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8 Alaska Just. F. 1 (1991-1992)

handle is hein.journals/aljufor8 and id is 1 raw text is: Spring 1991 UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE Vol. 8, No. 1 Jail Monitoring N.E. Schafer and Emily E. Read The State of Alaska has made substantial progress in meeting the requirements of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 regarding incarceration of juveniles. The act authorized the distribution of funds through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to states which have made progress toward certain goals: deinstitutionalization of status offenders and sight and sound separation of all types of juveniles from adults in adult correctional facilities. A more recent goal, removal of all juveniles from adult facilities, was mandated by the 1980 continuation of the act. Three types of juveniles were defined under the act: status offenders who engage in behaviors which would not be criminal if committed by adults; accused criminal type offenders who are facing criminal charges; and adjudicated criminal offenders whose cases have been through the court process. To assure compliance with the provisions of the act the OJJDP requires monitoring of all secure facilities in which juveniles might be HIGHLIGHTS INSIDE THIS ISSUE * The Bureau of Justice Statistics presents figures on women in prison (page 2). * The Justice Center presents figures on homicide in Alaska over the past 25 years (page 4). Table 1. Total Annual JJDP Violations in Alaska Deinstitutionalization Separation Jail removal Baseline 1976 485 824 - Baseline 1980 - - 864 1987 32 806 601 1988 9 564 409 1989 3 336 249 Table 2. 1989 Jail Removal Violations in Alaska Offender type by facility type. Status offender/ Adjudicated Accused nonoffender criminal criminal TOTAL Adult jails 79 25 68 172 Department of Corrections 1 15 14 30 Adult lock-ups 26 0 21 47 TOTAL 106 40 103 249 detained. The Justice Center, under contract with the Alaska Division of Family and Youth Services, devel- oped the Alaska monitoring plan and since 1988 has carried out com- pliance monitoring activities. (The monitoring plan was described in the Fall 1989 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum.) Data for 1987-89, collected and processed by the Justice Center from 114 jails, lockups and juvenile institutions, reveal marked progress toward the goals of the act. Legislation mandated that status offenders not be held in any form of secure confinement. A 24-hour grace period is permitted. As Table 1 illustrates, recorded violations of the deinstitutionaliza- tion of status offender mandate (DSO violations) have decreased dramatically with each year's monitoring. In a 1976 baseline study, 486 DSO violations were recorded in Alaska. By 1987, the first year of the Justice Center's monitoring, the statewide total of DSO violations numbered only 41, a 91.6 per cent decline. By 1988, the number had been further reduced to nine statewide, and by the next year only three DSO violations were recorded in Alaska-altogether a 99.59 per cent decrease from the baseline figure. Regardless of their offender status, juveniles detained in any type of facility that houses adults must be separated from the adults by both sight and sound. This standard allows for nothing more than haphazard contact between adults and juveniles; adhering to it can be difficult in small jails and lockups because of the design of the facilities. Currently, there are two adult jails and no adult lockups designed to provide sight and sound separation. Please see Monitoring, page 6

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