Alaska Justice Forum ; Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring 1990) 

Abstract

The Spring 1990 issue of the Alaska Justice Forum reviews evidence that charge bargaining in Alaska occurs — despite the formal ban on plea bargaining in Alaska in 1975 — and analyzes the impact of charge bargaining on sentencing practices. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports findings of the National Judicial Reporting Program, which found that, of the estimated 583,000 persons convicted of a felony in 1986, eight percent were found guilty by a jury, three percent were found guilty by a judge, and 89 percent pled guilty. Preliminary Uniform Crime Report (UCR) figures show a 2.5 percent drop in the number of serious crimes in Anchorage between 1988 and 1989. April 1990 population figures for Alaska Department of Corrections facilities are presented.