Alaska News

Mayor Sullivan proposes slashing Anchorage funding for Youth Court

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan has proposed eliminating $205,000 of funding for the Anchorage Youth Court in the city's 2013 budget, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Youth Court is a program where minor offenders can be judged by other youths instead of going through the regular juvenile justice system.

The city provides $115,000 to Youth Court, and $90,000 to Volunteers of America, which supplies a coordinator to monitor the minors after they receive sentencing. The city is the program's largest funding source, according to the Daily News.

Youth Court board member Nelson Page told the newspaper that Sullivan's proposal "comes as a shock."

Youth Court processes around 300 young misdemeanor offenders annually; before Anchorage began contributing to the program, it could only process 15 to 20 cases a year, the paper reported.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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