Skip to main Content
Anchorage 9°F

With Alaskans alarmed about high crime rates, lawmakers are considering changes to a controversial law that overhauled the state's criminal justice system. Here's a look at where the law came from, what it did, and options moving forward.

An Anchorage Police vehicle was damaged when performing a pit maneuver on a suspect vehicle with two armed robbery suspects that reportedly shot at officers on Monday morning, Sept. 25, 2017, in the area of Dimond Boulevard and C Street. (Bill Roth / Alaska Dispatch News)

People in Anchorage are fed up with crime. Did SB 91 make it worse?

First in a series: With Alaskans alarmed about high crime rates, lawmakers are considering changes to a controversial law that overhauled the state's criminal justice system. Here's a look at where the law came from, what it did, and options moving forward.

Michelle Theriault Boots
, Devin Kelly
, Nathaniel Herz
Anchorage Police officer Ben Yoon conducts a traffic stop for a motorist who speeded through a school zone along Minnesota Blvd early Thursday morning, Sept. 21, 2017. The driver, who was traveling 35mph in a 20mph school zone, was given a warning. The fine for his infraction could have been $270. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News)

From broad support to bipartisan backpedaling: Tracing the path of Alaska’s criminal justice overhaul

Second in a series: The simmering public debate over Senate Bill 91, the criminal justice overhaul, coming so soon after its passage prompts a question: How did such an ambitious piece of legislation gain wide support to begin with?

Nathaniel Herz
, Devin Kelly
, Michelle Theriault Boots