY COHN, Executive Director of the Alaska Judicial
Council introduced themselves.
MR. WOOLIVER said that when the court system looked through its
case statistics one trend that jumped out is that felony filings
in Alaska have been rising steadily for a number of years. "Over
the course of those years they're up dramatically." In FY02
about 3,700 felony cases were filed and by FY07 there were 6,200
filings, which is a 68 percent increase. Most of that increase
has been in Anchorage where the filings increased from 1,200 to
2,900 for a 140 percent increase.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if there is really that much more felony
activity in Anchorage or if it's that the municipality is doing
a better job of fighting crime.
MR. WOOLIVER said Mr. Aos made the observation that more police
on the street leads to less crime and it leads to more arrests
and more charges. That's interesting because although property
crime filings in Alaska have gone way up the instances of
property crimes are not dramatically higher. It could be the
situation that efficiency has been improved by capturing more
people who commit crimes resulting in more prosecutions and less
crime on the street. So filings are rising while presumably
crime is not rising as much or perhaps not at all. In Alaska all
categories of felonies have gone up, but property crimes are the
single largest part of the felony caseload. Statewide in FY02
there were 700 property crime filings or 20 percent of the
felony caseload. In FY07 there were 1,900 cases, which is an
increase of nearly 170 percent. What the statistics don't show
is why the number is up. It could be due to increased law
enforcement or it could be that the property crime rate is
rising. The statewide statistics don't suggest that, however. It
could be due to more police or to renewed effort by prosecutors.
He understands that property crime prosecution sections are
being fully staffed now and that hasn't been the case in the
past.
8:42:06 AM
MR. WOOLIVER said one reason for the increase relates to
inflation and the theft statutes themselves. In general a crime
becomes a felony once the value of the property reaches $500.
The Legislature established that figure in 1978. When he looks
at property crime statistics he can tell how many theft in the
second degree filings there were last year, but he doesn't know
if somebody stole a pair of skis or stole a car. He doesn't know
if the effect of inflation is that an increasing number of
crimes that used to be misdemeanors are now felonies or if it's
a small portion. The statistics don't provide that information
but it seems likely that 30 years of inflation plays a part. He
noted that both the Alaska Judicial Council and the Criminal
Justice Working Group have looked at the issue. That information
could be helpful. The Legislature could look at the information
and decide that inflation or not they are properly filed as
felony crimes. We're just trying to understand and explain the
increase in felony filings, he said. If they are properly
charged as felonies they belong in superior court. If that's the
case, the system just needs the resources to deal with the
crimes as felonies.
MR. WOOLIVER said regardless of the reason, felony filings are
up and the entire criminal justice system is faced with the
challenge of dealing with that increase. Two years ago the
Legislature helped the court by adding 6 new superior court
judges to the bench. Now Anchorage now has 5 judges to handle
criminal cases in superior court. That has helped a lot, but
adding more judges isn't the only way to improve the system. One
thing the court has done that it's very proud of is to address
recidivism issues. A number of studies have shown that
therapeutic courts reduce recidivism for people who commit
crimes because of addiction. All chronic recidivists aren't
necessarily addicted to drugs and alcohol. Jail may be the only
option for some people and that may be the best use of resources
for that population. But we do know that a significant
percentage of chronic recidivism is due to drug and alcohol
addiction, he said. As Mr. Aos said yesterday, therapeutic
courts are a critical part of the portfolio that Alaska needs in
addressing the entire criminal justice system.
8:46:29 AM
MR. WOOLIVER said another wise use of resources is the use of
video links between the jails and courts. The court system works
closely with the commissioners of public safety and corrections
as well as the superintendant of the McLaughlin Youth Center to
establish and expand video conferencing and links. This saves
time and resources for everyone involved in releasing and
readmitting and transporting prisoners and residents to and from
court. Also, the new computer system that the Legislature funded
increased the overall efficiency of both the civil and criminal
justice system. A web-based system allows the court to track far
more information and save time. For example, the court
previously sent multi-page daily calendars by FAX to numerous
locations, which was problematic. Now the calendar is on the
Internet, which saves an enormous amount of time and labor.
MR. WOOLIVER said another example that reflects the benefit of
the system and cooperation with other entities is electronic
ticket filing. Now information from the Anchorage Police
Department (APD) automatically goes into the court system
database so when the ticket number is entered, the disposition
code is displayed. This reduces work significantly. Eventually
more criminal justice information will be entered and dispersed
this way.
CHAIR FRENCH expressed support for the effort. He said he's used
the CourtView program and found it easy to use. Citing bail
conditions as a pet issue, he said those conditions change
rapidly and officers could do a better job if they had instant
access. He asked what the court system could do to make bail
conditions available to APD and Alaska State Troopers (AST).
8:52:02 AM
MR. WOOLIVER explained that the court system has grant funding
for a pilot program to develop more uniform conditions of
release for bail and probation and to make changes to the
computer system. Ideally bail conditions or conditions of
release will be entered in the courtroom and directly populate
APSIN (Alaska Public Safety Information Network) so that
officers in the field have direct access. Because APSIN can't
always keep up, the next best option is for the officer to have
the ability to check CourtView to see the bail conditions.
CHAIR FRENCH pointed out that it will still be a two step
process. APSIN can't accept the information so the officer or
dispatcher has to run the defendant through CourtView for bail
conditions.
MR. WOOLIVER said he's not familiar with what APSIN can or can't
do. The idea is to make the information available, but right now
clerks are busy doing other things.
CHAIR FRENCH suggested that the moment to capture the data is in
the courtroom as the judge is announcing the conditions. When
the clerk enters the data it ought to automatically populate
CourtView.
MR. WOOLIVER said he agrees but it doesn't translate that way
now. Ultimately, conditions of release and judgments will be
entered in the courtroom and the information will be available
when the proceeding is finished. More staff is needed and that's
part of the budget request. Currently the information is
captured by clerks inputting "a ton of data," which is the
downside of the computer system.
CHAIR FRENCH again urged him to capture the data just once in
the courtroom.
MR. WOOLIVER replied they're headed in that direction.
8:56:38 AM
SENATOR McGUIRE joined the meeting.
MR. WOOLIVER agreed with Commissioner Monegan's statement
yesterday that everything depends on communication. He said that
after a lapse of five or six years the Criminal Justice Working
Group has been reconstituted so the upper levels of the criminal
justice agencies are again talking together as a group. Also,
the electronic exchange of information has allowed for things
such as electronic tickets and electronic discovery. The MAJIC
group has been instrumental in helping agencies in this area, he
said.
^LARRY COHN, Executive Director, Alaska Judicial Council
8:58:25 AM
LARRY COHN, Executive Director, Alaska Judicial Council (AJC),
reminded members that AJC and the court system are separate
state agencies that enjoy a good working relationship. AJC was
created by the constitution to do three things: 1) screen
applicants for judgeships, 2) evaluate the performance of
judges, and 3) to conduct studies to improve the administration
of justice.
MR. COHN relayed that his professional background includes more
than 20 years with the criminal justice system and six years in
his current position. He said his remarks would focus on the
studies AJC has done and those it has had occasion to review. A
year ago AJC published the first general study of recidivism in
Alaska. From that study a statistic that has been frequently
cited is that in 1999 two thirds of the people charged with
felonies and convicted of some offense were re incarcerated
within 3 years of release from jail. Also, 59 percent of the
people were rearrested for a new offense. In that study AJC
looked at the factors associated with higher rates of
recidivism. They learned that certain populations recidivate
more frequently including: younger offenders, indigent
offenders, offenders with substance abuse - particularly
alcohol, and offenders with mental health problems. In fact, 68
percent of defendants had alcohol problems, 48 percent had drug
problems, and 29 percent had mental health problems. The
categories are not mutually exclusive. People with alcohol
problems were remanded to custody within 3 years of their
release 70 percent of the time as opposed to 57 percent if they
did not have alcohol problems.
9:01:47 AM
CHAIR FRENCH asked about the measuring process for categorizing
a defendant as someone with an alcohol problem.
MR. COHN explained that any indication of an alcohol problem is
noted. That includes the nature of the offense, a condition of
release or bail, or a Department of Corrections record. The same
standard is used for mental health problems. If anything the
incidence of these problems are underestimated because some
defendants have problems that aren't manifested in a way that
can be recorded. Responding to a question, he clarified that
this information is from records and not from prisoner
interviews.
MR. COHN added that people with mental health problems
recidivate within 3 years 78 percent of the time compared to
people without mental health problems who recidivate 62 percent
of the time. Consistent with Mr. Wooliver's testimony, people
who commit property offenses are rearrested 67 percent of the
time within 3 years of release compared to 32 percent of drug
offenders and 39 percent of sex offenders. Recidivism typically
occurs within the first year and most frequently within 6 months
of release. The study looked at the type of offense that was
committed when a person recidivated and whether it was more
serious than the initial crime. It found that people with
substance abuse problems and people who committed violent
offenses were more likely to commit more serious offenses when
they recidivated than those who committed other types of
offenses.
9:04:02 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI joined the committee.
CHAIR FRENCH recapped some of the findings for Senator
Wielechowski and asked Mr. Cohn to articulate a reason why so
many folks reoffend in the first 6-12 months of release.
MR. COHN said the working group will explore reasons for that,
but it's young indigent people with substance abuse problems who
are committing these property offenses. They have no realistic
likelihood of reintegrating into the community because there's
no established reentry system to offer help. "They are pretty
much doomed." The bottom line is that the more often someone has
contact with the criminal justice system, the more likely they
are to reoffend.
CHAIR FRENCH said Mr. Aos showed yesterday that you have to
decide where to allocate scant resources. If most of the
problems are in the first six months it sounds like that would
be a good place to focus the effort. Even a small reduction
would produce huge savings for society and the public purse.
9:06:00 AM
MR. COHN said the AJC studies suggest that would be a good thing
to try.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked how mental health issues are defined.
MR. COHN explained that the Department of Corrections (DOC)
screens defendants for mental health problems. Someone who works
with DOC reviewed the defendants and told AJC who had a mental
health issue.
CHAIR FRENCH observed that the DOC review process was more
formal than the drug or alcohol analysis.
MR. COHN said, "Yes, we relied on their expertise for that."
9:07:02 AM
SENATOR McGUIRE suggested that it would be helpful if the intake
process included an interview and questionnaire about drug and
alcohol use. "A lot of times folks that have mental disorders
are not always cognizant of what they are."
MR. COHN agreed that more data is always useful. Socioeconomic
data was lacking when AJC studied the criminal justice system
and having that information would make the analysis more useful.
MR. COHN explained that AJC used recidivism data as baseline
data when it evaluated and reported on therapeutic courts. AJC
has looked at outcomes for felony drug court in Anchorage, the
felony DUI court in Anchorage, and the Bethel Therapeutic Court.
They are also concluding a four year study of the Anchorage
Wellness Court in partnership with the Urban League and the
Justice Center at the University of Alaska. AJC uses the
recidivism rates in the recidivism study to compare with
recidivism rates of people in those therapeutic courts. What
enabled AJC to do the recidivism study is a prior study that was
published about four years ago. It is referred to as "The Felony
Study." He delivered a presentation to the joint judiciary
committees at that time. An excerpt of that PowerPoint is in the
packet as an example of what the report included. To do that
study AJC took a representative two-thirds sample of all the
felony cases in Alaska that were filed in 1999. Data was
collected from DOC and DPS and from court system case files. The
purpose of the study was to identify reasons for the
preponderance of ethnic and racial minorities in the justice
system. As a byproduct a lot of information was collected on the
criminal justice system. A lot of the good questions that have
been asked in the last two days are in the recidivism report and
the felony study, he said. Information collected in the felony
study included data on ethnicity, age, and gender. Data on prior
records was broken down by type of offense, the number of prior
offenses, length of sentence, location of the case, bail
conditions, length of incarceration prior to trial, and
allocation of cases. They reported that 63 percent of criminal
case defendants were represented by public defenders, 5 percent
by Office of Public Advocacy (OPA) staff, 12 percent by OPA
contractor, and the rest by private attorneys. Alaska data was
compared to national data; Alaska convictions were reported as a
percentage of the number of reported crimes; and the number of
arrests in Alaska was compared to national data.
9:12:14 AM
MR. COHN referred to the discussion with Mr. Wooliver and
relayed that the percentage of crime that's reported in Alaska
that results in a felony conviction is very low. This is not
unique to Alaska. "By the time that we get to the end of the
process, there are many fewer convictions than arrests," he
said.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if he had any data on felony arrests and
felony resolutions.
MR. COHN directed attention to page 14 of the "Alaska Felony
Process: 1999" PowerPoint presentation. In Alaska every 100 rape
reports result in 7 felony convictions. Nationwide there are 12
felony convictions for every 100 reports of rape. The numbers
are better once an arrest is made, but they're still
substantially less than half, he said.
9:13:50 AM
MR. COHN explained that the AJC study compared Alaska data with
data gathered 15 years earlier when the judicial council last
did a study. Over that period felony case filings increased 86
percent, but criminal justice resources increased by only 21
percent. That budget trend plays out in a number of ways. There
were considerable more charge reductions in the 1999 cases. The
percentage of defendants convicted of the most serious offense
with which they were charged was much lower than 15 years
earlier. There was a large increase in the number of defendants
charged with felonies who were convicted of misdemeanors.
Disparities were observed for offenders represented by public
attorneys who lacked the resources to address their cases. Also,
there was an increase in case disposition times.
MR. COHN said the AJC hopes that its data and recidivism study
will provide needed information to make decisions in how to
allocate resources to best protect public safety. He suggested
that the answer is not exclusively to increase sentences. Alaska
is ranked sixth in the percentage of people who are under the
supervision of the Department of Corrections and are actually
incarcerated. Probation and parole are less frequent in Alaska
than in most states.
CHAIR FRENCH asked him to clarify that statistic.
MR. COHN explained that in Alaska when defendants go to jail
they spend more time actually serving their sentence than
defendants in other jurisdictions.
9:16:29 AM
CHAIR FRENCH referred to the one-third sentence reduction he
spoke to Ms. Bachman about yesterday, and asked if he's saying
that that's higher than average. Most states give a half or
three-quarter reduction.
MR. COHN said yes. He doesn't know if good time is the factor
that explains it, but most jurisdictions put people on probation
more often and they get out of jail earlier. Alaska has
presumptive sentencing so people aren't eligible for parole
until they've served two thirds of their sentence.
CHAIR FRENCH reviewed a criminal justice publication that gives
the incarceration rate per 1,000 and the crime rate per 100,000
and noted that Alaska falls in the middle.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked how Alaska compares to other states if 56
percent of the corrections population is either on probation or
parole.
MR. COHN agreed to supply the information. He summarized that
AJC asked the Legislature to fund the working group last year
and the stars aligned. He is encouraged by the collaborative
approach. Everyone has a good appreciation of the need to work
together and cooperate to solve problems that agencies working
alone have difficulty solving. Finally, he reminded the
committee that AJC has a lot of data and it welcomes requests
for information. "We have no agenda; we don't offer our data in
support of a budget. Our agenda is our constitutional mandate to
conduct studies to improve the administration of justice," he
stated.
9:19:18 AM
CHAIR FRENCH said he's been looking for a candidate to do
research in Alaska like Mr. Aos does in Washington. Until this
morning he was thinking about approaching ISER (Institute of
Social Economic Research) to do that analysis, but he'd like Mr.
Cohn to give it consideration. What they're doing in Washington
is worth trying here.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said he's trying to figure out what the data
on page 14 means. If other jurisdictions in the U.S. are getting
more convictions per cases reported, perhaps they're pleading
down fewer charges. "They get higher convictions, but they let
people out of jail more quickly." He said he's surprised that in
Alaska every 100 cases of reported rape results in just 7 felony
convictions. He assumes that a lot are pled down to a lesser
charge.
MR. COHN said that's correct. The AJC report contains very
specific data on case disposition, he added.
CHAIR FRENCH said the cover of the book provides a good
illustration of why there are so many more reported crimes than
there are convicted individuals. The bottom of the chart shows
that Alaska is in line with the national average for burglaries.
For every 100 reported burglaries, there are 3 convictions in
Alaska and 4 convictions nationwide. "It's a tough crime to
catch, to prosecute, and to wind up with a felony conviction."
MR. COHN observed that the other end of the spectrum is drug
offenses. It's much easier to catch people on drug offenses
because the police often can observe some bad conduct as opposed
to a burglary that's difficult to track.
9:22:03 AM
SENATOR THERRIAULT opined that legislative finance and
legislative research might be able to do the work that Mr. Aos
is doing. "If that's what we want to have done, we've got
divisions that could do that," he said.
^STEVE McCOMB, Director, Division of Juvenile Justice
9:23:23 AM
STEVE McCOMB, Director, Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ),
Department of Health & Social Services, said that while he
listened to Mr. Aos yesterday he was reminded of a quote that
says, "Allowing one youth to leave high school for a life of
crime and drug abuse costs society about $1.7-$2.3 million."
Clearly prevention for youths is a cost effective measure, he
said.
MR. McCOMB stated that DJJ has the opportunity to be the best
juvenile justice system in the nation, but it has to bring the
32 percent recidivism rate down to the 20 percent level.
CHAIR FRENCH asked what the timeline is for measuring recidivism
for juveniles.
MR. McCOMB replied the standard measure is within a year of
release.
SENATOR HUGGINS referred to the chart titled "Recidivism Rates
on Institutionalized Youth at MYC FY01-FY05" and asked why there
was a peak in FY02.
^BARB HENJUM, Superintendent, McLaughlin Youth Center
9:27:20 AM
BARB HENJUM, Superintendent, McLaughlin Youth Center (MYC),
Department of Health & Social Services, explained that a lot of
new programs were instituted in FY03 and FY04. Before that
recidivism rates ranged from 40 percent to 60 percent. About 80
kids are released from long-term programs each year so the
numbers make more sense over time.
MR. McCOMB said another measure of excellence looks at the
number of publishings and how many times other states ask to
borrow procedures. This morning he learned that the federal
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP),
asked to borrow the Alaska compliance monitoring report to share
with other states. The Legislature has been very helpful, which
also figures into our being a leader in the field, he said. When
MYC was overcrowded about ten years ago, the Legislature
provided support to build facilities in Ketchikan, Kenai, and
MatSu.
MR. McCOMB relayed that 69 percent of the youths in the facility
have some sort of a DMS IV mental health diagnosis (Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). In recognition of
that the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority has provided MYC
with funding for two mental health clinicians for two years.
CHAIR FRENCH said that's an interesting disparity because they
were told that the incidence of mental health problems in the
adult prison population was around 29 percent. "And you're
telling me that in the juvenile population it's almost three
times that - 69 percent."
MR. McCOMB said he can't speak for the adult population, but 69
percent is consistent nationwide for juveniles.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if the same measures are used for evaluation.
MR. McCOMB said he believes that both use the DMS-IV diagnosis
tools.
SENATOR McGUIRE opined that 29 percent is not accurate; the
figure is closer to 80 percent.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI pointed out that Mr. Aos said that in
Washington about 72 percent of the adult correction population
had been in the juvenile system. He asked if he sees similar
statistics in Alaska.
9:32:22 AM
MR. McCOMB said it could be things like a kid who was picked up
in Nenana for shoplifting. If that kid later on got involved in
the adult system, then it's possible. Continuing, he said the
following are things that make the Alaska juvenile justice
system as good if not better than other jurisdictions:
nationally recognized experts; the Juvenile Justice Working
Group in Anchorage; youth courts; Reclaiming Futures; the
transitional service unit; the McLaughlin sex offender treatment
program; and the Bethel Youth Facility Detention Program. "We
have things in place to make us one of the best juvenile justice
systems in the nation," he said.
9:37:26 AM
MR. McCOMB said the juvenile crime rate has been flat, which is
different than the adult system. In 2004 there were 6,237
referrals statewide and in 2007 there were 5,709. In 2003
aggression replacement training, performance-based standards and
a strength-based model were integrated into the system. The
learning curve was steep, but it's been successful.
MR. McCOMB mentioned the judges who have been helpful and
willing to think "outside the box."
9:42:09 AM
MR. McCOMB touched on aggression replacement training in the
Fairbanks and Anchorage schools. The goal is to work with kids
who demonstrate aggressive and bullying behavior to keep them
from committing crimes in the future. Responding to a question
from Senator Huggins, he said the program will start in
September 2008 if the funding comes through.
MR. McCOMB summarized the following needs: continuation of full
funding for staff in the institutions, juvenile probation office
caseload study, the capital project for McLaughlin, community
resources for mental health and substance abuse facilities to be
at full capacity, and additional staff for quality assurance.
Citing an example of restorative justice, he said he likes to
come to work because the staff is willing to take extra time and
help the citizens of Alaska.
SENATOR McGUIRE said as a general practice supporting the
juvenile justice system has a very high return. She questioned
the wisdom of splitting personnel time between the juvenile and
adult systems.
^ROB WOOD, Chief Probation Officer, Division of Juvenile Justice
9:51:17 AM
MS. HENJUM told the committee that she and Mr. Wood would
deliver a PowerPoint presentation on the trends in Anchorage.
ROB WOOD, Chief Probation Officer, Division of Juvenile Justice
(DJJ), Department of Health & Social Services, reviewed a chart
of juvenile referrals to Anchorage DJJ between FY02 and FY07.
DJJ statistics show that Anchorage received about 40 percent of
the delinquency referrals to the division in FY07; 2,200
juveniles were arrested and charged with 3,532 offenses. The
number of offenses per juvenile has increased and the overall
number of delinquency referrals has increased slightly over the
last several years.
MR. WOOD referred to a chart showing charges by type of crime
and noted that crimes against persons, crimes against property,
and drug and alcohol offenses are up. Weapons offenses are down
but that may mean the charges are categorized as assaults rather
than weapons offenses.
9:54:11 AM
CHAIR FRENCH commented that the number of drug and alcohol
referrals indicated is astonishingly low.
MR. WOOD explained that often the DJJ statistics are based on
the most serious offense in a packet of offenses in a referral.
For example, alcohol or marijuana use tends to result in a
misdemeanor arrest and that isn't necessarily going to be the
most serious offense.
CHAIR FRENCH observed that the chart doesn't reflect the
prevalence of drug use by Anchorage juveniles.
MR. WOOD said it's significant that DJJ doesn't see a higher
number. That indicates that these offenses are tied to others,
he said. "We believe our … involvement with drug and alcohol in
relation to other offenses is probably somewhat consistent with
that 78 percent we heard from earlier presenters," he said.
MS. HENJUM said the next chart shows the number of detention
admissions at McLaughlin over the last five years. The opening
of the Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility in FY03 accounts partially
for the drop from 1,237 to 978 between FY03 and FY04. Admissions
in FY05 and FY06 were level at 906 and 903 respectively, but
FY07 shows an increase to 970.
MR. WOOD explained that MYC is now using a detention assessment
instrument in its desire to be more evidence based and data
driven. Basically it's a colorblind tool to help address the
disproportionate minority contact. That may have had some impact
on the numbers as well.
9:57:32 AM
CHAIR FRENCH asked for an explanation of the difference between
a detention admission and a program admission.
MS. HENJUM characterized MYC as two institutions with the same
name. As a detention facility it serves kids who are awaiting a
court decision. Basically that's anyone who walks in the door
and meets the detention admissions instrument criteria. The
length of stay could be as short as a couple of hours or it
could be a couple of months. Program admissions are the kids who
are institutionalized by court order. Those kids are in a long-
term treatment program. The average length of stay is over a
year. Court orders for institutionalization usually call for up
to two years or until age 19.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if all the youth facilities statewide do
program admissions.
MS. HENJUM said no. The facilities that have program admissions
include Bethel, Fairbanks, Johnson Center in Juneau, and
McLaughlin.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if the kids are held until the age of
majority.
th
MS. HENJUM said generally they stay until their 19 birthday,
but some agree to stay until age 20.
MR. WOOD added that that is by stipulation in a serious case or
if the person has volunteered to extend to continue treatment or
aftercare.
MS. HENJUM directed attention to a chart reflecting gender
differences in detention admissions over the last five years.
She said that the girls who enter McLaughlin are committing more
serious juvenile offenses, but the percentage has been
incredibly stable. Females represent 22-24 percent and males 76-
78 percent.
The next chart indicates the percentage of juveniles that have a
mental health diagnosis. Statewide 46 percent of the kids under
juvenile justice jurisdiction have a DSM IV primary diagnosis.
As Mr. McComb said earlier, 69 percent of juveniles who are
institutionalized have a DSM IV diagnosis.
10:01:19 AM
SENATOR McGUIRE asked how often schizophrenia is seen.
MR. WOOD said it is seen but he doesn't know the percentage.
Over the last few years the nationwide trend is to diagnosis
people as bipolar. "There's some concern that people are being
over diagnosed."
CHAIR FRENCH asked Ms. Henjum to spend a few minutes talking
about recidivism.
MS. HENJUM displayed a chart and said that recidivism rates at
McLaughlin have been tracked for a long time. It's a measure of
whether they really are changing kids' behavior so they don't
continue to offend. She noted that between FY03 and FY04 the
timeframe for tracking recidivism rates was changed from two
years to one year. In FY04 research based programs were
implemented including aggression replacement training and
transitional services - the aftercare program. "Our measure of
success is how well they do when they get out." Research shows
that job preparedness, job training, and job placement make a
big difference in whether or not the kids will be successful.
MYC has some excellent examples of giving kids tangible skills
and placing them in apprentice positions while they're still in
the facility. This helps to place them in jobs once they leave
the facility.
10:06:07 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if many kids who "graduate" from MYC go
into Job Corp.
MS. HENJUM explained that Job Corp has strict entry requirements
for kids who are still involved in the juvenile justice system.
It has worked well for the few kids who have gone there, she
added.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if GED instruction is part of the program.
MS. HENJUM explained that with "No Child Left Behind" the school
district can't teach toward GED preparation. They work with Nine
Star Education and Employment Services and GED testing is
offered at McLaughlin.
10:07:40 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI recognized Nine Star for doing great work
on GEDs. He asked if the drop in admissions at MYC in FY04 when
the Kenai center opened impacted recidivism rates.
MS. HENJUM replied Kenai is a detention facility so when it
opened MYC was no longer overcrowded in the detention facility.
Program numbers didn't change.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if there was more one-on-one time and
if that had an impact on recidivism.
MS. HENJUM explained that the recidivism numbers in the chart
reflect the number of kids who leave the long-term program, not
detention. "The advantage that the Kenai and the MatSu facility
have had is that as kids leave our long-term programs, we
transition them out through those other facilities." For
example, if they're from the MatSu Valley they'll go to the
MatSu facility for 30-60 days before transitioning into the
community. That's been helpful to the kids and their families.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if MYC tracks the kids it has touched to know
if they go on to enter the adult system. He surmises that the
public believes that troubled youths become troubled adults.
"What can you tell the public about your analysis of that
question?"
MS. HENJUM said it's a great question, but there isn't any data.
That's one example of the many data gaps between the two
systems.
CHAIR FRENCH said that's one reason for this meeting.
MR. WOOD told the committee that his master's thesis was about
that issue. He learned that in Oregon, 85 percent of adult
offenders had had contact with the juvenile system. But 85
percent of juvenile offenders never had an adult record. The
numbers may be different now but they're probably within 10
percent. "You're right; it'd be nice to have that exact
research," he added.
Recess from 10:10:35 AM to 10:27:31 AM
CHAIR FRENCH reconvened the meeting and recognized Commissioner
Schmidt.
^JOE SCHMIDT, Commissioner, Department of Corrections
10:28:10 AM
JOE SCHMIDT, Commissioner, Department of Corrections (DOC),
introduced himself, Sam Edwards who is in charge of population
management, Bryan Brandenburg who has a background as a mental
health clinician, and Dwayne Peeples who runs the budget in the
medical department.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said the DOC mission statement includes
three core functions: secure confinement; reformative programs;
and a process of supervisory integration. He said the system
provides a confinement process that accommodates Alaska's most
dangerous criminals and reformation opportunities for offenders
preparing for release. Noting that the Governor recently said
that 95 percent of Alaska prisoners go to release sometime in
their life, he said it illustrates where a larger focus is
needed.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT highlighted mental illness. Of the 38,000
people who were processed in and out of the system statewide
last year, over 3,000 were Title 47 chronic inebriates. 43
percent of the prisoners are Mental Health Trust beneficiaries
and 18 percent are chronically mentally ill. The mental health
staff sees about 100 new patients each month and it had contact
with 12,000 prisoners in 2006.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT referred to questions about the current
state of criminal activity and how DOC gets along with other
agencies and said he's pleased that law enforcement agencies use
discretion in picking people up and sending them to jail. "We're
not building prison beds in our expansion plan … because we have
too many prisoners … I would argue that we're building prison
beds to cause people to make a change," he said.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said the female population is a noteworthy
trend. About 10 percent of the prisoner population is female,
but it accounts for 20 percent of the overall growth. The female
facility at Highland Mountain is at capacity. It will either
have to be moved or split into two facilities sometime in the
future. An advantage in having all the females at Highland
Mountain is that they have access to the "Inside and Out
Program" that Chief Justice Dana Fabe oversees. It's harder to
deliver various types of programs when prisoners are spread out
into multiple facilities. "We're going to try to keep that group
as contained as we can." The same philosophy applies to the male
population. Whenever possible, sex offenders are grouped and
younger offenders are grouped. "The better we group them the
better they are to manage," he said.
10:35:29 AM
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT noted that the Alaska Judicial Counsel
reported that 66 percent of "our people" have been in custody
within 3 years. That raises the question of what is a first-time
offender. 2007 data will show that 22 percent are actual true
first-time offenders, he said.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if that means they had no contact with the
juvenile system.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said he doesn't know; it's worth review.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if he has access to juvenile system data.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said the juvenile system is purposefully
inaccessible, but if a separate entity were to run numbers for
DOC, there might be a way it could retrieve the data in an
anonymous fashion. He warned against indicting the juvenile
system by overstating or understating the numbers.
10:37:14 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI referred to the statement that 22 percent
of the people in the correctional system are first-time
offenders and asked if that means that 78 percent are repeat
offenders.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said yes, but a repeat offender might not
have been in jail for 15 or 20 years.
CHAIR FRENCH said the difference is that recidivism has a 3-year
look back.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT agreed and added that most recidivism
occurs within the first 6-12 months. He supports the judicial
council's decision to look back 3 years, but it did raise the
question about what is a first time offender.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said a recent success is the correction
officer vacancy issue. Through 2007 there were 737 funded
correction officer positions and 736.6 of those were filled.
There is an overtime issue. In particular, extra staff has to be
brought in to maintain safety in pre-trial facilities.
CHAIR FRENCH remarked that budget hearings are upcoming.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked how many people are incarcerated in
Alaska and how many are incarcerated outside the state.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said today 853 prisoners are in prison in
Arizona and 3,746 are in Alaska facilities.
CHAIR FRENCH recalled that the average experience for Troopers
is 7.5 years. He asked if there is a similar number for
correctional officers.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said he doesn't have a statewide number,
but he could look it up.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT explained that DOC relocated the training
academy to the old Palmer Hospital. Now it's in the middle of
four facilities and in a couple of years it'll be within 40
miles of five facilities. Now there's adequate space to
accommodate recruitment for the new facility, he said.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT mentioned the expansion plan. Phase I uses
existing capital or operating funds to expand current
infrastructure. The first part is to fill all in-state beds.
"Before we send money outside … we owe it to Alaska to have our
state at capacity."
10:41:08 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked the comparative cost per prisoner in
Arizona and Alaska.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said the cost per prisoner in Arizona is
$62 per day and the cost in-state differs according to the
location of the facility. DOC charges the federal government
$121.60 per bed per day, but that number has building
depreciation and other costs factored in. It makes sense to
bring prisoners back from Arizona to fill empty beds because the
incremental cost is small as long as the infrastructure is in
place.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT explained that the Phase I expansion plan
includes the 80-bed minimum custody/work release facility at the
Wildwood Correctional Center in Kenai. The Palmer Correctional
Center has 100 beds built under the prisoner apprentice program.
Those are in moveable buildings and eventually will be relocated
to Point MacKenzie. In Fairbanks the medical area is being moved
and 37 beds are being installed. Also a 20 bed prisoner-built
unit will be put in at Spring Creek. "That's a total of 237 beds
in hopefully the next 18 months or so."
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said Phase II implements SB 65 to increase
beds by 1,995 by 2012. That includes a 144 bed expansion at the
Seward Spring Creek facility; a 68 bed unit at the Bethel Yukon
Kuskokwim Correctional Center, which will increase the ability
to accommodate the inebriate population; and a new 1,530 bed
facility at Point MacKenzie. The plan also calls for an 80 bed
expansion at Fairbanks but the community hasn't agreed. The
option is open until July 2009.
CHAIR FRENCH asked the estimated cost for the Point MacKenzie
facility.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT replied it's $257 million.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if that's in the DOC capital budget request.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT clarified that it will be funded through
revenue bond sales in the MatSu Valley.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked when ground will be broken.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT replied it will be late summer or early
fall. The projected opening is at the end of 2012.
CHAIR FRENCH asked about the bonding authority.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT explained that SB 65 provided the
authorization and the MatSu Borough will sell the revenue bonds.
10:46:12 AM
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said currently there are 121 probation
officers; 20 positions are vacant and 7 job offers are pending.
To address the issue DOA is conducting a class study and will
provide recommendations in about six months. Also, when it was
difficult to fill a probation officer vacancy in Bethel, a
criminal justice technician was hired under a one-year work
study. That was a success and she is currently enrolled in the
probation officer academy. Two more technicians have been hired.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked what the salary range is for probation
officers and if most officers are educated in Alaska.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT replied the position is a Range 15 and he
isn't sure where the officers come from.
SENATOR HUGGINS said, "That's important for us. If we have a
demand in a vocation that we can't meet then we ought to look at
where they're coming from and what we can do to assist that."
CHAIR FRENCH said it strikes him that the probation officer is
the person who is best able to help prisoners appreciate the
importance of controlling their actions so that they don't
reoffend. His expectation is to have highly qualified, tough,
fair probation officers and Range 15 seems fairly low. "I'll
renew my desire to you to have that system be as vetted and
tough as we can possibly do under the constraints of the
system," he said.
10:50:10 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI noted that Mr. Aos said that ISP treatment
had a larger impact on crime than surveillance after release.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said reintegration comes after a safe clean
secure facility is up and running. Continuing, he said inmate
health care costs were $29.3 million in '07 and the projected
need in '09 is $30.9 million.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said when the new beds come on line he
would like the police agencies to maintain status quo with
regard to arrests so DOC can use the bed space to affect change.
The idea is to get prisoners to think about their release and
getting themselves into programming.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said DOC would like help evaluating how
different programs are working overall. "We don't care … if it's
program A or program B. I want the best numbers for it." It
would be more credible if an outside entity were to grade DOC
and report on how each program is doing, he said.
10:57:19 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS suggested that DOC spend more time working with
the juvenile justice system to make sure that juveniles don't
wind up in the adult penal system. Go and speak in the schools;
it's important, he said.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked what policy makers can do to reduce
the recidivism numbers.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said there's not a set answer, but
utilizing good time properly is very important. It's become an
automatic for a three year sentence to be reduced to two, but it
doesn't have to be that way. We know the prisoners who are
exhibiting bad behavior and obviously aren't ready to
reintegrate. "We live with them every day."
CHAIR FRENCH commented that one of the most shocking crimes that
has been committed in his community recently was by folks who
had not served their original sentences. If they had, they would
have been under DOC care and not out committing crimes in
Anchorage.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said if there are plenty of prison beds,
the prisoners who exhibit behavior that's not within the
community norm should remain incarcerated. "They can do a lot of
things when they want to. When they know we don't have the
beds…they know they don't have to act to a certain level," he
said.
11:01:29 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if there are people in the system who
shouldn't be there and if it's necessary to rethink prosecutions
so more bed space is available for recidivists or more violent
criminals.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said he doesn't think so. "We find
ourselves aligned tightly with the judges. When we're talking
about different laws … we have the same kind of direction. … To
be a judge and see the same person four or five times a year
would be frustrating."
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if laws and sentences on recidivists
need to be tightened.
11:04:02 AM
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said no; longer prison terms is not the
answer. We're satisfied with the actions of the court as far as
what's brought to us by the people, he said.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI cited the 66 percent recidivism rate and
questioned why he doesn't think there's anything that needs to
change.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT explained that DOC is reviewing how to use
good time, furlough reintegration programs, programs inside, and
programs that follow the prisoner outside through a seamless
integration. "There's a lot that we can do better, but it's
internal, it's within our department." The police and the courts
aren't causing that, they're reacting to the laws the people
want. Once there are effective programs there will still be
recidivism but perhaps there will be a better understanding of
why people recidivate. "Right now I wouldn't feel comfortable
saying something else is broken when we still have the work …
that we have to do in front of us. When we have our prison beds
and we're using good time [and] people who misbehave are doing
more time as they should be, programs are working and being
tracked, then we might want to talk about longer sentences,
shorter sentences. But right now I think there are too many
variables out there and what is causing this."
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked what those variables are.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT replied they could include: lack of
treatment, lack of treatment ability, lack of supervision, not
enough prison time, or too much prison time.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he's not happy with the 66 percent
recidivism and he wants to know what legislators can do to fix
that. "There's something we're not doing system wide that I
think that we need to do. … I'm just trying to get to the bottom
of that," he said.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT responded the victims would probably say
more prison time is the answer. You can't blame them, but that
may not be the answer, he said.
11:07:14 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked how successful it's been to allow
prisoners to attend events such as a funeral while under the
supervision of their mother or another responsible party.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said those requests are accommodated
whenever possible.
CHAIR FRENCH noted that Representative Ramras had joined the
committee.
^SAM EDWARDS, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Corrections
11:09:23 AM
SAM EDWARDS, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Corrections,
responded to a list of questions. He relayed that in 2007 the
prison population included 3 percent Asian Pacific Islander, 10
percent Black, 50 percent White, 2 percent Hispanic, and 35
percent Native. 1 percent indicated they were Native American
from the Lower 48 and 4 percent indicated Native American with
no further clarification. The average length of sentence for
those entering the system in 2007 was 150 days. That includes
misdemeanants and felons who are sentenced and unsentenced.
CHAIR FRENCH surmised that the public would be surprised to
learn that the average criminal entering the system is
incarcerated just 150 days.
MR. EDWARDS said the next question asked about incarceration
rates. He has two numbers. The DOC 2006 offender profile, based
on the combined system, indicates 510 incarcerated per 100,000
population. The PEW Charitable Trust projections for 2007
through 2011 indicate that in 2006 440 Alaskans were sentenced
per 100,000 population. Nationwide the PEW incarceration rate
for 2006 was 447 per 100,000 population so Alaska is in the
middle.
11:13:12 AM
CHAIR FRENCH observed that according to PEW the data suggests
that Alaska is essentially at the national average.
MR. EDWARDS agreed; 29 states had higher incarceration rates
than Alaska and 20 were lower. However, the PEW projection also
showed Alaska rates increasing 34 percent in that timeframe.
It's one of just a handful of states that's showing such a
significant increase. Obviously that would bump us higher
nationally if that were to occur, he said.
CHAIR FRENCH said it's always dangerous to generalize from a few
data points but as Senator Wielechowski said, if Alaska has
higher than average national crime rates and is incarcerating at
the national average, that suggests that Alaska needs to be
incarcerating longer. Indications are that Alaska has an
underserved criminal population that needs to be moved from the
outside to the inside. "Maybe I'm missing something, but that's
… what pops into my mind as you give me those numbers," he said.
MR. EDWARDS responded that's part of the answer but he would
hope that that isn't the only answer. Looking at why people
return is part of it as well.
MR. EDWARDS referred to the question about recidivism rates for
prisoners housed in Arizona versus those housed in Alaska and
acknowledged that there isn't any data on that. "We possibly
could if we just did a name search of every person that had been
through Arizona." Basically it's the same population that's
housed in Alaska but they're all sentenced and have been for
more than a year before they're sent to Arizona, he added.
11:14:45 AM
CHAIR FRENCH said the purpose of the question is to look at
whether it's more advantageous for someone to be sentenced and
incarcerated closer to their family and where they have a
relationship to their community. "It sounds like we don't quite
have the numbers on whether people held in Arizona commit more
crimes when they get out than people held say in Nome or in
Anchorage or in Seward," he said.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said the next recidivism study might
provide that information, but he isn't sure when that will be.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he'd be very interested in seeing that
data because a number of his constituents have made the argument
that it's better to house prisoners in the state. "Intuitively
it sounds correct, but I'd like to see the data on it. It would
be valuable," he said.
11:15:54 AM
MR. EDWARDS said the next question asked what percentage of
prisoners have diagnosed mental health issues. He noted that
that has been addressed several times. The DOC numbers indicate
that 43 percent of the prison population have issues and 18
percent are chronic.
Referring to the question about the percentage of the prison
population that have a GED Certificate [general educational
development certificate], he said DOC doesn't track that. They
do track the number of people who get a GED in a given year. For
example, in 2007 185 GED Certificates were issued. Over the last
5 years that number has been increasing by 5 to 15 a year.
CHAIR FRENCH said it sounds as though you wouldn't be able to
provide an answer to a question about how many have a high
school diploma and how many don't.
MR. EDWARDS agreed he couldn't do that today.
The next question asks what percentage of the population have
substance abuse issues. He said the number DOC is using is 92
percent. That number combines both drugs and alcohol.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he had a breakdown on the data.
MR. EDWARDS replied not on the 92 percent, but the number of
people incarcerated for a crime related to alcohol is about the
same as for drugs. That's about 7.5 percent.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI remarked that's an astonishing number.
11:18:03 AM
MR. EDWARDS said the next question asks what alcohol treatment
is offered for incarcerated prisoners. The Residential Substance
Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Program is offered in three locations;
one is at Highland Mountain Correctional Center for Women, one
is in Arizona, and one is at the Wildwood Correctional Center in
Kenai. At this time no other substance abuse treatment is
offered in the facilities.
CHAIR FRENCH asked how many beds the Wildwood program has.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said 42.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if he's saying that of the 3,700 Alaska
inmates that are in custody, 92 percent or 3,300 have substance
abuse problems, and there are just 42 beds to serve them here in
the state.
MR. EDWARDS said no; that does not include the Highland Mountain
beds. But it would still be a small number, he added.
CHAIR FRENCH commented that it's an astonishingly small number
for an astonishingly large problem.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said they'd like to keep that program
healthy, but they'd also like to focus on an outpatient approach
- "a shorter version where we can run more people per year
through it." If there were 20 beds in a 3-month program, it
would be possible to run 80 to 100 people through a year. That
would give better bang for the buck. Again, a follow-up study
will show whether that's a good way to go. We want both so we
can draw a comparison, he said.
MR. EDWARDS added that they're hearing that they'd be better off
focusing on an outpatient program inside the facility rather
than trying to increase the number of RSAT beds in the system.
CHAIR FRENCH asked him to elaborate on outpatient programs
inside the facilities.
11:21:07 AM
MR. EDWARDS explained that RSAT [residential substance abuse
treatment] is like a treatment community. Everyone lives in the
same house and does everything together. The outpatient program
is still in a correctional facility but the people don't all
live together. They come together for treatment.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT added that prisoners would have better
access to programs they might need such as GED. It's better than
having them live in an enclosed unit where services have to be
brought in.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI, noting that the state cut treatment for
alcohol by $1 million last year, asked if he thinks that
spending for substance abuse treatment in the state needs to be
increased.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT said, "We're going to be asking for more."
This year the overall package for mental health, sex offender
treatment, and substance abuse is $3.1 million. More is coming
next year but only so much can be implemented at any one time,
he said.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he thinks it would be wise to
increase spending for alcohol treatment outside of DOC.
COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT replied it wouldn't hurt. "Don't forget
about mental health," he added. "If 43 percent of our people do
have issues, more community resources for them will very likely
result in less of them coming to jail."
^JOHN CYR, Executive Director, Public Safety Employees
Association
11:22:50 AM
CHAIR FRENCH thanked Commissioner Schmidt and Mr. Edwards for
the informative conversation. He said Mr. Cyr and Mr. Cox are
next.
JOHN CYR, Executive Director, Public Safety Employees
Association (PSEA), said the bargaining unit has 700 members
statewide. He introduced Rob Cox and said he thinks it would be
valuable for the committee to hear him talk about the reality of
being out in the field every day. PSEA has a list of suggestions
to potentially change the way the criminal justice system works
in Alaska, he added.
CHAIR FRENCH again said he'd be happy to make all prepared
remarks part of the record.
^ROB COX, Alaska State Trooper, Department of Public Safety
11:24:41 AM
ROB COX, Alaska State Trooper, Department of Public Safety, said
his perspective is from 17 years "in the trenches" applying
policies and available resources to real life incidents. As
previously stated, recruitment and retention is a very real
problem. He said he would go over some of the symptoms exhibited
and borne by field officers as a result of a lack of ability to
recruit and retain. Nationwide there's a serious manpower
problem in law enforcement.
Currently people working in the field have 60 plus open
investigations, which is half what it was 18 months ago. The
local administration recognized that it wasn't possible to keep
up so they authorized overtime to follow-up on investigations
and write reports. "Some guys are working 20 plus hours a week
overtime just to stay on top" and it's still a problem.
CHAIR FRENCH ask for clarification that line officers, like
himself, are paid hourly so overtime is time and a half.
TROOPER COX said that's correct. In Palmer, which covers an area
that's about the size of West Virginia, a three Trooper per
shift minimum staffing policy was implemented recently. The
Palmer and Wasilla police provide assistance, but working with
just the minimum staff does create officer safety issues. "We're
seldom ever working with more than the minimums … and that
causes the need for additional overtime in order to just stay
current with new cases that are taken on a daily basis." The
service to citizens suffers. Colonel Holloway said that Troopers
are good at the immediate response, but he would suggest that's
a relative perspective. "It's relatively good compared to
everything else we do so poorly," he said.
TROOPER COX said that citizens have told him that they file
false reports in the belief that Troopers only respond to cases
where guns or knives are involved. When those reports come in
all three on-duty Troopers respond. "The guys are tired and
they're suffering as a result of the hours and the stress
because every hour that they're working is a stressful hour."
Their car is their office and it's not secure so they must be
ever vigilant.
11:30:02 AM
TROOPER COX said that some local detachments have taken the
desperate step of authorizing citizen report forms (CRF). Those
were used a number of years ago and he continues to believe that
they are a poor policy and a bad way of doing business. They're
used when a citizen reports something in a remote location or
when a crime either has no leads or is unlikely to lead to a
prosecution.
For example if a rock is thrown through a window, even in a
populated area, there isn't any evidence and there may not be
any leads. "There's nobody really to go after and question
because there's just nothing there." Citizen report forms are
authorized to give to the victim essentially telling them to
conduct their own investigation, write their own report, and
submit it to the Troopers. The use of CRFs doesn't improve the
image of the Troopers and it denigrates the seriousness of the
complaint, the incident, and the victim.
TROOPER COX explained that due to the recruitment and retention
issues, junior Troopers are used to train new recruits. It used
to be the exception to have a Trooper with a year's experience
field training a new Trooper and now it's the rule. Ongoing
training is lacking because manpower shortages don't allow
people to be gone. We're just not getting training in those low
frequency high risk things such as emergency vehicle operation,
firearms, defensive tactics, and methods of arrest, he said.
Population growth is a recognized challenge and that's
exacerbated by the geographic area that Troopers have to cover.
11:33:48 AM
TROOPER COX said the only real difference between writing
reports now and in the 1960s is that there's a keyboard and
spell check so corrections are easier.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if his patrol car is equipped with a laptop.
Six months ago when he did a ride along with APD officers he
observed that during the course of a shift the officers spent
every spare minute on their laptops trying to stay on top of
their reports.
TROOPER COX explained that this administration is headed in that
direction, but it's a huge and costly challenge to integrate
every Trooper and agency in the state with wireless technology.
In an effort to smooth the workload some of the local
detachments have become creative with the work schedules. For
example, graveyard shifts start anywhere from 10:00 pm to 2:00
am and end from 6:00 am to 10:00 am. This is disruptive and
families suffer, he said.
11:37:12 AM
CHAIR FRENCH asked what one or two things the Legislature might
do to help.
TROOPER COX deferred to Mr. Cyr.
MR. CYR said there are things that can be done. It's a problem
that there's been no commitment to drug or alcohol interdiction
and there isn't a real port authority in this state. One drug
dog works at the Fairbanks airport and it's owned by one of the
officers. Security for the Port of Anchorage and the Anchorage
airport is handled by private security firms and there's no port
security in Dutch Harbor at all despite the fact that it's a
major port of call. Again he said that we need to look at
establishing real port authority in the state.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if Unalaska has a customs and immigration
center.
MR. CYR explained that officials come out of Anchorage on an
intermittent basis. He continued to say that the authority
should be established under the Department of Public Safety.
Currently airport safety is handled by the Department of
Transportation. Our conversations indicate that it doesn't work,
he said. "What we have here is a sieve." Nobody in Alaska grows
cocaine; all if it comes from somewhere else. He suggested that
putting drug dogs in all the international and regional hub
airports to do drug and alcohol interdiction would cause a lot
of the problems articulated today to go away. The other side
that needs to happen is to establish regional drug and alcohol
treatment centers. Those should be community based so folks
could stay at home. A large percentage of the transient problems
in Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks are folks who came to town
for treatment. They end up having trouble out on the street. We
know those guys well, he said.
There aren't any real community service facilities in places
like Bethel and Juneau and Ketchikan and they're needed so that
officers aren't stuck dealing with the same inebriates day after
day. That should be outside of what Rob has to do. It's not a
wise use of our resource, he said.
MR. CYR suggested looking at regional low-risk offender
facilities like halfway houses and job training centers for
young offenders. The folks at juvenile justice are doing a good
job but there aren't enough of them. "Take a look at the 2006
national report if you want to look at statistics about Alaska
and where everybody else is and what's going on in the field of
juvenile justice." He spent 20 years in education and the same
kids that had problems and were in the juvenile justice system
went from his classroom to out of school to Commissioner
Schmidt's shop.
11:42:46 AM
MR. CRY said increased law enforcement presence across the state
is needed. Conservatively another 200 sets of boots on the
ground is needed; a salary and benefit package that's
commensurate with the responsibility is needed; increased
supervision is needed; mentoring is needed; a deep support
system is needed. Troopers have housing issues and it affects
their families. There's also a need for holding cells in rural
Alaska so that when Troopers go out and arrest somebody in
Selawick, for example, and the weather goes down there's some
place to put that prisoner.
CHAIR FRENCH thanked Mr. Cyr and Trooper Cox for their service
and time in front of the committee.
^DIANE SCHENKER, Integrated Justice Project Manager, Alaska
Court System
11:44:30 AM
DIANE SCHENKER, Integrated Justice Project Manager, Alaska Court
System, said part of her job is to chair MAJIC. This multi-
agency justice integration consortium is comprised of 20
agencies and organizations that signed a memorandum of agreement
to work together. Their mission is, "Helping agencies more
efficiently share complete, accurate, timely information in
order to enhance the performance of the criminal justice system
as a whole." To do that MAJIC members meet regularly to educate
each another about specific projects or needs that aren't being
addressed. Sometimes information sharing problems are addressed
on the spot and sometimes they get status reports and work
together as a group to look at the areas where their interests
intersect.
CHAIR FRENCH commented that he attended two meetings and found
it refreshing to see 15 agencies meeting informally to work
through problems. He was struck with how complex deep and
intractable some of the communication issues are. For example,
getting one computer system talk to another sounds simple but
that's not the case at all. "I commend you for what you're
doing," he said.
11:47:02 AM
MS. SCHENKER explained that membership in MAJIC is open to any
agency or organization that does exchange or needs to exchange
information with the criminal justice system. You see agencies
such as the Department of Transportation, the Department of
Revenue and the Division of Elections that aren't typically
thought of as criminal justice. The Division of Elections
contacted MAJIC because it is charged with determining voter
eligibility based on whether someone has a conviction for a
crime of moral turpitude. They asked if that piece of
information about various laws was in MAJIC's shared statewide
uniform offense table. The Department of Transportation works
with grant funds to help improve any kind of traffic record so
there's interface between their records and law enforcement
agencies that write traffic citations. The Department of Revenue
looks at eligibility to receive a permanent fund dividend (PFD)
based on certain criminal convictions combined with certain
patterns of incarceration. That set of data comes from multiple
sources in the criminal justice system. "We never run out of
issues to discuss at our meetings," she said.
MS. SCHENKER said that MAJIC maintains a database about criminal
justice exchanges. This includes who exchanges what information
at what point, what triggers the exchange, what laws govern it,
the volume of the exchange, and under what conditions the
exchange is made. MAJIC received a free software tool and
training to create that database when the group formed. One
useful aspect of that is it can produce reports. For example, if
you're thinking about changing an exchange from paper to
electronic you can go into the database and see how many times
the paper form is used, how many different agencies touch it,
how many different events will be affected. It helps to ensure
that something isn't accidentally eliminated when you're trying
to improve something else, she said.
MS. SCHENKER said that MAJIC's main focus is to develop and
promote the use of standards. The idea is to capture data just
once at the source and exchange it electronically. It's a waste
of time for multiple criminal justice employees to type the same
information into different systems. When information is moved on
paper it slows the process and increases the risk of data entry
errors. MAJIC tries to endorse and adopt standards that have
been vetted in other jurisdictions and are likely to improve
efficiencies.
11:50:02 AM
CHAIR FRENCH asked who is leading the way, nationally or
internationally, on data integration.
MS. SCHENKER said that the National Law Enforcement and
Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) is able to pull
information from across the country and has been a great help in
all MAJIC's projects particularly the ALEISS project. The other
organization that has provided lots of free technical assistance
is called SEARCH. It is a consortium of nearly all 50 states
that relies on federal funding to focus on the issues of data
integration. That organization has provided the free training
and software tool for maintaining the database about the
exchanges. Members in that organization meet regularly and share
information about project successes and lessons learned. MAJIC
has used some of what's worked in other jurisdictions but has
had to be careful because things that a county or large
metropolitan area can do with lots of bandwidth and network
infrastructure may not be a solution here. "We have to look at
what other states have done but apply anything that's unique to
Alaska when we try to do it here," she said.
11:52:15 AM
CHAIR FRENCH referred to an article in the New York Times about
roving data centers in New York City and noted that sharing
information between detective groups could really focus law
enforcement efforts to get on top of crime problems. "I can't
say enough about how badly we need to grab those methods and
make them ours," he said.
MS. SCHENKER said she was asked to comment on some successes
MAJIC has had and some have been in the area of adopting
standards and promoting wider adherence to standards. Sometimes
there's a regulation or court rule that recommends how to
identify persons or events or offenses to help move information
across agency boundaries, but compliance is a problem. "We've
found that you can require something even by law and not get a
high level of compliance." But when people are educated about
why they need to put a tracking number on the top of a form,
they're much more willing to comply with the standard.
MS. SCHENKER said there are standards for identifying persons
that rely on multiple identifiers rather than a very tightly
defined identification number that people have agreed to use
according to certain rules. This brings more integrity to the
numbers when counting people, she said. There's also been
improvement in the rate of fingerprinting in Alaska over the
last 10 years. Habitual offenders often weren't fingerprinted
because everyone knew who they were, she said. What people
throughout the system didn't realize is that if a fingerprint
isn't attached to each criminal charge, it's never indexed at
the FBI. Someone could be arrested and convicted of a sex
offense in Alaska, serve 8 years and then go to Texas and apply
for a teaching position. When that person's fingerprints are run
through the FBI database there wouldn't be a criminal history
record. Without fingerprints that person is likely to slip
through the cracks. "So we've done education projects and the
rate has gone up from 50 percent to 70 percent." There are also
standards for referencing offenses and tracking charges to avoid
losing charges that should be on someone's criminal history
record, she said.
11:55:39 AM
MS. SCHENKER responded to the question about specific project
successes. She said ALEISS (Alaska Law Enforcement Information
Sharing System) is a very successful project that NLECTC is
responsible for. It's grown steadily and the agencies that
participate are very satisfied. She referred to information in
the packet that describes how member agencies have used the
system to solve crimes that might otherwise not have been
solved. The system relies on annual federal grant funding. Every
time a new police agency joins and wants to add their records
management system data to the pool there's an associated cost to
migrate the data to the uniform format.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if there's any downside to a police agency
joining ALIESS.
MS. SCHENKER replied she's not aware of any downside and the
list of agencies that have joined is growing rapidly. "It's
almost easier to say who isn't in there yet than who is." The
grant funds are limited each year but they pay for as many new
members as possible.
Another successful project that's been mentioned is the
electronic filing of citations from APD to the court system.
That change eliminated multiple data entry and paper processing
for about 2,400 tickets a month. That will be expanded to all
law enforcement agencies through another electronic citation
project that DOT is funding with federal grants. The court
adopted a rule to allow police officers to sign those tickets
electronically so Alaska is ahead of other states or
jurisdictions that create electronic citations but still require
ink signatures on paper that has to be filed.
11:58:31 AM
MS. SCHENKER said the other project that's been mentioned makes
bail conditions available to law enforcement officers. The
Municipality of Anchorage got a grant to enter bail conditions
in the electronic database for Anchorage cases involving
domestic violence. Three fulltime positions were allocated to
capture and enter that information so that it's accessible for
sharing. We've requested funding in the state capital budget to
study the alternatives for entering bail conditions as
efficiently as possible, she said. "Everybody in the entire
criminal justice system I think agrees that that's one of the
biggest gaps in information … that prevents officers from being
able to enforce those bail conditions."
The transfer of fines and other costs due for collections also
have been automated thereby eliminating wasteful retyping of
data. As Mr. Wooliver mentioned, the project to expand CourtView
statewide is a huge timesaver for agencies that need court
records. "Now instead of having to go over to the court
physically or phone or have something faxed, they just go online
and get the information that they need."
CHAIR FRENCH remarked that it's a big success.
MS. SCHENKER responded to the question about challenges MAJIC is
facing. She said one project they hope to finish by the end of
the year is the enhanced system-wide statewide table of
offenses. That is a table of all the crimes listed in statute
and regulation as well as all the local ordinances throughout
the state. If the various crimes aren't listed in a table it's
difficult to get good statistics on occurrence rates because
descriptions of the same crime vary. It's also an efficient way
to capture data. If there is a good identifier for a statute, it
isn't necessary to pass every bit of information about that law
every time the record moves through the system. The identifier
is linked to a table that tells if it's a felony or something
that makes a person ineligible to vote because it's a crime of
moral turpitude or something that triggers DNA registration or
something that triggers sex offender registration. Instead of
rewriting every bit of the information at each step as the
offense moves through the system, it's captured just once.
MS. SCHENKER said automating the way court dispositions are
reported to the state central repository is close. Currently the
Department of Public Safety has over 100,000 criminal charges
that are more than two years old and have no disposition.
Improving the way charges are tracked and identifiers are used
will reduce backtracking that all agencies currently have to do.
12:02:48 PM
MS. SCHENKER said MAJIC is very pleased that the Criminal
Justice Working Group has reconvened. They are thinking of
things to focus on and they're helping us prioritize, she said.
They pointed out the importance of e-discovery and the delays
that are caused when it's lacking so we know that that's a
project that needs to be done sooner rather than later, she
said.
MS. SCHENKER noted that Chief Long mentioned the role that pawn
shop information plays in investigations and said that NLECTC
has the resources available for a web based pawn reporting
program. Several municipalities have adopted laws that require
pawn records to be reported electronically, but there isn't a
statewide reporting requirement.
MS. SCHENKER referred to the question about how the Legislature
can assist and said it'd be helpful to work with a legislative
liaison on the offense table project. The liaison could keep the
Legislature informed and notify MAJIC in a timely manner when
statutes change. Earlier this year MAJIC members reviewed the
projects they had worked on and the laws that didn't seem to
serve electronic information sharing. They prepared a list and
asked the Department of Law to review the list and provide
feedback about how to make changes.
CHAIR FRENCH asked Ms. Schenker to return after the noon recess.
Recess from 12:05:40 PM to 1:38:25 PM.
CHAIR FRENCH reconvened the meeting and asked Ms. Schenker to
continue.
MS. SCHENKER continued to explain that Audie Holloway from the
Department of Public Safety worked with MAJIC to identify laws
that might be improved to better support electronic information
sharing. MAJIC prepared a list and asked the Department of Law
to provide suggestions on whether legislation might be
appropriate. One example that was identified relates to
CourtView, which allows people to pay minor offence citations
electronically. The problem is that the defendant has a deadline
for paying the ticket, but the agency doesn't have a deadline
for entering the ticket into the system. "You can't find your
ticket online because it hasn't been filed with us," she said.
So the defendant ends up writing a check and mailing it in. That
minor sort of problem could easily be addressed, she said.
Referring to the previously mentioned electronic traffic
citation project that DOT spearheaded, she explained that the
Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) puts a bar code on driver's
licenses and vehicle registrations. Now when officers create
electronic traffic tickets they simply scan the barcode and all
the identifying information automatically goes on the traffic
ticket. That's an example of the benefit in capturing data once
electronically. "The officers love it because they can write
those tickets much much faster and they don't introduce as many
errors by mistyping numbers."
1:41:43 PM
MS. SCHENKER said another tool that NLECTC is offering is the
free web-based open source records management system. It's for
police agencies that are so small that they don't have a records
management system of their own.
CHAIR FRENCH observed that this would be an opportunity for a
community that might have only a VPSO.
MS. SCHENKER said it would also benefit a very small police
agency. The Alaska Railroad Police is a pilot; it doesn't have a
lot of records but it still needs to manage them and do so
efficiently.
The final question asked about how MAJIC gets along with other
agencies. MAJIC has a very good strong model, she said. When
experts come up to give training and when the group goes to
other states for seminars, the experts in the field are always
impressed at how often MAJIC members meet and how well members
communicate. "They're always surprised at how tightly integrated
we are with each other and how much communication we have."
CHAIR FRENCH thanked Ms. Schenker and Ms. Andrews, who is with
ALEISS, for their work.
^DIANE INGLE, Director, Municipality of Anchorage Department of
Health and Human Services
1:43:24 PM
CHAIR FRENCH said Diane Ingle would talk about the relationship
between substance abuse and crime.
DIANE INGLE, Director, Municipality of Anchorage Department of
Health and Human Services, said people don't often think about
violent crime and public health together but there is a large
nexus. Former Surgeon General Dr. Koop made a compelling
statement about that. He said:
Identifying violence as a public health issue is a
relatively new idea. Traditionally when confronted by
the circumstance of violence, we have deferred to the
criminal justice system. Over the years we have
tacitly, and I believe mistakenly, agreed that
violence was the exclusive province of the police, the
courts, and the penal system. To be sure those agents
of public safety and justice have served us well but
when we ask them to concentrate more on the prevention
of violence and to provide additional services for
victims we may begin to burden the criminal justice
system beyond reason. At that point the professions of
medicine, nursing and the health related social
services must come forward and recognize violence as
their issue and one that profoundly affects the public
health.
MS. INGLE said that to explain why she's talking about public
health at a crime summit she'd first talk about three murders
that occurred in Anchorage and MatSu Valley on New Years Day
2007. She warned that although people have been charged with the
murders they have not been adjudicated so there's a presumption
of innocence.
The first defendant is charged with killing a 45-year-old man
who came to the defendant's apartment with the mother of a 17
year-old who he is also charged with sexually assaulting. "She
was passed out; he had been partying." The defendant has had
multiple encounters with the criminal justice system, she said.
The second case involves a baby. When she was six months old her
father was charged with her death. Her mother had previously
been threatened with violence by the father and he had prior
alcohol-related encounters with the criminal justice system. At
the time of her death, health professionals reported that one in
three toddler and infant deaths in the intensive care unit was
at the hands of someone who hurt them.
The third case involves a woman who is charged with killing her
eight-year-old daughter while she was intoxicated. The defendant
had a prior conviction for child maltreatment while she was
intoxicated and taking care of children. She also had DWI and
assault convictions.
In 2007 there were 29 homicides in Anchorage and the MatSu
Valley and at least 30 percent were alcohol related.
1:47:50 PM
MS. INGLE said the public health approach is to study disease
and its determinates. Violent crime is the disease we're talking
about, but what are its determinates? In the last two days many
people have talked about different predictors or determinates of
violent crime including alcohol and drug use and being a youth
offender. "We think about this a lot when we think about
disease," she said. It's not uncommon to ask what puts a person
at risk for diabetes or tuberculoses, for example. The same
approach can be applied to violent crime. "What makes you at
risk of being either a perpetrator or a victim of violent
crime?" Although the victim should at no time be blamed, it is
known that victims and perpetrators have high risk activities
that may be predictors of violent crime. These are things on
which we may want to intervene, she said.
MS. INGLE said she manages her department's sexual assault
center in Anchorage. That nursing unit sees many women who
should be able to wear whatever they want or go to a bar or
safely ride home if someone offers them a ride, but who can't.
They're homeless. "We see them for sexual assault; we see women
more than one time." These women didn't deserve to be sexually
assaulted, but there are risk behaviors that are associated with
sexual assault, domestic violence, child sexual assault, and
child abuse. We tell kids do not take a ride with a stranger and
we tell people to participate in Neighborhood Watch. "We have to
extend this more to violent crimes where people sometimes are
repeat victims, where people have high-risk lifestyles. We
should always enforce it on the perpetrators. It's never okay.
We should look early and often and see what we can do to
intervene there as well," she said. In her mind public health is
connected to violent crime.
MS. INGLE called attention to alcohol and violent crime in
Anchorage. Statistics for 2006 indicate that alcohol was
involved in 28 percent of homicides, 64 percent of sexual
assaults, 54 percent of other assaults, and 31 percent of
robberies. Some people were arrested for driving under the
influence of a substance other than alcohol, but most were DUIs.
Work the Department of Health and Human Services has done in a
14-year analysis of domestic violence in Anchorage shows that
almost half of the domestic violence cases are alcohol related.
Alcohol is a large determinant in crime, she said. "How can we
deal with the most high-risk folks?"
1:51:07 PM
MS. INGLE said Anchorage has problems with chronic public
inebriates and rising issues with alcohol in the community. The
resources aren't adequate to sustain services and this is a
problem in Anchorage and other communities. Places are closing:
Salvation Army closed all detox beds last year, Juneau Alliance
for Mental Health closed respite beds, and Fairbanks Community
Behavioral Health is closing residential beds. And $1 million
was cut from the state operating budget for mental health and
substance abuse services. "That doesn't help us with treatment,
intervention, or prevention," she said. Resources aren't
adequate to break the cycle of chronic alcoholism. There isn't a
quick fix. "This is a part of public health that's in it for the
long haul."
MS. INGLE reminded the committee that it used to be an
unfortunate event for someone to kill another person by driving
drunk and now it's a crime. Similarly, when she was an Anchorage
high school student smoking areas were provided on campus. Now
it's a crime for a high school student to smoke. When she was an
infant coming home from the hospital her parents put her on the
car seat and merrily drove her home. Now it would be a crime to
do that with your infant. "These are public health interventions
that save lives, that change things for the long haul, but
they're not the quick fix," she said.
MS. INGLE said the Legislature's approach needs to address
problems for the short term and the long term. For the short
term: don't put people back into society without a reentry
program; don't send people home from jail without adequate
treatment; don't give short sentences to people who have
committed violent crimes such that they don't have adequate time
for rehabilitation. With regard to the long haul, she said she
told Mayor Begich that some things that public health does don't
get people elected. That's why some of them take a long time to
institute. "But if we don't invest now for the future and have
faith about things that might work, we'll always be 30 years
from that solution." Somebody needs to stand up and say, "Let's
be 30 years from that solution now, not in 10 years."
1:53:36 PM
MS. INGLE suggested the committee look at issues of title 47 -
the issues related to helping very high risk folks. For example,
there are about 100 public inebriates in Anchorage who use up 42
percent of the resources. "We have to look at ways of dealing
with that," she said. That includes putting people into housing
to meet some of their basic needs.
1:54:02 PM
CHAIR FRENCH said he'd be interested to see Mr. Aos's sort of
analysis applied to a six month in-custody alcohol treatment
program for chronic inebriates to see what benefit there might
be from even a 10 percent reduction. These people cost the
public hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and create
real discomfort to the community when they're panhandling and
drinking in public.
MS. INGLE said she believes that the municipality would like to
participate in that as a potential solution.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked the dollar amount expended on those
100 public inebriates who use 42 percent of the resources.
MS. INGLE said she believes it's in the $500,000 range.
1:55:25 PM
MS. INGLE provided a call to action.
I think that you should provide adequate resources to
fund strategies that work to either eliminate or
reduce the problem. Things like that are treatment and
secondary prevention. Perhaps if we found housing for
people, jobs for people, reentry programs. I think you
need to choose things that work, that are proven to
work, but then I also caution you that you have to
make sure that when we apply the model, we're staying
faithful to the model. … We know that programs like
Weight Watchers work in helping people reduce weight,
but the model includes going to the meeting and making
behavior modifications. If I just go to the meeting,
that's probably not going to work. So we have a model
and we have to make sure that when we fund and
implement, that we have some fidelity to the model.
Provide adequate funding for programs and services
that develop protective factors. I can't stress enough
how much I believe as the director of public health in
Anchorage, that raising the general education level of
our population would go to solving and making
incremental change in a lot of areas. The more
educated a person is, the less likely they are to live
in poverty, to be homeless, to commit crimes, to binge
drink, to smoke. … Think about collateral damage,
think about housing, think about mentoring, think
about providing adequate childcare. We know from
research that kids in their very little stages, that
it matters what we see, what we do. We know that 42
percent of the domestic violence cases in Anchorage
have child witnessing. We know that that impacts
people. We know that people who need childcare
assistance are probably not able to afford the high-
end quality childcare centers that we can provide if
we're a double-income family or have more resources
available to us. Yet that's a time in life where we
really have a chance to make a difference. Work on
parenting skills. Our department has worked on
developing parenting booklets in English and the top
five languages spoken in the Anchorage school
district. Provide resources.
1:57:58 PM
MS. INGLE continued:
Work to build collaboration not competition between
those entities engaged in solving the problem. Don't
fund one system at the expense of another. Develop
trainings that address problems from more than one
perspective. This is something that's happened with
the Anchorage domestic violence prevention project.
That's the project where we record conditions of bail
release. It's a labor-intensive project. It's nice to
spur discussion of how we should do it statewide for
all crimes, but it gives us a sense of what's working
there. There's many partners in that - Anchorage
Police Department, the Department of Law, [the
municipal] Department of Law. But since the program
started in 2006 there's been 218 compliance checks for
conditions of release; 52 arrests were made - about 25
percent of going and having people do compliance
checks. It's a program that's having impact.
We also partner with a way to provide victim service
support to help women who have been victims of
domestic violence get transitional housing, get legal
services, to participate in the criminal justice
system, to help them to take advantage of violent
crimes compensation, to relocate.
The other thing that I would bring up here - and some
of you visited the Anchorage sexual assault
multidisciplinary center for child and adult sexual
assault - that's a community collaboration as well. It
looks at bringing the partners together - various
disciplines. We don't all have to agree to find better
solutions. And take the all-hazards approach. So much
is interrelated. Take the opportunity to address core
risk and protective factors that have a bigger payoff,
not just in criminal justice but things that have a
payoff and your ability to have housing, to deal with
substance abuse. Take the all-hazards approach.
MS. INGLE said that when she thinks about how to do these things
she's reminded of a former boss who once said that a rising tide
floats all boats. Now she sees the point. It may cost more to
help people reenter society after they've been in the criminal
justice system and it may cost more to raise education levels,
but the benefit may be better.
2:00:52 PM
SENATOR ELLIS mentioned a bill he sponsored last year to update
the substance abuse statutes. He said that one project that was
pulled out for further discussion was money for an appellate
project in Anchorage and Kotzebue. Those communities were chosen
for a secure treatment pilot. He believes that Alaska judges
would use title 47, the involuntary commitment statute, to send
for treatment the people who are a danger to themselves and
others. "The hardcore of the hardcore inebriates that you
mentioned." It follows a successful model from the State of
Washington for detox and treatment in a secure setting. There's
a judge's review for taking freedom from those people. After
detox most of the people are thankful for the intervention. "We
save a lot of money on those folks, " he said. Those 100
hardcore chronic inebriates actually cost more than $4 million
when all costs to the Anchorage social safety network are
counted. Most of those folks are from other places and have come
to Anchorage as a social hub and service center.
SENATOR ELLIS said he's been working with the Begich
Administration, the Palin Administration and the Legislature and
the good news is that there is money in the governor's budget.
The Legislature will have to put some capital money in for the
urban and rural demonstration project in Anchorage and Kotzebue.
There's great interest for this in the Legislature, he said. In
fact, every person sitting at the finance table said they'd like
to have the same project in their community because they're
tired of doing the same old thing. "Look for a new approach and
some very positive intervention in the next fiscal year." We'll
need your help, he said.
MS. INGLE replied, "We'll be happy to help."
2:03:05 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI commented that a new approach is needed. 92
percent of the people who are incarcerated have substance abuse
problems, 80 percent of those who are arrested have substance
abuse issues, and the DHSS substance abuse funding between 2002
and 2007 has been cut 55 percent. We need a new approach and we
to look into an evidence-based program to see where it's best to
allocate the money, he said.
SENATOR ELLIS responded that with passage of SB 100 last year
there's a statutory requirement for the state to invest its
dollars in evidenced-based substance abuse programs. Although
some key legislatures were concerned that a 20 percent success
rate isn't enough for the money invested, that isn't out of
whack with reality in the treatment community. Evidence-based
programming will give legislators confidence that the state is
getting the best results for the dollars invested, he said.
^ADRIENNE BACHMAN, District Attorney, Department of Law
2:05:08 PM
CHAIR FRENCH said Ms. Bachman asked to supplement the record on
some of the statistics that were given earlier with respect to
rape. He directed attention to page 14 of the handout from the
Alaska Judicial Council titled, "Alaska Felony Process: 1999"
comparing Alaska convictions to nationwide numbers. So the
public doesn't misunderstand how Alaska district attorneys
handle these most serious cases, she would provide some insight.
ADRIENNE BACHMAN, District Attorney, Department of Law,
Anchorage, said there are about 500 reported sexual assaults in
Alaska each year. About 350 of the reports are in Anchorage.
Using the number from the table on page 14, that would calculate
to about 35 convictions statewide. Mr. Fink looked at it another
way. She suggested the committee ask him to explain how he looks
at the statistics. "Because I know that we don't have just 35
convictions [per year] for this most serious crime throughout
the State of Alaska." If there were just 35 there wouldn't be so
many prosecutors dedicated to this area. There's one statewide
prosecutor based out of Fairbanks and four prosecutors in
Anchorage that deal with nothing but sex assaults, child abuse,
and child pornography cases. "I'm going to look at the data that
Mr. Cohn offered up and see where that mesh is because I know
that that has to be a number that concerns you all if, in fact,
that's a true number." She said she doesn't want to say the
number isn't true, based on the criteria that was used and what
was gathered. "But we aggressively prosecute reported sexual
assaults in Alaska and we've only gotten more aggressive." In
large part she has prosecuted these cases for 13 years.
CHAIR FRENCH said he spent a year in the same office doing
nothing but those crimes. It was a huge focus of the office.
2:08:52 PM
MS. BACHMAN added that the caseloads are large. "In that unit
back in our time the caseload was 70 or 80 cases." If this were
reflective of dispositions, those 70 or 80 cases would result in
just 1 or 2 convictions. "I'm confident that you didn't have
[only] one or two convictions during your year and I certainly
know that I did not."
MS. BACHMAN said that was a perspective she wanted to clarify in
case it somehow reflected adversely on the criminal justice
community as a whole.
CHAIR FRENCH asked Mr. Fink to provide his observations.
^JOSH FINK, Director, Office of Public Advocacy, Department of
Administration
JOSH FINK, Director, Office of Public Advocacy, Department of
Administration, said his comment to Ms. Bachman was that if that
ratio is correct and there are just 7 convictions out of 100
reports, then there would be tens of thousands of reports. There
aren't that many. "We have about 500 a year." Working backwards
from the number of convictions, something seemed off.
CHAIR FRENCH asked Ms. Bachman and Mr. Fink to check the numbers
and the committee would post any corrected statistics on the
website.
He asked if anyone would like to come forward to correct or
supplement the record.
^DAN HOFFMAN, Chief, Fairbanks Police Department
2:10:34 PM
DAN HOFFMAN, Chief, Fairbanks Police Department, said he would
address two issues briefly. First, he applauds and encourages
the use of the judicial commitment process that Senator Ellis
talked about to address the chronic inebriate issue. He said
he's hopeful that the pilot will prove to be successful and can
then be implemented in other communities.
CHAIR FRENCH clarified that it's the money for beds that was
lacking and continues to be lacking. Senator Ellis was onto
something, he said. "Where I live in West Anchorage there's a
group of hardcore inebriates that hang out at the corners, they
panhandle, they hold up signs, they're a disgrace to the
community, but there's nothing to be done. They have chronic
alcoholism."
CHIEF HOFFMAN agreed that needs attention. He said the second
issue he'd like to address is the need and value of electronic
reporting for pawn shops and secondhand stores. Although the
Legislature may not feel it is in a position to mandate what
communities do in this regard, it could offer incentives to
communities that require electronic reporting. When Fairbanks
tried to institute this in the past, there was local resistance
from pawn shops that didn't want to be bothered with that sort
of rigmarole, he said.
CHIEF HOFFMAN said he wanted to speak to the chronic inebriate
issue to raise the larger issue of tort reform. He's very
concerned to see that the community service shelter in Anchorage
is being sued over the death of an inebriate. That person was
picked up from under a bridge and taken to a sleep-off center
where he died. The fact that he died is tragic, but this is a
high-risk population and concerns about liability keep some
shelters from opening. He encouraged the Legislature to provide
as much blanket liability protection as possible for these
shelters and the people working in them. If somebody is willing
to take a chronic inebriate off the street and out of a
dangerous environment, they should not be held responsible if
that person ends up dying.
2:13:48 PM
SENATOR ELLIS asked if Fairbanks has problems with illegal trade
in prescription drugs.
CHIEF HOFFMAN replied it's a significant issue. More and more
often the cases of misconduct involving a controlled substance
involve prescription drugs.
SENATOR ELLIS mentioned that he co-sponsored legislation related
to tracking prescription drugs and that there will likely be
discussion of that this year.
^ROB HEUN, Chief, Anchorage Police Department
2:14:43 PM
ROB HEUN, Chief, Anchorage Police Department, said the summit
has been encouraging. He understands that Justice Fabe's
committee is looking at the criminal justice system and he would
like assurance that local voices will be heard because they are
integral players in that system. Listening to the testimony of
others in the criminal justice system, he's heard common
threads. He looks forward to seeing those posted on the website
and that they continue to be distilled and worked through. It's
enlightening to hear the commonalities that the system as a
whole faces. He looks forward to the next step although he isn't
sure where it comes from. He isn't sure there's enough oversight
of the system from an entity that's empowered to prioritize and
balance the system. "Don't forget there are locals who don't
necessarily fall under the state umbrella who are an integral
part of that system. But we want to play, we want to fix this
thing," he said.
CHAIR FRENCH commented that a theme they've heard is that there
isn't really a system; it's a series of disparate entities.
Sometimes they work well together and sometimes they could stand
better integration. How to coordinate those has been on his
mind. There's need for an overarching apolitical entity to
coordinate criminal justice matters, he said.
2:17:41 PM
CHIEF HEUN said he likes to hear the term apolitical. Looking at
the system as a whole and diminishing the perspectives of the
individual players regarding budgets and resources would result
in a more balanced and effective criminal justice system, he
said.
CHAIR FRENCH said he'll follow up on the idea of community
oriented policing grants as a way to fund officers.
CHIEF HEUN clarified that the context he used it in wasn't to
fund officers. It was for localized state level grants for the
criminal justice system to ensure balanced resourcing in the
system. "Without the balance in the criminal justice system,
this is just an exercise that's making us all feel like we're
making progress."
^JANET MCCABE, Chair, Partners for Progress
2:19:19 PM
JANET MCCABE, Chair, Partners for Progress, said the nonprofit
supports therapeutic justice. She suggested that this is a good
time to investigate a reentry program because the Anchorage
federal courts have decided to do this. "Programs really should
be state, local, and federal because it's a system for providing
one-stop services and one-stop supervision to people that are
leaving prison." There isn't any reason to separate programs
between jurisdictions because these people all need jobs and
housing. Generally they need treatment and a carefully
supervised program of reentry. She suggested asking the criminal
justice working group to establish a subcommittee that includes
all the agencies and nonprofit representatives to develop a
proposal.
^JEFF JESSE, Chief Executive Officer, Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority
2:21:06 PM
JEFF JESSE, Chief Executive Officer, Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority ("Trust"), said, "We're ready to get to work." Clearly
mental health and substance abuse are key drivers to some
criminal justice issues. Nonetheless they are optimistic that
Alaska can put together a good and effective program that can
affect the corrections population and perhaps avoid major
facilities and operating costs down the road. For example, using
the same approach as the bring-the-kids-home program, a lot of
issues can be addressed. Over a three-year period the number of
kids housed out of state has dropped from 428 to 260. "We think
that we can look at these target populations in corrections -
people with chronic mental illness [and] substance abuse
problems - we can invest in community programs using those
evidence-based practices that were identified [and] we can set
measurable targets for reducing recidivism rates for those
target populations and over time turn the curve on at least our
beneficiaries in the criminal justice system." He said that
Trust resources can be used to help develop the infrastructure
to accomplish this. "We're ready to be full partners."
MR. JESSE said that the current administration, with
Commissioners Schmidt, Monegan, and Jackson, is a great team.
"They get it." Commissioner Schmidt has been very supportive of
core infrastructure pieces such as the housing trust. With
interagency cooperation in the executive and similar support in
the Legislature, the success in Washington is attainable in
Alaska.
2:24:17 PM
CHAIR FRENCH thanked Mr. Jesse for the can-do spirit and
reminded anyone who had electronically prepared testimony to
submit it to his office so it could be made part of the record.
He also thanked his staff member, Allison Biastock, for keeping
things moving forward and making the summit happen.
CHAIR FRENCH said that over the last two days he kept a tally of
things he was hearing and he put a green sticky note next to the
ideas he wanted to implement. Those include expanding the use of
electronic web-based information and information-sharing methods
for citations, discovery, conditions of bail, probation and
parole, and DUI forms. Getting laptops in patrol cars and pawn
shop reporting is important as Chief Hoffman said. Recruitment
and retention are obvious areas that need focus. It's a problem
they heard about from the DAs, the PDs, the Troopers, and the
probation officers. APD seems to be the only group that's not
impinged, but they are recruiting aggressively. It's something
to look hard at to determine whether the pay for the boots on
the ground is sufficient to get the best and brightest out there
on the front line. Also, statistics need to be reviewed to see
if the right data is being collected to get the information
that's needed. "When I ask simple questions about whether
juveniles wind up in the adult system we find out that we don't
know." The average citizen would say that's important
information to know.
CHAIR FRENCH said it sounds like the crime lab is a bottleneck
and it will probably need to be expanded. That's where a huge
amount of information can be processed so the guilty can be put
in jail and the innocent can be kept out. DNA testing is
enormously powerful and it's got to be available. Effective
juvenile intervention is vital. Mr. Aos clearly demonstrated
that pennies spent on juveniles produces thousands of dollars in
results. Voluntary pre kindergarten, keeping kids in school, and
having cops in schools all produce huge results. "I'm eager to
keep working on all those things." He thanked everyone for
attending and in particular he thanked the criminal justice
professionals from across the state who came and helped inform
legislators to make their jobs more productive and meaningful.
2:28:35 PM
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if he envisions the committee helping
to shape something or if he's working to add to legislation
that's been introduced or if he's looking at how to integrate
with the program the administration is working on, which might
not be ready until next year.
CHAIR FRENCH replied it depends on whether it's an incremental
task like pawnshop reporting or something that's overarching
like finding an entity to take over the criminal justice
integration to provide continuity from one administration to the
next. Something definitely has to come out of this, he said.
2:29:58 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he sees things that clearly need to be
done right away. Obviously there are good people in a lot of
areas doing a good job, but there are gaps in the system. When
the Legislature is deciding where to make an investment, there
are things that aren't known. He appreciates that in substance
abuse there will finally be evidence-based results so it will be
known if the investments are working. He would like to see some
organization do a study like was done in Washington to figure
out where Alaska would get the best bang for the buck to cut
crime. It would be a tremendous investment for Alaska. "That
would be my suggestion of where we go with this," he said.
2:31:55 PM
CHAIR FRENCH said he intends to reach out to Mr. Aos and get a
copy of the Washington enabling legislation so that legislative
research, the judicial council or some other entity can do some
number crunching to provide guidance.
SENATOR ELLIS said he appreciates bringing in the nexus of
substance abuse with criminality and social dysfunction in
Alaska. It's something that's not been recognized by enough
legislators, but we're on the cusp of making a change for the
better, he said.
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair French adjourned the meeting at 2:32:53 PM.
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