Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Latest from the Alaska Judicial Council

I've mentioned a few times the quality work on corr sent issues coming out of the Alaska Judicial Council, and our friend Teri Carns there has kindly sent along a link to her state's first general study of recidivism. In my experience, recidivism info is just as important to judges as corrections folks, and this study is great to see. Just go here. And this gives you the basic summary:

Criminal Recidivism in Alaska (January 2007). Alaska’s first general study of recidivism. The Council followed nearly two thousand offenders who had been out of custody for at least three years after they had served their sentence, all of whom were charged with at least one felony in 1999 and convicted of some offense. (See the Council’s 2004 report,
Alaska Criminal Process: 1999 for more information about the offenders.) The Council reported how frequently offenders were re-arrested, had new cases filed, were re-convicted, and were remanded to custody; how quickly these events occurred; and factors that were related to the likelihood that offenders would recidivate more or less often.Alaska Criminal Process: 1999 for more information about the offenders.) The Council reported how frequently offenders were re-arrested, had new cases filed, were re-convicted, and were remanded to custody; how quickly these events occurred; and factors that were related to the likelihood that offenders would recidivate more or less often.

And here's Teri's own note to point to its comparative value with other studies:

It’s an interesting report because although our database had quite a different mix of cases from the BJS study, the 3-year remand to custody rates were very similar. Some of the other findings were also similar – e.g., Sex offenders were a lot less likely to recidivate than other offenders; and recidivism was highest in the first year (yet another argument for re-entry programs, of course).

Even better is Teri's notice that the Council will be issuing a report on recidivism and therapeutic justice soon. We'll let you know when it comes out. And while you're at the Council site, be sure to visit other studies they've produced. One of the best state agencies for this research we have. Thanks for sending it along, Teri.


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