Alaska
Eyewitness Identification Reform
Alaska has no statewide eyewitness identification reform policy.
Recording of Interrogations
In 1985, the Alaska Supreme Court held that law enforcement officers must record custodial interrogations if recording is feasible. An unexcused failure to record will result in the exclusion of the statement.
Read the decision: Stephan v. State, 711 P.2d 1156, 1162 (1985)
Post Conviction DNA Testing
A person convicted of a serious felony who has not been unconditionally discharged may apply for an order for DNA testing of evidence. The law explicitly permits those who pled guilty of nolo contendere to apply for DNA testing. There is a rebuttable presumption of untimeliness after 3 years after the date of conviction, but the law permits a court to find good cause to overcome this presumption. Those who were convicted before the effective date the of act may apply within 10 years of the effective date. Effective: 2010
Evidence Preservation
State statute requires the automatic preservation of all evidence for crimes related to murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, first degree sexual assault, and first degree sexual abuse of a minor. The evidence must be maintained indefinitely for murder, manslaughter, and criminally negligent homicide convictions. In the case of first degree sexual assault and first degree sexual abuse of a minor, the period of preservation lasts for the length of the incarceration, or while the individual is registered as a sex offender. Effective: 2010
Alaska's statute does NOT meet the best practices standards outlined by the NIST Technical Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation.
Exoneree Compensation
Alaska has no exoneree compensation law.