The State of Alaska's only dedicated domestic violence prosecution unit says it needs more funding to continue its work. The unit is awaiting word on whether it will receive a state grant similar to one it says will run out in a year.
The Anchorage unit is a part of the Municipal Prosecutor's office, and works exclusively on domestic violence cases. Its supervisor, Jo-Ann Chung, says the city has laid the groundwork to start enforcing bail conditions statewide, which may help stop the cycle of domestic violence. The unit works on nearly 2,500 domestic violence cases each year.
Through funding from the Anchorage Domestic Violence Prevention Project, the unit has increased its conviction rate by 27 percent.
“We did manage to get the grant funded for one more year and we are continually struggling to get more funding for this very worthy cause,” said Municipal Prosecutor Cynthia Franklin.
The project is aimed to protect domestic violence victims and keep offenders accountable when they're out on bail.
“The idea behind the grant was, we should create a system and database where the court's condition of release could be entered, and the police officers and the Anchorage Police Department can have access to that information,” said Franklin. “So that if they encounter the victim and offender together, they can see if that contact was prohibited,”
Enforcing release conditions is difficult, which is why the grant funds two officers to check on victims and make sure offenders are not violating conditions. In many cases, offenders violating release conditions have intimidated or persuaded victims into taking back statements of abuse.
”What it has done is given us an additional charge that has increased our leverage, and our ability to work cases out where the victim may have recanted and affected the evidence in our case,” Franklin said.
“We're now facing in the last couple years more and more requests to have contact, and sometimes victims do want contact with their perpetrators for various financial, emotional reasons,” Chung said.
That's where Abused Women's Aid in Crisis comes in as a partner. According to AWAIC, so far, the grant has funded emergency financial assistance that helped more than 2,100 adults.
“We are their primary resource to support that victim, to help them better understand the legal system, what law enforcement does,” said AWAIC's executive director, Suzi Pearson.
“We want the offenders to know that whether or not they can talk the victim into not wanting to go forward with the prosecution for assaulting her, we're going to do it anyway,” Franklin said.
Partners in the project include the Anchorage Police Department, AWAIC, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Municipal Prosecutor's Office.
AWAIC's 24-hour crisis hotline, 272-0100, is available to victims and anyone who wants information on resources.
Contact Christine Kim at ckim@ktuu.com
