Descriptive Analysis of Assaults in Domestic Violence Incidents Reported to Alaska State Troopers: 2004

This project examined the characteristics of assaults in domestic violence incidents reported to the Alaska State Troopers. Assaults are only one type of criminal offense defined in Alaska statutes as a crime involving domestic violence. This report is not inclusive of all crimes involving domestic violence reported to AST, because it only includes assaults. In addition, this report is not inclusive of assaults in domestic violence incidents that were reported to municipal police departments across Alaska. Only assaults in domestic violence incidents reported to AST are described in this report. The term assault will be used throughout this report to define assault cases that are crimes involving domestic violence incidents; this includes felony and misdemeanor assaults. The sample utilized for this analysis included all assaults in domestic violence incidents reported to AST in 2004. It included information from 1,281 reports on 1,803 assault charges, 1,356 suspects, 1,523 victims, and 1,283 witnesses. This descriptive analysis documents the characteristics of these reports, charges, suspects, victims, witnesses, and legal resolutions.Index of Tables and Figures / Acknowledgements / Executive Summary / Descriptive Analysis of Assaults in Domestic Violence Incidents / Brief Overview of the State of Alaska / Brief Overview of the Alaska State Troopers / Summary of Alaska's Criminal Assault Statutes / Purpose of this Study / Methods / Report Characteristics / Suspect Characteristics / Victim Characteristics / Incident Characteristics / Witness Characteristics / Legal Resolutions / Appendix A -- Data Collection Instruments / Appendix B -- 2004 Alaska's Criminal Assault Statute

State of Utah v. Amador Santonio : Brief of Appellee

Appeal from convictions for aggravated assault, a third degree felony; disarming a peace officer, a class A misdemeanor; assault on a peace officer, a class A misdemeanor; interfering with legal arrest, a class B misdemeanor; in the Fourth Judicial District Court of Utah, Utah County, the Honorable Claudia Laycock presiding

State of Utah v. Tarrell Mckay Hughes : Brief of Appellee

APPEAL FROM A CONVICTION OF AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, A THIRD DEGREE FELONY; ASSAULT BY A PRISONER, A THIRD DEGREE FELONY; INTERFERENCE WITH PEACE OFFICER MAKING LAWFUL ARREST, A CLASS B MISDEMEANOR; DRIVING ON A SUSPENDED OPERATOR\u27S LICENSE, A CLASS C MISDEMEANOR; DISORDERLY CONDUCT, A CLASS C MISDEMEANOR; IN THE FIFTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH, THE HONORABLE G. RAND BEACHAM PRESIDIN

Sexual Assault Case Processing: A Descriptive Model of Attrition and Decision Making

The outcomes of sexual assaults involving one suspect and one victim reported to the Anchorage Police Department (APD) in 2000 to 2003 were examined. Overall, 1,235 sexual assaults were reported to APD during this period, of which 1,074 involved one suspect and one victim. Data were collected on 1,052 of these cases to learn how the Alaska Department of Law disposed of these cases. Of the 1,052 cases examined, 188 (17.9%) were referred to the Department of Law, 127 were accepted for prosecution, and 111 resulted in a conviction. Clearly, the point of greatest attrition is from report to referral, with 85.2 percent of reported sexual assaults not being referred for prosecution. However, most offenders whose cases reach prosecutors are held accountable in some degree through the imposition of criminal sanctions.National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice. Grant No. 2004-WB-GX-0003.Acknowledgements / Executive Summary / Statement of Research / Data Collection / Overview of Case Progression / Results / Conclusions and Discussion / Appendice

Crossing the Line: An Analysis of Problems with Classifying Recidivist Misdemeanor Offenses as Felonies

Alaska is in the minority of states that apply felony charges based on a defendant\u27s history of misdemeanor violations. This approach to the challenges of criminal recidivism, however, creates both constitutional and prudential problems. While Alaska enjoys considerable latitude in its sentencing policies, this form of misdemeanor reclassification raises concerns about proportionality under the Eighth Amendment, double jeopardy under the Fifth Amendment, and poses dilemmas for participants in the pleabargaining process. This Note examines these problems and proposes a graduated approach to sentencing enhancement. By increasing punishment gradually and preventing recidivist misdemeanants from crossing the misdemeanor-felony border as quickly, Alaska could secure the benefits of recidivism statutes while avoiding the constitutional and prudential concerns present in existing law

Sexual Assault Case Processing: A Descriptive Model of Attrition and Decision Making

Originally published in the Alaska Justice Forum 23(1): 1, 4-8 (Spring 2006).This study examined the outcomes of sexual assault cases reported to the Anchorage Police Department between January 2000 and December 2003. The data include 1,052 cases involving one suspect and one victim (85% of all reported sexual assaults). Cases and charges were tracked through the Alaska Department of Law to determine what was referred, accepted, and convicted. * Overall, 18% of cases were referred for prosecution. The most common referred charge was a sexual assault in the first degree. Seventy-nine percent of referred charges were sexual assault charges. * Overall, 12% of cases were accepted for prosecution. The greatest point of attrition was from report to referral. Once referred, 68% of cases were accepted for prosecution. Sixty-eight percent of charges were accepted by the Department of Law as referred. The most common reasons for not accepting a charge as referred were evidentiary reasons. The most common accepted charge was also a sexual assault in the first degree. Seventy-five percent of accepted charges were sexual assault charges. * Overall, 11% of cases resulted in a conviction. Once accepted, 87% of cases resulted in a conviction. Although convictions were common in accepted cases, accepted charges were often dismissed. While 87% of accepted cases resulted in a conviction, 59% of accepted charges were dismissed. Ninety percent of guilty findings were a result of plea bargaining. With plea bargaining, some charges were dismissed but a conviction was still secured. Fifty-six percent of convicted charges were sexual assault charges. The most common convicted charge was for assault, followed by sexual assault in the second degree

Police Alcohol-Related Services Study (PASS), Phase II: A Description of the Beliefs, Perceptions and Attitudes of Anchorage Police Department Employees

The principal aim of the Police Alcohol-related Services Study (PASS) was to expand knowledge about the fiscal, organizational, and cultural impact of citizen alcohol use on the Anchorage Police Department (APD). Phase II of the study employed a voluntary, self-administered questionnaire provided to all members of the APD regardless of rank, sworn status, or operational division. The questionnaire was designed to explore respondents' perceptions of their alcohol-related workload; perceptions of community problems; perceived links between alcohol use and selected social problems; attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs about the policing of alcohol-related incidents and the people involved with them; and personal and vicarious experience with alcohol-related incidents. The report describes survey response through comparison of APD employee responses across divisions within the department: operations vs. administration, patrol vs. non-patrol, and sworn vs. non-sworn.Part I. Project Overview & Summary of Findings / Part II. Alcohol-Related Workload: APD Employee Perspectives / Appendice

Status of Females in the Juvenile Justice System Iowa, 2009

Young women in the juvenile justice system present with characteristics and experiences that differentiate them from their male counterparts. As such, the juvenile justice system in Iowa must consider these factors if it is to effectively and efficiently impact recidivism, rehabilitation and public safety. Data reveal the following trends: All youth in the juvenile justice system experience a significantly higher rate of child maltreatment than do youth in the general population. Additionally, young women have a distinctly higher percentage of reported sexual abuse. Young women commit primarily non-violent offenses, with shoplifting and running away being the only two areas where they exceed young men in number. Young women are held in detention for a substantially higher percentage of misdemeanor versus felony offenses than young men. Young women of color, particularly African American females, are far more likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system. Additionally, arrests of minority females have increased during the same time frame as arrests of Caucasian females have decreased. The general type of offense committed by young women is against public order (i.e. alcohol related violations, disorderly conduct) or property (i.e. shoplifting), though young women with subsequent charges of a violent nature are likely to have had violent offenses initially as well. Historically, young women have been a smaller segment of the juvenile justice population. They remain so today. Consequently, they are easy to overlook. But Iowa’s response to them is no less important. Perhaps, because they are fewer in number, our system can have a true and meaningful influence, with prevention of further penetration into both the juvenile and adult systems being the ultimate goal. The Iowa Task Force on Young Women recommends the following measures to facilitate movement toward that goal: 1. Facilities and programs striving to provide the most effective and efficient services to young women will opt for single gender environments with female responsive programming that includes components to address trauma. 2. All institutions and agencies that work with females involved in the juvenile justice system and which receive state funding should be required to provide annual female responsive training to their employees. Training should be research based, progressive, ongoing and result in an implementation plan. 3. As detention reform proceeds, gender and the disproportionate number of females in detention for misdemeanor offenses must be an integral part of policy and decision making discussions including any recommendations for solutions to be implemented. 4. As research, data and planning progresses related to disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile system, the needs of girls of color be given equal consideration. Specifically, assessment tools must be without race/ethnic bias and they must also be female responsive

People and guns involved in denied and completed handgun sales

Objective: Denial of handgun purchases by prohibited people and knowledge of the structure of gun commerce have helped to deter and prevent firearm violence. The authors hypothesize that handguns involved in a denied purchase would more closely resemble those used in crime compared with handguns sold. Design: Cross sectional. Setting: Denied and completed handgun sales in California, 1998 -- 2000. Main outcome measures: Handgun and purchaser characteristics of denied and completed sales were compared. In particular, handgun characteristics most closely associated with crime guns (type, caliber, barrel length, price) were examined. Results: Compared with handguns sold, handguns in denied sales were somewhat more likely to be semiautomatic pistols (74.6% v 69.4%), to have short barrels (25.9% v 22.2%), and be of medium caliber (48.9% v 37.3%). Ten percent of the handguns in denied sales and 3.4% of handguns sold were identified as inexpensive. Conclusions: The characteristics of denied handguns are similar to those seen among crime guns. Both groups of guns may reflect the desirability for criminal purposes of pistols, which have larger ammunition capacities than other handguns, and short barrels, which increase their ability to be concealed