Current through Chapter 61 of the 2024 Legislative Session and 2024 Executive Orders 125, 133 through 135
Section 22.20.221 - Prison inmate characteristics information(a) The judicial council shall design and implement a project for the purposes of studying risk factors related to criminal activity, informing the legislature's policy and funding decisions related to primary crime prevention, and improving primary crime prevention strategies in the state. Under the project, the Department of Corrections shall transmit information about offenders sentenced to serve terms of incarceration of 30 days or more, and the judicial council shall analyze the information and provide to the legislature the judicial council's conclusions and recommendations in the report required under (b) of this section. The judicial council shall, in consultation with the Justice Center at the University of Alaska, the Department of Corrections, and other relevant entities or state agencies, create a list of the types of information and inmate characteristics the Department of Corrections shall collect for the project and may revise the list when necessary to meet project goals. The information may include data relating to adverse childhood experiences, mental health and substance abuse history, education, income, and employment of inmates. The Department of Corrections shall adopt policies establishing procedures for collecting the information identified in the list required under this subsection and providing the information to the judicial council. The procedures may provide for the collection of the information as part of the risk assessment program established under AS 33.30.011 (a)(7). In this subsection, "primary crime prevention" means intervention programs and strategies designed to reduce crime risk factors among the general population and prevent crime from happening.(b) The judicial council shall prepare an annual report summarizing the information collected and analyzed under (a) of this section. The judicial council shall (1) provide a summary in the form of tables, charts, graphs, or other formats that are easily understood;(2) include a review of the data and the judicial council's interpretations, findings, and conclusions related to the information collected;(3) describe any changes in the types of information collected during the preceding fiscal year;(4) make the report required under this subsection available to the public; the judicial council may not publish or present individually identifiable information relating to an inmate;(5) include, when possible, information from the previous fiscal year, comparisons to previous fiscal years, and cumulative information;(6) not later than February 14 of each year, submit the report to the senate secretary and the chief clerk of the house of representatives and notify the legislature that the report is available; and(7) present the summary and analysis to the legislature within 10 days after the convening of the next regular session of the legislature following the submission of the report.Added by SLA 2022, ch. 23,sec. 4, eff. 9/27/2022.