Session: State Capitol, Room 121 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-4797 Fax: (907) 465-3884 Interim: post office: 119 N. Cushman, Suite 101 Fairbanks, AK 99701-2879 location: 3340 Badger Road. North Pole, AK 99705 Phone: (907) 488-0857 Fax: (907) 488-4271

Sponsor Statement for SB 178
Detention of Delinquent Minors

An Act relating to the detention of delinquent minors and to temporary detention hearings; amending Rule 12, Alaska Delinquency Rules; and providing for an effective date.

The State of Alaska receives federal formula grant funding to implement the mandates of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974. The four mandates of the Act include:

• Deinstitutionalization of status offenders
• Sight and sound separation of juveniles from adult offenders
• Removing juveniles from adult jail and lockup facilities
• Addressing disproportionate minority confinement

Alaska funds a variety of community based delinquency response services to meet these mandates including electronic monitoring programs, attendant care shelters and non-secure hold services, mentoring and community accountability courts.

Alaska stands to lose $168,000 of these federal formula funds because of the number of youth temporarily held in rural and remote adult jails throughout Alaska prior to an initial court hearing and transport to a youth facility. This noncompliance could mean that Alaska will also lose discretion on how $504,000 of federal money may be used. Federal law will require these funds to be rerouted and used to bring the state into compliance.

When a juvenile commits a serious offense in a rural or remote community, they may need to be detained upon arrest in order to protect the public. There are only 6 juvenile detention centers throughout Alaska, so serious juvenile offenders in remote communities often end up in village adult lockup facilities awaiting relocation to a juvenile facility. Federal regulations require that juveniles in adult facilities be held for no more than 24 hours; however, the regulations also allow a state to extend those time limits because of adverse weather, limited transportation options, and other conditions. Such an extension is only available in states where the juvenile must make an initial appearance in court within 24 hours of their arrest.

Senate Bill 178 would require an initial appearance in court within 24 hours for juveniles placed in an adult jail or lockup and would place the federal regulation exception language into state statute. This change would give Alaska the ability to claim certain exceptions to the federal mandates, preserve the state's eligibility for 100% of the federal formula grant allocation, but would not allow juveniles to be held in adult facilities any longer than is absolutely necessary.

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