Initial Report and Recommendations - Alaska Department of Law

In 1999, in an effort to curb youth alcohol abuse, tribal members of theOrganized Village of Kake (the federally recognized Tribe of Kake,Alaska) established the Healing Heart Council and Circle Peacemaking, areconciliation and sentencing process embedded in Tlingit traditions.Working in seamless conjunction with Alaska's State court system, CirclePeacemaking intervenes in the pernicious cycle by which underagedrinking becomes an entrenched pattern of adult alcoholism. Today, theprogram not only enforces underage drinking sentences in an environmentwhere such accountability had been rare, but also restores the Tlingitculture and heals the Kake community. 43Kake’s Healing Heart Council and Circle Peacemaking have expanded over thelast few years to include adults as well as youth:Today, the Healing Heart Council offers not only sentencing circles forjuvenile offenders, but also sentencing circles for adult offenders whorequest Circle Peacemaking, healing circles for victims, interventioncircles for individuals who seem to be losing control of their lives,celebration circles for offenders who have completed their sentencingrequirements, and critical incident circles for individuals involved in anaccident or crime who require immediate counseling. 44The success of Kake’s Healing Heart Council and Circle Peacemaking approachesto restorative justice in rural Alaska has been shown by its numbers: Over a four-yearperiod ending in 2004, Circle Peacemaking “experienced a 97.5% success rate insentences fulfillment, compared with the Alaskan court system’s 22.0% success rate.” 45Only two offenders out of 80 sentenced during the program’s first four years rejected acircle’s outcome and returned to State court for sentencing, and all 24 of the juvenilesassigned to circle sentencing for underage drinking successfully completed the terms oftheir sentences. Recidivism among adult offenders is also low. 46There are also successful approaches in treating substance abuse that have beeninitiated in Alaska and that are gaining in statewide and national recognition as a result oftheir accomplishments. In May 2005, the Cook Inlet Tribal Council sponsored astatewide conference highlighting best and promising substance abuse treatment practicesin rural Alaska, a meeting that was attended by numerous treatment providers as well asnational experts and evaluators from the Lower 48. The following substance abusetreatment programs that are either in rural Alaska or serve largely rural Alaska clientsexemplify approaches that have been evaluated, have been shown to work, and havegained some national recognition for their accomplishments. 4743444546See http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/awards.html?id=6164ibid.ibid.ibid.47 The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration refers to these as “promisingpractices.”Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission - Page 27