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Title: 2007 Status Report of the Alaskan Supreme Court Fairness and Access Implementation Committee
Parties: Alaska Natives, Alaska Supreme Court
Date enacted/published: March 2007

Description:

The Fairness and Access Implementation Committee was formed in 1998 to implement the recommendations in the 1997 Report of the Alaska Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Fairness and Access. In summary the report describes

  • Initiatives taken to educate the public on the justice system
  • initiatives that increases the courts presence in rural areas
  • Initiatives to train and recruit court interpreters and train judges on the use of interpreters
  • Initiatives to provide cross-cultural training to court employees and efforts to diversify the workforce
  • Efforts to write court forms and pamphlets in simple, clear English
  • The study done by the Alaska Judicial Council on disparities in the criminal justice process. Among the disparities found were increased incarceration times for Alaska Natives before disposition of the case, increased total time spent incarcerated throughout the case for a few types of offenses, and longer sentence lengths for drug cases for Alaska Natives
  • Efforts made to increase use of alternative dispute resolution and the use of tribal leaders and organizations in the court process efforts made to increase the jury pool
  • The Bethel Initiative, an attempt at hiring a Yupik-speaking cultural navigator to provide information about the court process
  • Initiatives taken due to the higher percentage of Alaska Native children  involved in Children in Need of Aid Cases
For additional information contact:
Alaska Court System
820 West 4th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: 907-264-0785
Title: AK Attorney General Issues Opinion on Tribal Sovereignty
Date enacted/published: October 20, 2017

Description:

Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth issued a formal Attorney General Opinion on the topic of tribal sovereignty. The Opinion outlines the laws and cases addressing tribal sovereignty and tribes’ inherent governmental authority over certain matters.

“There seem to be continuing questions on the status of tribes in Alaska, and the purpose of this Opinion was to put those issues to bed that have already been determined,” said Attorney General Lindemuth. “What we know definitively is that Alaska tribes are sovereign governmental entities with authority over a myriad of matters regardless of whether there is Indian country. What this Opinion does not do is opine on areas that have not yet been addressed by the courts. We wanted to narrow the universe of questions so that we are all working from the same foundation as new issues arise.”

Alaska has a unique history when it comes to Native law matters because of the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and the fact that Alaska became a state relatively late. But both the federal and state courts have dealt with a number of legal questions on the status of Alaska tribes and the extent of a tribes’ jurisdiction since ANCSA was enacted. The Opinion attempts to synthesize all of the cases into one cohesive document that can be used as a resource and foundation moving forward.


Title: Report of the Alaskan Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Fairness and Access
Parties: Alaska Natives, Alaska courts
Date enacted/published: October 31, 1997

Description:

The Alaska Supreme Court examined racial and ethnic bias in the Alaska court system in a 20 month study that included public hearings and other public input. The report examines the problems faced by Alaska Natives such as bias, cultural misunderstandings, inadequate services, lack of accessibility, and troubling disparities in a number of areas. The report includes recommendations on what the Alaska Supreme Court should do to make the court system work better for Alaska Natives and other ethnic minorities.

For additional information contact:
Alaska Court System
820 West 4th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: 907-264-0785
Title: Tribal Court Development Alaska Tribes by Lisa Jaeger, Tribal Government Specialist for the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc., Third Edition
Parties: Alaska Natives
Date enacted/published: 2002

Description:

This online resource provides the history of development of tribal courts in Alaska. It discusses the impact of State of Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie, 522 U.S.520 (1998) and reviews the state of Alaska's recognition of tribal courts and tribes in Alaska.

For additional information contact:
Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc.
122 First Avenue, Suite 600
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
Phone: 907-452-8251