Alaska Criminal Code Revision — Tentative Draft, Part 1: Offenses against the Person

As of 1975, Alaska’s criminal laws were based primarily on Oregon criminal statutes as they existed at the close of the nineteenth century, with new statutes added and old statutes amended over the succeeding 75 years by Alaska territorial and state legislatures in a piecemeal approach to revision. This resulted in a criminal code containing outdated statutes, obsolete terminology, a number of overly specific statutes, a haphazard approach to mens rea (the culpable mental state with which a defendant must perform an act in order to be convicted of a crime) and the lack of a coherent, rational sentencing structure. The Alaska Criminal Code Revision Commission was established in 1975 with the responsibility to present a comprehensive revision of Alaska’s criminal code for consideration by the Alaska State Legislature. (The Commission was reestablished in June 1976 as a Subcommission of the newly formed Code Commission.) Staff services for the Criminal Code Revision Commission and Criminal Code Revision Subcommission were provided by the Criminal Justice Center at University of Alaska, Anchorage (John Havelock, project executive director; Barry Jeffrey Stern, reporter/staff counsel; Sheila Gallagher, Reporter/Staff Counsel; and Peter Smith Ring, research director). The tentative draft proposed by the Criminal Code Revision Subcommission was substantially amended by the Alaska State Legislature prior to its approval as the Revised Alaska Criminal Code in June 1978 (effective January 1, 1980).The Alaska Criminal Code Revision Commission was established in 1975, and reestablished in June 1976 as a Subcommission of the newly formed Code Commission, with the responsibility to present a comprehensive revision of Alaska’s criminal code for consideration by the Alaska State Legislature. Tentative Draft, Part 1 is comprised of four articles contained in the Offenses Against the Person chapter of the draft Revised Criminal Code: criminal homicide, assault and related offenses, kidnapping and related offenses; and sexual offenses. Commentary following each article is designed to aid the reader in analyzing the effect of the draft Revised Code on existing law and also provides a section-by-section analysis of each provision of the draft Revised Code. Appendices include general definitions of terms used throughout the Code, including definitions of the four culpable mental states; derivations of each provision of the Code; existing law that the Code will revise; status of criminal code revision in other U.S. states; and an index to commentary.Alaska Criminal Code Revision SubcommissionPreface: Organization of the Criminal Code Revision Subcommission // INTRODUCTION / I. Outline of Alaska Revised Criminal Code / II. Why A Revised Criminal Code / III. Introduction to Tentative Draft, Part 1 // TENTATIVE DRAFTS AND COMMENTARY / I. Homicide and Related Offenses / 2. Assault and Related Offenses / 3. Kidnapping and Related Offenses / 4. Sexual Offenses // APPENDICES / I. General Definitions / II. Derivations of Tentative Drafts / III. Existing Law / IV. Status of Criminal Code Revision in Other States / V. Index to Commentary on Tentative Draf