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Date: April 16, 2024 Tue
Time: 4:55 pm
Time: 4:55 pm
Results for alaska
1 results foundAuthor: Myrstol, Brad A. Title: An Innovative Response to an Intractable Problem: Using Village Public Safety Officers to Enhance the Criminal Justice Response to Violence Committed Against Alaska Native and American Indian Women in Alaska's Tribal Communities Summary: Executive Summary The principal goal of this project was to empirically document and evaluate the impact Alaska’s village public safety officer (VPSO) program has on the investigation and prosecution of those who commit acts of sexual and domestic violence against Alaska Native and American Indian women in Alaska’s tribal communities. To accomplish this goal, detailed case record reviews were performed on 683 sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor cases and 982 domestic violence cases that were closed by the Alaska State Troopers C-Detachment between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2011. Results show that the men and women who constitute Alaska’s VPSO program play a central role in the criminal justice response to incidents of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and domestic violence committed in Alaska’s tribal communities. This study documents the many ways that VPSOs not only serve as a “force multiplier” for Troopers by serving as first responders and assisting with investigations. VPSOs also serve victims and their communities by providing crucial post-incidents supports and services in the aftermath of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and domestic violence incidents. This study finds that VPSOs (and other paraprofessional police) enhance the criminal justice response to incidents of sexual violence by increasing the probability that such cases, once reported, will be referred for prosecution, accepted for prosecution, and ultimately result in conviction. These are tangible, positive outcomes that directly benefit victims, their families and their communities, and evidence that the participation of VPSOs increases the likelihood that the perpetrators of these crimes will be held accountable for their conduct. However, the multivariate analyses conducted show that the contributions made by VPSOs and other paraprofessional police are not uniform across case type. More specifically, this study finds that a paraprofessional police response significantly enhances the criminal justice response to sexual abuse of a minor cases but not sexual assault cases, once other explanatory factors (for example, the quality of evidence collected) are accounted for. While this study’s multivariate analyses were constrained by relatively small sample sizes for sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor cases, respectively, the findings suggest that the “VPSO effect” (or, more generally, the “paraprofessional police effect”) on the criminal justice response to violence committed against Alaska Native/American Indian females in Alaska’s tribal communities may be “age graded” and limited. That is to say, our results suggest that there is something about the nature of sexual abuse of a minor incidents and their investigation that makes VPSO and other paraprofessional police involvement more tangible and impactful on key case processing outcomes. That VPSO and other paraprofessional police involvement and participation would have differential effects according to case type (and, by definition, victim age) was an unanticipated finding for which we do not have a ready explanation. This study also shows that VPSOs are intensely involved in the response to, and investigation of domestic violence incidents. However, because referral, acceptance, and conviction rates are so high for crimes of domestic violence, we did not detect any VPSO-specific effect on these outcomes. While there is no evidence that VPSOs hinder domestic violence investigations in any way, neither did we find any evidence that VPSO participation in their investigation enhances the criminal justice response to these crimes. Details: Anchorage, Alaska: University of Alaska, 2018. 124p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 17, 2019 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251890.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/justiceinindiancountry/vsindiancountry.html Shelf Number: 154244 Keywords: AlaskaAlaska NativeAmerican IndianDomestic ViolenceFirst RespondersNative AmericanTribal CommunitiesVillage Public Safety Officer (VPSO) |