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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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