Juvenile Justice

Alaskan Activities to Reduce DMC

In 2006:

  • DJJ published its first DMC brochure for use in DMC public education activities.
  • DJJ’s second DMC assessment study was completed, focusing on the pilot localities of Anchorage and Fairbanks.

In 2005:

  • DJJ published a report on implementation of its statewide systems improvements to help ensure effective and equitable treatment of all youth offenders, including data-driven decision-making tools, detention reform, and expansion of transitional services for serious youth offenders released from locked treatment facilities.

In 2004:

  • DJJ recruited a Vista volunteer to work full-time on DMC.
  • AJJAC sponsored Alaska’s first statewide DMC Conference in Anchorage.
  • DJJ and AJJAC began collaborating with local DMC workgroups to expand public education about DMC in the pilot localities of Anchorage and Fairbanks and to identify appropriate strategies to reduce DMC in those localities.
  • DJJ created a DMC website to publicize DMC information, activities and events.

In 2003:

  • DJJ sponsored a statewide jurisdictional planning meeting to discuss needed juvenile justice system improvements, including improvements to reduce DMC.
  • DJJ’s first DMC assessment study was completed, including data analysis, case file reviews, surveys, interviews, focus groups, court observations, and recommendations for the pilot localities of Anchorage and Fairbanks.

In 2002:

  • DJJ began a 3-year intensive federal technical assistance initiative to improve and expand its activities to reduce DMC.
  • DJJ implemented its new Juvenile Offender Management Information System (JOMIS), which facilitates accurate annual updates of DMC data.
  • DJJ appointed its first DMC Coordinator.

In 2001:

  • DJJ published an updated DMC data analysis entitled Analysis of Minority Youth Representation.

In 2000:

  • DJJ received federal grant funding to hire Community Juvenile Justice Associates in primarily Alaska Native rural communities.
  • AJJAC met with state legislators to discuss DMC issues with them.

In 1999:

  • The Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) was created within DHSS to provide a clearer focus on juvenile justice issues in the state, including DMC.
  • DJJ adopted a strategic plan with four goals, one of which was to “increase effectiveness by creating a culturally diverse organization that reflects and responds to the clients and communities it serves.”
  • DJJ began collaborating with the Alaska Native Justice Center, Alaska Native corporations and the University of Alaska to create Alaska Native juvenile justice interns.
  • DJJ and AJJAC began crafting juvenile justice grant award recommendations to ensure an equitable distribution of funds between the primarily Alaska Native rural communities and the primarily non-Native urban communities.

In 1998:

  • DJJ began negotiating agreements for tribal and community courts to sanction some minor youth offenders in their communities in a culturally appropriate manner.

In 1997:

  • DHSS and AJJAC began requiring juvenile justice grantees to report on their efforts to reduce DMC locally through their programs.

In 1996:

  • The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) and AJJAC published Alaska’s first DMC data summary, Minority Youth Report, which identified the existence of minority youth overrepresentation at multiple decision points in the state’s juvenile justice system.

In 1995:

  • AJJAC sponsored DMC training for two Alaskan judges.

In 1994:

  • The Alaska Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (AJJAC) created a DMC Workgroup and requested the state’s first federal technical assistance to begin collecting and analyzing the state’s DMC data.

 

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