Evaluation of a JAIBG-Funded Project: Emmonak Elders' Group

Abstract

Since 1999, the Emmonak Elders' Group Project has handled certain non-felony juvenile cases in the village of Emmonak, a predominately Yup'ik community on the Yukon Delta of western Alaska. The project permits youth to remain within the community while their offenses are adjudicated through the body of elders – thus avoiding formal justice system processing which usually entails removal from the village. Youths are held accountable within the context of the local community and its traditions. This article describes the results of an initial evaluation of the program in early 2001, after the court had been in operation for approximately a year and a half. The evaluation comprised a review of program files, direct observations of meetings, discussions with community residents and interviews with parents and juveniles. It primarily focused on project implementation: how the court was established, its procedures, and the working relationships among institutions and individual participants.