On Saturday President Barack Obama aimed his weekly address at the problems in America’s criminal justice system.
Pres. Obama: “The United States is home to 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prisoners, every year we spend 80 billion dollars to keep people locked up. Now many of the folks in prison absolutely belong there, our streets are safer thanks to the brave police officers and dedicated prosecutors who put violent criminals behind bars but over the last few decades we’ve also locked up more non-violent offenders than ever before, for longer than ever before.”
In Alaska, around 50% of people who are released from prison will be re incarcerated within six months, a 63% recidivism rate that may require a new prison soon if the trend continues.
As we previously reported, the Kenai Peninsula is scheduled to see an experimental tribal court next March which aims to reduce the higher recidivism rate in Alaska Natives(74%).
A partnership between the Alaska Court System and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe to create an experimental court on the Kenai Peninsula was announced October 15 at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention.
The proposed court will see a state judge and a tribal judge sit side by side to hear cases involving substance abuse.
The announcement came as part of requests from the Alaska Native tribes to have more authority in the state’s criminal justice system.
The procedures for those types of hearings are still being worked out but the aim is to shift the criminal justice system towards community solutions as a way to cut down recidivism.
