AJiC Fact Sheet presents data on drug cases filed across the Alaska Court System

by Michelle Saport  |   

The 18-03 (August 2018) issue of the AJiC Fact Sheet has been released. This fact sheet presents data from the Alaska Court System annual reports for the fiscal years (FY) 2008 through 2017. These annual reports present data from more than 40 state court locations throughout Alaska, including staffing levels, case filings, dispositions and case processing times.

  • From FY 2008 to 2017, felony drug cases represented an annual average of 2.7 percent of all felony cases filed, while misdemeanor drug cases represented an annual average of 2 percent of all misdemeanor cases filed. The greatest percent of drug case filings occurred in 2013, when 5.7 percent of all felony and misdemeanor case filings were drug related. The year with the lowest percent of misdemeanor and felony drug case filings was in 2017 when only 3 percent of case filings were felony or misdemeanor drug cases.
  • From FY 2008 to 2017, the annual average felony drug case filing rate was 133 per 100,000 residents for all of Alaska excluding Anchorage, while the annual average felony drug case filing rate was 125.8 per 100,000 residents in Anchorage. The annual average felony drug case filing rates for Palmer, Kenai and Fairbanks were 153.5, 165 and 89.6, respectively, per 100,000 residents in each court location.
  • From FY 2008 to 2017, the annual average misdemeanor drug case filing rate was 114.6 per 100,000 residents for all of Alaska excluding Anchorage, while the annual average misdemeanor drug case filing rate was 72.3 per 100,000 residents in Anchorage. The annual average misdemeanor drug case filing rates for Palmer, Kenai, and Fairbanks were 107.8, 152.9 and 87.7, respectively, per 100,000 residents in each court location.
  • The felony drug case filing rate remained stable or increased every year from 2008 to 2016 in Alaska excluding Anchorage, Anchorage, Palmer and Kenai, though these locations had a substantial decrease in their drug case filing rates from 2016-2017. Fairbanks was an exception, and experienced an overall downward trend from 2008-2017.
  • The misdemeanor drug case filing rates maintained stable trends from 2008 to either 2013 or 2014, depending on location, in Alaska excluding Anchorage, Anchorage, Palmer, Kenai and Fairbanks, before a downward trend in all locations from 2014 to 2016 and a substantial increase in misdemeanor drug case filing rates from 2016 to 2017.

The fact sheet was written by Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) Research Professional Daniel Reinhard. Visit the AJiC homepage at uaa.alaska.edu/ajic to view past publications.

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