Crisis In The Last Frontier: The Impact Of The American Criminal Justice System On Alaska Natives

• In Event: Race, Social Structure, and Collateral Consequences

Abstract

Alaska Native people make up 22% of the state’s entire population and 44% of its incarcerated population, thus illustrating the disproportionate impact of the state’s criminal justice system on this population. Within Alaska’s criminal justice system, Alaska Native people are overcriminalized in regard to policing and convictions, yet still neglected by state law enforcement, as one in three rural Alaskan communities have a minimal to nonexistent presence of law enforcement. This study presents the following research question: How have historical events, generational trauma, cultural differences, compounded by disparities in Alaska’s criminal justice system and law enforcement practices, contributed to the oppression of Alaska Native peoples and how can they be considered in systemic reform? Through a historical and social lens, this ongoing study analyzes 30 existing qualitative sources, including academic journals, primary sources, and policy reviews, and interprets how aforementioned factors have shaped Alaska’s criminal justice system and determines that generational trauma rooted in colonialism, systemic neglect, and oppression has contributed significantly to an ongoing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), intrapersonal domestic and sexual violence, and substance abuse. This study concludes with a call for culturally informed institutional reform with an emphasis on restorative justice practices.

Author

• Riley von Borstel, George Washington University