An outrageous failure of justice in Alaska

If you haven’t done so already, read the latest investigation by Kyle Hopkins of the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica.

Hopkins’s investigation of the deaths of Jennifer Kirk, 25, and Susanna Norton, 30, reveals an outrageous failure of the justice system in Alaska.

Kotzebue police, local and state politicians, state prosecutors, the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska Court System did not do their jobs. The entire political and governmental system failed these women and their families.

Every newspaper in Alaska should republish this damning report and put it on the front page, as permitted by ProPublica’s policies. Any newspaper that doesn’t should be asked why. Here are details on republishing.

The story is a complicated one, assembled in a painstaking and logical fashion with compelling evidence that demands official response on many levels.

Attorney General Tregarrick Taylor and Gov. Mike Dunleavy should have brought these cases to the forefront a long time ago and insisted on action. I suspect they will now.

A formal state investigation of this travesty is a must.

This is the most difficult type of reporting, requiring hundreds of hours of time and a major commitment by editors and publishers. The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica deserve a lot of credit, as does Hopkins, the best investigative reporter in Alaska.