Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 211
03/25/2009 01:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY
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| Uaa Research on Violence Against Women | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
March 25, 2009
1:33 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Hollis French, Chair
Senator Bill Wielechowski, Vice Chair
Senator Lesil McGuire
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Gene Therriault
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
UAA Research on Violence Against Women
HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
ANDRE B. ROSAY Ph.D., Interim Director
Justice Center
University of Alaska Anchorage
Anchorage AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented UAA Research on Violence Against
Women.
COLONEL AUDIE HOLLOWAY
Alaska State Troopers
Department of Public Safety
Anchorage AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered a question during the
presentation.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:33:59 PM
CHAIR HOLLIS FRENCH called the Senate Judiciary Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:33 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Wielechowski, and French. Senator McGuire
arrived during the course of the meeting.
^UAA Research on Violence Against Women
CHAIR FRENCH announced the business before the committee is to
hear from Andre B. Rosay, Ph.D. from the UAA Justice Center. He
related that he's been aware of Mr. Rosay's work for some time,
but the articles on case attrition and a victimization study on
sex assault particularly caught his eye. One thing that jumped
out from the study was that 1,000 reported rapes result in
roughly 200 convictions for sex offense, which leaves 800 cases
that have individuals who could still be victimizing Alaskans.
1:35:26 PM
ANDRE B. ROSAY, Ph.D., Interim Director, Justice Center,
University of Alaska Anchorage, related that his presentation is
based on research that the Justice Center has done over the past
five years. He noted the information packet contains reprints
from the Alaska Justice Forum on sexual assault, stalking, and
domestic violence. Also there is a list of effective criminal
justice responses that they identified through their research.
"These are the little footnotes and details that will backup
some of the claims I'll be making towards the end of the
presentation."
He highlighted the funding the Justice Center has received for
their research from the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual
Assault, the National Institute of Justice, and the University
of Alaska Anchorage.
MR. ROSAY said he will talk primarily about four sets of studies
the Justice Center has done with the Alaska State Troopers
(AST), the Anchorage Police Department (APD), Sexual Assault
Nurse Examiners (SANE) throughout the state; and the Alaska
Department of Law (DOL). A conclusion he's made is that one of
Alaska's greatest assets is that it has an extremely strong
criminal justice system that works well most of the time. The
agencies are interested in examining what they are doing and how
they could improve.
1:37:21 PM
MR. ROSAY displayed a line chart of forcible rape statistics
from 1996 to 2007 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). These are
offenses that are known to police. The statistics include only
forcible rape, which is defined as "the carnal knowledge of a
female forcibly and against her will." Others forms of sexual
assault are not included. The rates of forcible rape are shown
for Alaska overall, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the U.S. in
general. Clearly, Alaska has a long history of being
persistently above the U.S. average. The difference is not
significant but there has been a slight decline in the overall
U.S. rate from 1996 to 2007, whereas there has been a slight
increase in the rates for Alaska and Anchorage during that time.
He noted that statistics became available for Fairbanks
beginning in 2003 and the data is from the local police
department.
1:38:47 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he has any theories as to why the
Fairbanks rate is so high; it's basically twice the rate of
Anchorage or Alaska overall.
MR. ROSAY replied he can't say; that data comes from offenses
reported to the Fairbanks Police Department and the Justice
Center studies focus primarily on APD and AST.
SENATOR MCGUIRE mentioned an earlier conversation that remote
locations of communities tend to be a driving factor in sexual
assault and sexual abuse of minors. Further work might identify
why Alaska is unique and why it has higher rates. Also, knowing
what factors make a particular region have higher or lower rates
could be helpful in focusing individual efforts at local levels.
1:40:15 PM
MR. ROSAY said he has data from the Copper River Delta region
showing astronomically high rates of violence against women.
Directing attention to the next chart, he pointed out that from
2003 to 2007 the Alaska average for forcible rape was 2.6 times
higher than the U.S. average. The rate in Anchorage was 2.84
times higher and in Fairbanks the rate was 5 times higher than
the U.S. average. That's been persistently true since 1996 and
it was true 20 years before that, he said.
The "Crime Clock" is another way to look at the information, he
said. There were 90,427 forcible rapes that occurred in the U.S.
in 2007, which means about 1 every 6 minutes. In Alaska that
would be 1 reported forcible rape every 17 hours, in Fairbanks 1
every 8.5 days, and in Anchorage 1 every 1.5 days.
CHAIR FRENCH said he puzzles over what factor or combination of
factors prompt Alaska to have such horrific rates and he would
like to hear any thoughts on why this state is so uniquely bad
in this area.
MR. ROSAY replied he can only agree that it is a combination of
a wide variety of factors. What the Justice Center has
determined through its research is how to address some of those
factors and what can be done to make a difference. He said he
will show strategies that have been shown to make a difference
at not only a national level but also at a local level in Alaska
where things may be a bit different. Other states that have very
high rates of forcible rape are Michigan and New Mexico. While
the differences between Michigan and Alaska are striking, New
Mexico and Alaska are more comparable in terms of isolation
factors.
CHAIR FRENCH suggested he make clear the difference between
reported rapes and unreported rapes, and how the rapes that do
not get reported to law enforcement are accounted for.
MR. ROSAY said he would address that soon. He then directed
attention to pie charts showing the composition of violent crime
in Alaska and the U.S. in general. These Part I offenses
reported to the FBI include murder, non-negligent manslaughter,
aggravated assault, forcible rape, and robbery. The charts
clearly demonstrate that in Alaska forcible rape is a much more
common form of violent crime than in other states. That is
somewhat unique even when compared to states like Michigan and
New Mexico that also have high rates of forcible rape. Those
states tend to have high rates of violent crime overall.
1:44:06 PM
MR. ROSAY displayed a table of 2002 to 2007 UCR and U.S. Census
rates of forcible rape per 100,000 women. On average the rate in
Alaska was 169.4 per 100,000 women. On average there were 541
reported forcible rapes per year. In order for Alaska not to be
ranked number 1, there would need to be, on average, 201 fewer
rapes per year or a 36 percent decrease.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if that would make Alaska number 2 in
the nation.
MR. ROSAY said that's correct. He added that it would be a tough
job to decrease the number of reported forcible rapes by 200.
The good news is that had the state been able to do that, the
savings would have been $20 million per year. He calculated a 20
percent conviction rate for 200 cases, 12 years average
incarceration time, and an average cost of $44,000 per prisoner
per year. That only includes incarceration costs; it does not
include law enforcement costs, court costs, or victim costs. The
latter includes tangible costs such as medical bills and
intangible costs of pain and suffering. He said that at the end
of the presentation he will talk about some strategies that
might be implemented and while they aren't cheap, doing nothing
will actually be much more expensive.
MR. ROSAY directed attention to a chart of standard UCR cautions
and noted that the statistics do not include rapes that are not
reported to law enforcement. Nationwide, about 48 percent of
sexual assaults are reported to law enforcement, which means
that all the numbers that have been mentioned for the U.S. and
for Alaska probably could be doubled.
1:47:14 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE observed that another aspect to analyze would be
whether or not there are cultural factors that are unique to
certain regions in Alaska that might increase the rate of
unreported rapes. She mentioned cultural sensitivities, being
ostracized, and the potential for retaliation. If 52 percent of
rapes are not reported nationally, she said she suspects that
the rate is higher in Alaska.
MR. ROSAY said that may be true, but it may also be that victims
in Alaska are more willing to report because this state has so
many good services. He hopes to have a statewide victimization
survey in a few years to identify what the barriers are to
reporting.
1:48:32 PM
CHAIR FRENCH asked him to explain how he determines the
percentage of rapes that do not get reported.
MR. ROSAY explained that the only way to make that determination
is through victimization surveys such as the National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCVS). That is a national telephone survey
of about 50,000 per year that asks respondents if they have been
a victim of a sexual assault. A determination is made about
whether or not those sexual assaults have been reported to law
enforcement.
CHAIR FRENCH observed that it's basically a telephone polling
service that asks individuals if they have been a victim of a
certain variety of crimes. The information is assembled and
compared to reported crime statistics to come up with a factor.
MR. ROSAY agreed.
CHAIR FRENCH related that information he found recently sheds
light on the strengths and weaknesses of that approach. A
Wikipedia entry describes victimization surveys as perception
surveys because the people who are asked if they are victims of
crime need provide no supporting evidence for their answers. He
read, "In these surveys it is the participant's perception or
opinion that a crime occurred or even their understanding about
what constitutes a crime that is being measured." He commented
that it may be the best we have, but it's imperfect.
MR. ROSAY said the NCVS also has limitations, but an advantage
is that the questions are more behavior specific and don't
simply ask an individual if they're a victim of an aggravated
assault. All the data points have limitations but the statistics
paint a consistent picture of Alaska's severe and persistent
problem with sexual violence.
1:50:35 PM
CHAIR FRENCH responded, "It's a constant drum beat of bad
information coming at us and … every year we seem to try
something a little different here in Juneau to see if we can
finally get a handle on the problem."
MR. ROSAY returned attention to the table of standard UCR
cautions and said the UCR statistics exclude the following:
· Rapes that are not reported to law enforcement
· Statutory rapes
· Rapes where the victims were incapacitated due to alcohol
use - although there are quite a few in this state
· Rapes with male victims
· Other sex offenses such as online enticement of minors
· Rapes committed in combination with more serious offenses
such as homicide
MR. ROSAY said they generally believed that the rankings across
states are not valid assessments because they ignore factors
that come together to help predict rates of violence. For
example, demographics such as age are not taken into account
even though statistics show that offenders tend to be of a
specific age. A state with a large portion of the population in
a particular age group might be one reason why it has a higher
rate of forcible rape.
MR. ROSAY displayed data from the Alaska Violent Death Reporting
System from 2003 to 2005. Information was captured on 117
homicides in Alaska with the following breakdown.
· These represent 19 percent of all violent deaths with the
most common form of violent death being suicide
· 22 percent of the homicide cases were related to intimate
partner violence (IPV)
· 62.5 percent of the homicide victims were female
· 37.5 percent of the homicide victims were male
· Among the victims who tested positive for alcohol use, 78
percent tested above the legal limit
CHAIR FRENCH asked the criteria for selecting the 117 homicides.
MR. ROSAY replied this was a state project that was funded by
the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He believes it
includes all the homicides that occurred in Alaska from 2003 to
2005.
CHAIR FRENCH questioned why then it's 19 percent of all violent
deaths.
1:53:39 PM
MR. ROSAY replied the others include suicide. The Alaska Violent
Death Reporting System captured information on all violent
deaths.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if there are 4 or 5 times as many suicides as
homicides in Alaska and noted that he received a head nod.
MR. ROSAY added that the next issue of the "Alaska Justice
Forum" will have an article on the prevalence of suicide and
homicide.
He directed attention to a bar graph of the percent of homicides
that had intimate partner violence in 17 states and pointed out
that in Alaska and Utah IPV is a more common form of homicide
than is found in other states. He qualified that the data from
California is inaccurate because it represents just a portion of
the state.
A Magen and Wood, 2006 survey of Alaska Native Women in the
Copper River Delta found the following:
· 64 percent reported having been physically assaulted by an
intimate partner at some point in their lifetime versus a
national average of 22 percent.
· The lifetime victimization rate for Alaska Native women in
the Copper River Delta is 2.9 times higher than the
national rate.
· 78 percent of perpetrators and 60 percent of victims having
used alcohol prior to the assault.
CHAIR FRENCH mentioned Glennallen, Copper Center, and Cordova
and said he'd like to get a better feel for what part of the
state he's talking about.
MR. ROSAY said he would get more information, but he believes
that is the general area.
1:55:21 PM
MR. ROSAY displayed a detailed bar graph showing a sample of the
survey questions used in the National Crime Victimization
Survey. Responses of Alaska Native Women in the Copper River
Delta are shown alongside the national averages from the NCVS
and reflect the following:
· Of victims that reported having been beat up, Alaska Native
Women in the Copper River Delta had a lifetime prevalence
that was 5 times higher than the national average.
· Of victims that reported having been hit with an object,
Alaska Native Women in the Copper River Delta had a
lifetime prevalence that was 6 times higher than the
national average.
· Of victims that reported having been choked or an attempted
drowning, Alaska Native Women in the Copper River Delta had
a lifetime prevalence that was 5 times higher than the
national average.
· Of victims that reported having been kicked or bitten,
Alaska Native Women in the Copper River Delta had a
lifetime prevalence that was 4 times higher than the
national average.
· Of victims that reported having been slapped or hit, Alaska
Native Women in the Copper River Delta had a lifetime
prevalence that was 5 times higher than the national
average.
· Of victims that reported having had their hair pulled,
Alaska Native Women in the Copper River Delta had a
lifetime prevalence that was 4 times higher than the
national average.
· Of victims that reported being pushed, grabbed, or shoved,
Alaska Native Women in the Copper River Delta had a
lifetime prevalence that was 8 times higher than the
national average.
· Of victims that reported having something thrown at them
that could hurt, Alaska Native Women in the Copper River
Delta had a lifetime prevalence that was 9 times higher
than the national average.
Overall the data paints a rather persistent picture that Alaska
has a fairly severe problem of violence against women in terms
of physical assault, sexual assault, and homicide. The rates in
this state are far higher than the national averages. Mr. Rosay
said that there is likely to be a difference in reporting, but
it's not clear in which direction. It may vary across the state.
Nonetheless, the difference between what is found in Alaska and
what is found nationally is so pronounced, it can't possibly be
due to just a difference in reporting. It is clear that
something else is going on.
MR. ROSAY recapped that the UAA Justice Center has engaged in
studies with four different entities to try to figure out how
the criminal justice system can better respond. The first was
the Alaska Sexual Assault Nursing Examiner Study (SANE); second
were studies with the Alaska State Troopers; the third included
a variety of studies with the Anchorage Police Department; and
fourth were studies with the Department of Law. All these
studies are available on the UAA Justice Center website. He
emphasized that these studies only include offenses that were
reported to law enforcement. They are about the criminal justice
process and focus on police, courts, and corrections. Prevention
and victim advocacy are clearly very important, but that is not
the focus here.
1:58:43 PM
The Alaska Sexual Assault Nursing Examiner (SANE) Study was
conducted in Kotzebue, Nome, Bethel, Soldotna, Homer, Kodiak,
Anchorage, and Fairbanks and includes only reported offenses.
The majority of cases came from Anchorage because UAA Justice
Center collected data in Anchorage from 1996 to 2004. About 100
cases came from Bethel and Fairbanks and the other five
communities account for a smaller number of cases. The best and
most detailed data on alcohol use comes from this study.
The AST Sexual Assault Study included 989 cases that were
reported to the state troopers between 2003 and 2004.
· 49 percent of the cases were from Detachment C, which
covers Western Alaska
· 16 percent of the cases were from Detachment D in Central
Alaska
· 11 percent of the cases were from Detachment B in
Southcentral Alaska
· 11 percent of the cases were from Detachment E in Southwest
Alaska
· 4 percent of the cases were from Detachment A in Southeast
Alaska
CHAIR FRENCH said his first reaction is to question how
Anchorage numbers can be so low when it has half the state's
population. But the answer is that these are strictly state
trooper cases. Reports to APD are not included.
MR. ROSAY agreed.
CHAIR FRENCH asked which Detachment covers the North Slope
Borough.
MR. ROSAY deferred to Colonel Holloway.
COLONEL AUDIE HOLLOWAY, Alaska State Troopers, Department of
Public Safety, said the borough police handle cases in that
area.
CHAIR FRENCH commented that it's important not to jump to the
conclusion that half the sexual assault cases in the state come
from Western Alaska.
MR. ROSAY said that's right. It's half the AST workload on
sexual violence that comes from Detachment C; cases reported to
local and municipal police are not included.
He displayed a map showing the breakdown by trooper Detachment
of stalking cases reported to AST from 1994 to 2005 and pointed
out that these cases were more equally distributed throughout
the state. 9 percent of the reports came from Detachment A, 28
percent from Detachment B, 16 percent from Detachment C, 28
percent from Detachment D, and 18 percent from Detachment E.
A similar statewide breakdown for domestic violence cases
reported to AST shows that 4 percent were made to Detachment A,
22 percent to Detachment B, 32 percent to Detachment C, 29
percent to Detachment D, and 14 percent to Detachment E. Mr.
Rosay displayed a table summarizing the AST sexual assault,
stalking and domestic violence cases by trooper Detachment and
noted that the Alaska Bureau of Investigation (ABI) cases have
relatively small numbers because only cases from the child abuse
and cold case investigation units were included. All other ABI
cases were attributed to the geographic area from which they
came.
2:02:18 PM
MR. ROSAY said the Justice Center did three sets of sexual
assault studies for the Anchorage Police Department. Sexual
Assault Study I included reports from 2000 and 2001, SA Study II
included reports from 2002 and 2003, and SA Study III included
reports from 2004 and 2005. Some of the work they did with APD
was to look at locations of initial contact and assaults
throughout the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA). The results were
important from a policy perspective because the number of
assaults that occurred downtown was very different from the
number that occurred in Northeast Anchorage.
MR. ROSAY explained that the Department of Law (DOL) Studies
started with cases that had been reported to law enforcement.
The Justice Center looked at the DOL records to examine the
legal resolutions - whether the cases were referred for
prosecution, whether they were accepted for prosecution, and
whether they resulted in a conviction on any given charge within
the case. That could be a plea bargain where the charge was
dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor or it could be a
conviction on a non-sex offense charge. He emphasized that any
conviction at all is counted as a success here.
When the Justice Center considered the victims and suspects they
looked at gender, race, age, alcohol use, and the relationship
between the victim and the suspect. To do this they looked at
the SANE Study, the AST Studies, and the APD Studies. With
gender they found that the majority of victims were female and
the majority of suspects were male. "We find that to be true in
every study that we've done, that's consistent with national
averages," he said.
MR. ROSAY displayed pie charts from the AST studies looking at
statistics on the race of victims and suspects in cases of
sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence. He noted that
the majority of the assaults were intraracial - occurring within
the same racial group, rather than interracial - occurring
across racial groups. In sexual assault cases 60 percent of
victims and 59 percent of suspects were Alaska Native, 38
percent of victims and 37 percent of suspects were White. In
domestic violence cases about 50 percent of the victims and 50
percent of the suspects were White. In stalking cases 86 percent
of victims and 78 percent of suspects were White and 13 percent
of victims and 21 percent of suspects were Alaska Native.
Stalking is likely to be an under-recognized and under-reported
offense and AST is working on that, Mr. Rosay said.
2:06:24 PM
MR. ROSAY displayed pie charts from the SANE Study looking at
statistics on the race of victims and suspects in cases from
Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Rural areas. In Rural areas 88 percent
of victims and 89 percent of suspects were Alaska Native. In
Fairbanks 54 percent of victims and 55 percent of suspects were
Alaska Native. Anchorage is a little different with 52 percent
of victims being Alaska Native and 37 percent of suspects
belonging to the "Other" category, which is primarily African
American. He noted that in the SANE Study and in Anchorage, just
over half of the assaults were intraracial rather than
interracial.
He displayed a bar graph of rates of sexual assault reported to
APD over a four-year period broken down according to the race of
the victim. The data clearly shows that Alaska Natives have a
significantly higher rate with 20 sex assaults per 1,000 women.
The four-year rate for White victims is 2.8 per 1,000 and for
Black victims it is 4.0 per 1,000.
CHAIR FRENCH questioned how that stands up to the generalization
that the race of rape suspects and rape victims tend to be
similar. If that's true then there must be a concurrently
extremely high rate of Alaska Natives who are committing these
crimes. He asked if that's correct.
MR. ROSAY indicated a similar bar graph showing the race of
sexual assault suspects and said Alaska Native suspects had a
relatively high rate [with 9.9 per 1,000]. Black suspects had
the highest four-year rates with 17.2 per 1,000. But overall
Alaska Native suspects were more likely to assault an Alaska
Native victim that anyone else. He directed attention to a table
summarizing suspect and victim race and noted that in every
study at least half the assaults were intraracial rather than
interracial. In particular, Native suspects are even more likely
to commit an intraracial assault than other suspects.
CHAIR FRENCH said he hesitates to speculate but he wonders
whether the average female in Anchorage who is looking for a
ride home might not pick someone of her own race because they're
more familiar. It's somewhat counterintuitive, but that might be
the more dangerous choice.
2:09:23 PM
MR. ROSAY displayed a bar graph showing the age of victims of
sexual assault in cases reported to AST. The data clearly shows
that the age of victims tends to be very young. 36 percent of
victims who reported to AST were 12 years of age or younger, 65
percent were 15 years or age or younger, and 74 percent were
under 18 years of age. In other words, nearly 75 percent of the
sexual assaults that were reported to AST were assaults against
minors.
He displayed a bar graph showing the age of sexual assault
suspects in cases reported to AST. The data indicates that
suspects tend to be significantly older than their victims. The
most common category for suspects was 21-30 years of age,
followed by suspects that were 16-20 years of age. Responding to
a question, he related that he has similar numbers for the APD
studies. Although the difference isn't as striking, victims
still tend to be younger than suspects.
Turning to a chart of suspect/victim age comparisons, Mr. Rosay
noted that the following 5 combinations account for 48 percent
of the cases reported to AST on a yearly basis:
· The most common sexual assault case reported to AST is for
a victim who is 0-12 years old who has been assaulted by a
suspect who is 31 years of age or older.
· The second most common is for a victim who is 13-15 years
old who has been assaulted by a suspect who is 16-20 years
of age.
· The third most common is for a victim who is 13-15 years
old who has been assaulted by a suspect who is 21-30 years
of age.
· The fourth most common is for a victim who is 13-15 years
old who has been assaulted by a suspect who is 31 years of
age or older.
· The fifth category is for victims and suspects who are both
31 years of age or older.
MR. ROSAY directed attention to a bar graph showing four-year
rates of sexual assault reported to APD for victims and suspects
by age. 15-19 year olds have the highest risk of victimization
with a rate of 15.4 per 1,000. He said the data on age of
victims isn't entirely surprising when compared to data from the
2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey on sexual violence and physical
assaults.
2:12:43 PM
The 2007 survey included 9th to 12th grade students who were in
school and who received parental consent to participate in the
survey. Among these students:
· 9 percent reported they have been physically forced to have
sexual intercourse against their will
· 12 percent reported they have been hit, slapped, or
physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend at
some point in the past 12 months
· 45 percent reported they have had sexual intercourse
· 31 percent reported they have had sexual intercourse in the
past 3 months
He noted that there is a continuing pattern with alcohol use
with 22 percent saying that they had used alcohol or drugs
before their last sexual intercourse.
MR. ROSAY highlighted the following for alcohol use by victims:
· In every APD Study from 2000 to 2005, over 60 percent of
victims say they have used alcohol.
· In the SANE Studies, over 65 percent of patients used
alcohol in every site except Homer and Soldotna, but there
weren't many cases from those two sites.
· In the AST Studies the rates are lower with 27 percent of
sexual assault victims using alcohol, 2 percent of stalking
victims using alcohol, and 32 percent of domestic violence
victims using alcohol
MR. ROSAY reminded the committee that many of these victims were
younger than 12 years of age so reporting alcohol use may be
less likely in the AST Studies. Also, possession of alcohol may
be illegal in some of the communities, which would make
reporting less likely.
2:15:08 PM
Alcohol use by suspects presents a fairly similar picture. Mr.
Rosay highlighted the following:
· In every APD Study from 2000 to 2005, over 70 percent of
suspects reported they use alcohol
· In the SANE Studies, at every site over 75 percent of
suspects used alcohol
· In the AST Studies 43 percent of sexual assault suspects
used alcohol, 20 percent of stalking suspects used alcohol,
and 57 percent of domestic violence suspects used alcohol.
A bar graph of percent of sexual assaults reported to AST with
victims using alcohol and by victim age shows the following:
· Among 13-15 year old victims, 27 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among 16-17 year old victims, 10 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among 18-20 year old victims, 16 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among 21-30 year old victims, 22 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among victims 31 years or older, 21 percent reported using
alcohol.
MR. ROSAY again noted that it's likely that the percentages are
much higher, but for a variety of reasons the victims were not
willing to disclose that information.
A bar graph of percent of sexual assaults reported to AST with
suspect using alcohol and by suspect age shows the following:
· Among 16-20 year old suspects, 20 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among 21-30 year old suspects, 34 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among 31-40 year old suspects, 26 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among 41-50 year old suspects, 13 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Among suspects 51 years or older, 5 percent reported using
alcohol.
Reported alcohol use at the 8 different SANE locations shows the
following:
· Soldotna - Of 14 patients, 36 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Homer - Of 8 patients, 38 percent reported using alcohol.
· Soldotna - Of 14 patients, 36 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Kodiak - Of 4 patients, 50 percent reported using alcohol.
· Soldotna - Of 14 patients, 36 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Anchorage - Of 1,279 patients, 66 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Nome - Of 19 patients, 68 percent reported using alcohol.
· Fairbanks - Of 119 patients, 71 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Bethel - Of 105 patients, 71 percent reported using
alcohol.
· Kotzebue - Of 21 patients, 100 percent reported using
alcohol.
The SANE Study measured whether patients were incapacitated at
the time of the assault. The findings are as follows:
· In Soldotna, 7 percent of patients reported being passed
out at the time of the assault.
· In Homer, 13 percent of patients reported being passed out
at the time of the assault.
· In Anchorage, 23 percent of patients reported being passed
out at the time of the assault.
· In Kodiak, 4 percent of patients reported being passed out
at the time of the assault.
· In Fairbanks, 31 percent of patients reported being passed
out at the time of the assault.
· In Nome, 37 percent of patients reported being passed out
at the time of the assault.
· In Bethel, 46 percent of patients reported being passed out
at the time of the assault.
· In Kotzebue, 52 percent of patients reported being passed
out at the time of the assault.
MR. ROSAY reminded the committee that none of these rapes will
be included in the Uniform Crime Report because the UCR
definition doesn't consider these to be forcible rape. He
pointed out that these rates tend to be high, but the only
national comparison comes from a survey of college students in
one Lower-48 state.
2:18:47 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if the slides showing race and age of
sexual assault suspects and victims include only forcible rapes.
MR. ROSAY clarified that the data includes forcible rapes and
other sex offenses as defined by Alaska statute. The statistics
he showed early on from the Uniform Crime Report included only
forcible rape. All subsequent data relate to sexual assault.
MR. ROSAY related that in every study they've done they found
that the most common relationship between suspect and victim is
friends and acquaintances. He referenced a chart of victim and
suspect relationships showing the following:
· APD Sexual Assault Study - 38 percent of victims were
assaulted by a stranger and 62 percent were assaulted by a
non-stranger.
· SANE Study - 16 percent of victims were assaulted by a
stranger and 84 percent were assaulted by a non-stranger.
· AST Sexual Assault Study - 2 percent of victims were
assaulted by a stranger and 98 percent were assaulted by a
non-stranger.
· AST Stalking Study - 8 percent of victims were assaulted by
a stranger and 92 percent were assaulted by a non-stranger.
MR. ROSAY added that NIBRS (National Incident Based Reporting
System) looks at sexual assaults that are reported to law
enforcement and has found that only 14 percent of assaults are
committed by strangers and that the most common relationship is
a friend or acquaintance. He explained that he included the
NIBRS data because STAR (Standing Together Against Rape)
recently stated that the rate of stranger assaults in Anchorage
is higher than the national average. He said he wasn't aware of
that, but the APD Study indicates that 38 percent of assaults
are by a stranger. That is a striking difference from the
national average of 14 percent.
2:21:02 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE suggested it would be helpful to know some of
the predominant factors that lead to stranger assaults in urban
areas. Knowing some of those factors and getting the information
out to women and young people will help with prevention. "I
think a big part of what we're doing and what the chairman is
showing leadership on is discussing this," she said.
MR. ROSAY said they did some work looking at the difference
between stranger and non-stranger assaults occurring in
Anchorage. Some of that information is on the Justice Center
website. They found that the majority of assaults occurred in
downtown Anchorage and were outdoors. A common message is to
beware strangers when accepting rides, but most of the data
demonstrates that that it's prudent to be aware of friends and
acquaintances because they are more dangerous than strangers. He
emphasized that the assaults that occur in downtown Anchorage
are very different than those that occur elsewhere in the city.
"We focused primarily in Northeast where those are almost never
between strangers and they're almost never occurring outdoors,"
he said. In the future we hope to learn more about these types
of assaults, the differences that occur, and the policy
implications of the differences, he added.
2:24:06 PM
MR. ROSAY turned attention to the Department of Law (DOL)
Studies of the sexual assault cases reported to law enforcement.
The sources are the SANE Study, APD Study, and AST Sexual
Assault Study. Depending on the study, somewhere between 18
percent and 46 percent of the cases are referred to DOL for
prosecution.
CHAIR FRENCH commented that this may be the subject of a future
hearing or dialog between the committee and law enforcement
agencies because there is tremendous opportunity to work to push
those numbers up. He said he hesitates to call it a gold mine
but there are lots of cases that, for a variety of factors,
don't produce a convicted sex offender.
SENATOR MCGUIRE commented on the way some states shield child
victims of sexual assault from the normal courtroom procedure
and suggested the Alaska judiciary might give that some
consideration.
CHAIR FRENCH mentioned the fact that in some studies as few as
18 percent of the cases are referred for prosecution, and said
it's almost impossible to imagine that 82 percent are being
screened at the cop shop on Tudor Road.
MR. ROSAY cautioned against trying to compare rates across
studies because the cases are so different. APD cases have a far
higher rate of stranger assaults and those are more complicated
to investigate. Conversely, AST cases have higher rates of
incapacitated assaults, which are also difficult to investigate.
CHAIR FRENCH again suggested a future conversation between the
committee and different agencies.
SENATOR MCGUIRE said she believes it would be beneficial to have
an independent unit within AST with specially trained
investigators.
2:28:52 PM
MR. ROSAY said improving the likelihood of a reported case being
referred truly is a gold mine. The statistics show that once a
case is referred for prosecution, there's a 60 percent to 69
percent chance that it will be accepted for prosecution. Once
the case is accepted for prosecution there's a 78 percent to 87
percent chance that it will result in a conviction on at least
one charge. He again reminded members that the caveat is that
for these studies any conviction, even if it's on a non-sexual
assault charge, is counted as a prosecution success.
MR. ROSAY directed attention to a chart of DOL Studies showing
the percentage of cases referred, accepted and convicted. He
emphasized that the cases are not equivalent across studies so
the differences should not be interpreted as differences in
success. The cases are completely different. The following are
for reported cases of sexual assault:
· APD Study (2000 to 2003) - 18 percent referred for
prosecution, 12 percent accepted for prosecution, 11
percent convicted
· SANE Study (1999 to 2005) - 29 percent referred for
prosecution, 20 percent accepted for prosecution, 16
percent convicted
· AST Sexual Assault Study (2004) - 46 percent referred for
prosecution, 28 percent for prosecution, 22 percent for
prosecution
MR. ROSAY said the process shows that there definitely is room
for improvement and the best place to make the improvement is to
increase the number of cases that are referred for prosecution.
CHAIR FRENCH referred to the statistics in the APD Study and
asked for clarification that basically 60 percent of the cases
that are referred are being accepted for prosecution.
MR. ROSAY said that's correct.
CHAIR FRENCH added that there's a nearly 90 percent conviction
rate of the cases that are accepted for prosecution so the
Department of Law is getting something out of those.
MR. ROSAY agreed they are getting something, but he can't as yet
say what.
MR. ROSAY highlighted the footnote on the chart that states that
the rates of referral and conviction in the AST Domestic
Violence Study are far greater than the national averages
according to the 2009 Garner and Maxwell Study. 80 percent of
the AST domestic violence cases were referred for prosecution,
68 percent were accepted for prosecution, and 54 percent
resulted in a conviction. Those are significantly higher
percentages than the national averages. Some tweaks are needed,
but this is a good example that the criminal justice system can
and often times does work.
2:32:33 PM
MR. ROSAY said a frequent question is whether legal resolutions
vary by race or urban/rural geography. Because it is difficult
for researchers to define what is urban and what is rural, they
take a threefold approach. They look at whether victims are
Alaska Native with the assumption that if they are, they are
more likely to live in rural regions. They also look at whether
the cases are from Bush or non-Bush Alaska. Bush Alaska is
defined as off the road system and non-Bush Alaska is defined as
being on the road system. Finally, they look at whether the
cases are from remote Alaska. These are places with no trooper
post and are compared to cases from locations that have a
trooper post.
With very few exceptions, the research did not find a difference
by victim race, by Bush or non-Bush location, or by the presence
or absence of a trooper post. The idea that there is under-
enforcement in rural Alaska was not validated in these studies.
CHAIR FRENCH said that's probably the reason for this hearing.
When he read the report this last summer he was astonished at
those conclusions. He is proud of the troopers and the
Department of Law, but he doesn't believe that the public knows
or understands this. The preconception is that sexual assault is
an epidemic in the Bush and that law enforcement and government
isn't doing its job out there. This is a piece of good news. The
Alaska State Troopers and DOL are doing their job with respect
to upholding justice in the Bush. They're to be congratulated.
SENATOR MCGUIRE said she agrees, but it doesn't address some of
the subtleties that occur. For example, even if there is a
trooper station, there could be a cultural disposition that
doesn't favor a person making a report to that trooper station.
She suggested the committee look at what other models are
available to assist the troopers. Certainly they are responding
when they can, but if a case isn't brought into the light they
can't respond.
2:36:18 PM
MR. ROSAY referred to a table showing legal resolutions of cases
by Bush stratum - whether cases are on or off the road system.
He summarized that reported cases that are off the road system
are never less likely to be founded, they are never less likely
to be referred, they are never less likely to be accepted, and
they are never less likely to result in a conviction than cases
that are on the road system. This holds true for all cases of
sexual violence, rape and sexual assault, and sexual abuse of a
minor. In some cases of sexual violence and rape/sexual assault
the likelihoods are actually higher.
MR. ROSAY referred to a table showing legal resolutions of cases
by isolation. Locations that do not have a trooper station are
defined as isolated and those that have a trooper station are
not isolated. They found the same good pattern. Cases from
isolated Alaska are never less likely to be founded, they are
never less likely to be referred for prosecution, they are never
less likely to be accepted for prosecution, and they are never
less likely to result in a conviction.
MR. ROSAY offered four conclusions based on the research the
Justice Center has done. He noted that the packets contain a
list of detailed footnotes about why he comes to these
conclusions.
The first conclusion is that enhancing the presence of local
paraprofessional police such as VPSOs, VPOs, and TPOs does make
a difference. Their presence reduces by 40 percent the rates of
serious injury caused by assault. Also, their presence increases
the likelihood of sexual assault cases being prosecuted. When
the Justice Center compared cases that were first reported to
VPSOs to cases that were first reported to Alaska State
Troopers, they found that cases reported to VPSOs were 3.5 times
more likely to be prosecuted than cases first reported directly
to the troopers.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if he could speculate as to why that's true.
MR. ROSAY said one possibility is that VPSOs are able to secure
the crime scene so they can maintain evidence and document
things more quickly than the troopers. In some cases if there is
a delay in reporting or a delay in response there is a
possibility that forensic evidence will disappear.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if when he says "prosecution" he's talking
about referral or acceptance or some combination of the two.
MR. ROSAY said he would have to check on that. In a follow-up
email he provided the following information:
On the effect of VPSOs on prosecution (report not yet
publicly available):
Having a VPSO as the first responder (rather than a
State Trooper) increased the odds that a case would be
accepted for prosecution by 3.5 times. It did not have
an impact on the likelihood of referring cases for
prosecution. Although we have no research on this, the
presence of a VPSO would increase prosecutions, but
would do so by increasing reporting rather than by
increasing referrals. Once the case is at the
Department of Law, having a VPSO was the single most
important predictor of whether a case would be
accepted for prosecution. It was more important than
everything else (e.g., whether witnesses were present,
whether the victim was injured, whether the victim
cooperated, whether the assault was aggravated,
whether it was reported within 24 hours, whether
alcohol use was present, …). This is an important
point because although alcohol use hinders
investigation and prosecution, the presence of a VPSO
overcame these difficulties.
MR. ROSAY said another possibility is that VPSOs legitimize the
victim and connect with witnesses. Sometimes they know the
village better than a trooper and are able to organize a lot of
things that will happen before a trooper arrives to investigate
the crime scene. Also, VPSOs have more time to investigate the
full story rather than just the specific act of violence that
occurred. All the research the Justice Center found indicates
that having a VPSO on site is critical to the prosecution and
contributes to reduced injury.
CHAIR FRENCH said VPSOs might keep an assault from becoming more
severe by providing immediate aid to someone who is under
attack.
2:41:33 PM
The second conclusion is that strengthening local alcohol
prohibitions is important. Rates of serious injury from assault
are 36 percent lower in dry communities. Prosecution of sexual
assault cases is hindered when alcohol is involved, particularly
in cases where the victim is incapacitated. When the entire
sequence of events can be investigated, the results can be
fruitful. The 2006 Megen and Wood survey of victimization of
Alaska Native women in the Copper River Delta found that
lifetime victimization dramatically increased with alcohol use.
The third conclusion is that greater focus is needed on
specialized and thorough investigations. AST was interested in
doing the study as a means to improve their investigations and
increase the likelihood that DOL would accept cases and
subsequently secure a conviction. Having VPSOs on site is an
important part of locating and interviewing witnesses. Also,
gaining victim cooperation dramatically improves the chance of
getting a successful prosecution. This takes time and will add
to cost, but anytime an offender is removed from society and is
put through the court system, the rate of forcible rape in the
state will ultimately be decreased. That will lead to a
reduction in cost. In cases where troopers had sufficient time
to fully investigate and close a case within 16 days, referrals
for prosecution were more likely. When the cases took longer to
close, the legal resolutions deteriorated over time.
2:45:05 PM
The fourth conclusion is that promoting access to sexual assault
nurse examiners is important. The AST Sexual Assault Study
demonstrated that the use of medical-forensic examinations more
than doubled the likelihood of a case being accepted for
prosecution. When the SANE Study data was examined and tracked
through the legal system, the Justice Center found that
documentation of physical injury was particularly important.
They more than double the likelihood of cases being accepted for
prosecution. Most states don't have empirical evidence to
support the importance of sexual assault nurse examiners, but
even when that evidence isn't available, sexual assault nurse
examiners do offer the best standard of care. Anything less is
simply unacceptable. Even if they had no impact on prosecution,
we would still want to have sexual assault nurse examiners in
the state, Mr. Rosay said.
CHAIR FRENCH said he can't help but think that if a sexual
assault nurse examiner was in every village working with the
VPSOs, you'd begin to crush these cases.
MR. ROSAY said he would agree but sexual assault nurse examiners
are highly trained and hard to come by.
SENATOR MCGUIRE suggested that sexual assault nurse examiners
might fit with the traveling nurse model.
MR. ROSAY said the committee might also want to explore
telemedicine.
MR. ROSAY reminded the committee that today he is focusing on
the criminal justice response so he isn't talking about victim
advocacy. Nonetheless it is an essential part of the response.
2:48:04 PM
MR. ROSAY said all this matters because the recidivism of sex
offenders is actually no different than the recidivism of non
sex offenders. That's the case in the adult system as well as in
the juvenile justice system. The McLaughlin Youth Center
recently did an evaluation of their sex offender treatment
program and found very low rates of recidivism. In 2008 Alan
McKelvie, the director of the Statistical Analysis Center with
the UAA Justice Center, looked at recidivism of offenders who
were released from the Alaska Department of Corrections in 2001
and tracked those for three years. The bad news is that only 39
percent were not rearrested. 40 percent were rearrested and
reconvicted and 21 percent rearrested and not convicted. The
good news is that sex offenders and non sex offenders
recidivated and were reconvicted at the same rates. Also, the
likelihood of being rearrested for a second sex offense was
exactly the same for sex offenders as for non sex offenders.
CHAIR FRENCH said he doesn't know that he would call that good
news, but he understands the point. Criminals recycle through
the system at fairly high rates, but it's no more worse for sex
offenders than it is for thieves, drug addicts or DWI offenders.
SENATOR MCGUIRE said she accepts the data but it is very
contrary to data she is familiar with in Lower-48 rates of
recidivism for the sex offender population. It makes her
question the assumptions she's made. She urged Mr. Rosay to
continue to study that area.
MR. ROSAY said he's aware of the studies that have repeatedly
shown that sex offenders recidivate at much higher rates, but
those are old studies. The treatment of sex offenders has
dramatically improved over the last 20 years. "If you are able
to successfully treat a sex offender, you can end up with
recidivism rates that are no different than those for non sex
offenders. Again, that is particularly true for the juvenile
justice system," he said.
CHAIR FRENCH said an eight year old study posited that sex
offenders may think twice about reoffending because prison terms
for sex offenses are longer. He said he'd be interested in new
data.
MR. ROSAY said keep in mind that all these numbers only look at
what is reported to law enforcement.
CHAIR FRENCH pointed out that if there are 1,000 reported, only
200 individuals eventually get convicted. "So you're looking at
one-fifth of those reported, maybe as low as one-tenth of those
that take place so it's difficult to draw broad conclusions."
Also it's likely that there is some overlap between the 200 who
are convicted and imprisoned and the other crimes that are
either not reported or reported and not referred for
prosecution.
He thanked Mr. Rosay for coming to Juneau. There's a lot of talk
that goes on about this terrible problem, but numbers provide
opportunity to make improvements, he said.
2:53:03 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair French adjourned the meeting at 2:53 pm.
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