Seven Years of Individualized Training: An Examination of Specialized Training Grants Funded by the Alaska Criminal Justice Planning Agency, 1973 through 1979

Abstract

Prior to the establishment of the Criminal Justice Center at the University of Alaska (renamed the Justice Center in 1979), no program has attempted to train and educate Alaska justice practitioners on a continuing basis and at all agency levels. The Alaska Criminal Justice Planning Agency, through the Governor's Commission on the Administration of Justice, has attempted to deal with this training problem on an interim basement through the Specialized Training Grant program, which enables "state and local police officers, correctional officers, prosecutors, public defenders, and court personnel [to obtain] specialized training sponsored by other agencies and institutions," often involving travel out-of-state for programs largely unavailable in Alaska. This study examines individualized grants funded for the years 1973–1979 as a means of measuring the effectiveness of the Specialized Training Grant program as on approach to the continuing professionalization of Alaska's criminal justice personnel.