Book chapters

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  Punishment in Pre-Colonial Indigenous Societies in North America [chapter]

  Stephen Conn

  Using northern Athabascan villages as examples, the author discusses how punishment in indigenous societies was traditionally interwoven with other societal functions. The influence of alcohol and the western legal process changed post-colonial societies and their methods of punishment because punishment decisions in indigenous societies were traditionally arrived at through group deliberation, whereas the western legal system works in a hierarchical fashion. The author concludes that imposition of western-style decision-making disrupted tradtional law ways in post-colonial society.

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  Smooth the Dying Pillow: Alaska Natives and Their Destruction [chapter]

  Stephen Conn

  The policy for Native self-determination in Alaska developed by the Congress and the state has sought to replace a tribal model of governance with a body of legislation which confirms land rights without the direct political involvement of Alaska Native villages. However, the author argues, the absence of tribes as formal political structures has contributed to a loss of self-determination among Alaska Natives and to serious negative effects on Native village life.

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  Aboriginal Rights in Alaska

  Stephen Conn

  This paper describes the current state of aboriginal rights in Alaska and the impact of federal and state laws and policies on Alaska Native political and legal rights, tribal status, self-determination, and access to tribal lands. Topics covered include the legal determination of Alaska Native identity, the legal status of Alaska Native groups, Alaska Native land rights, sovereignty and self-government, subsistence, recognition of family and kinship structures, the criminal justice system in rural Alaska, customary versus formal legal process, and human rights and equality before the law.

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  Alaskan Bush Justice: Legal Centralism Confronts Social Science Research and Village Alaska [chapter]

  Stephen Conn

  This paper traces the history of the bush justice system in rural Alaska, describes the relationship between traditional Alaska Native dispute resolution mechanisms and the state criminal justice system, and analyzes bush justice research between 1970 and 1981 and its effects on state agency policies and changes in the rural justice system. Innovations by researchers were well-received by villagers and field-level professionals, but not by agency policymakers. Hence, most reforms made in the 1970s had vanished by the early 1980s. The author concludes that further reforms will be ineffective unless Alaska Natives are drawn into the decisionmaking process as co-equal players negotiating on legal process from positions of power.

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  Justice

  John E. Angell

  This issue paper, prepared for the Future Frontiers Conference held December 5-8, 1979 in Anchorage to provide guidance to the legislature regarding allocation of North Slope oil revenues, discusses the quality of justice services provided in Alaska and the relative equity in which they are delivered throughout the state and suggests improvements.

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  Changing Urban Police: Practitioners' View

  Robert M. Igleburger, John E. Angell, and Gary Pence

  Police administrators are responsible for providing a police operation that serves the public needs. On the surface, this responsibility appears to be simple enough; however, the realities encountered in operationalizing it are enormously complex. It is the purpose of this paper to review and analyze urban policing and suggest methods that police administrators can use to improve the effectiveness of their police organizations.