Alaska Trespassing Laws: Degrees, Defenses, and Force

Alaska trespassing laws divide the offense into two misdemeanor degrees. Second-degree criminal trespass is a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to 90 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. First-degree criminal trespass, which applies when you enter a dwelling or enter land intending to commit a crime, is a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail and a $25,000 fine. The statute also builds in something unusual: a default privilege to enter unimproved, apparently unused land unless the owner has posted notice or told you to leave.

What Makes an Entry Unlawful

Both degrees of trespass turn on entering or remaining somewhere “unlawfully.” The statute identifies three situations that qualify. You enter or stay on premises or in a vehicle that isn’t open to the public and you have no privilege or permission to be there. You’re in a place open to the public and the person in charge personally tells you to leave and you refuse. Or you enter or stay on premises or in a vehicle in violation of a protective order issued under Alaska’s domestic violence statutes.¹

That third category matters because it folds protective-order violations directly into the trespass elements. If a court has barred you from a specific home, going there is unlawful entry under the trespass statute itself, independent of any separate charge for violating the order.

The Privilege to Enter Unimproved Land

Much of Alaska has no fences, no signs, and no visible indication of ownership. The law responds with a default rule: you have the privilege to enter unimproved, apparently unused land, as long as you have no intent to commit a crime there and the land isn’t fenced or enclosed in a way designed to keep people out.¹

The privilege ends in one of two ways. The owner or an authorized person tells you directly that you aren’t welcome. Or the owner posts no-trespassing signs in a manner that is reasonably conspicuous under the circumstances. Once either kind of notice is given, staying on the land is no longer privileged and can lead to criminal charges.¹

What counts as conspicuous depends on the setting. Posting that works on a suburban lot may not work along a remote river corridor, and a sign buried behind brush is unlikely to satisfy the standard anywhere.

Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree

The baseline offense is criminal trespass in the second degree. You commit it by entering or remaining unlawfully on any premises or in any propelled vehicle. “Premises” covers buildings, structures, and land. “Propelled vehicle” includes cars, boats, planes, and snowmachines.²

This is the charge that covers walking into a closed business after hours, refusing to leave a store when asked, or stepping into a fenced yard without permission. As a Class B misdemeanor, it carries up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.³⁴

Criminal Trespass in the First Degree

First-degree trespass applies in two situations. You enter or remain unlawfully in a dwelling, or you enter or remain unlawfully on land with the intent to commit a crime there.⁵

A dwelling is a building or structure where someone lives or sleeps. Breaking into a garage or warehouse doesn’t trigger first-degree trespass by itself, but entering a home, cabin, or occupied camper does, even if nothing is taken and no one is harmed. The intent element is separate: crossing onto private land planning to steal equipment, damage a pipeline, or poach game elevates the trespass regardless of whether the underlying crime is carried out.

First-degree criminal trespass is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $25,000.³⁴

Defenses to a Trespass Charge

Emergency Use of Premises

Alaska provides an affirmative defense for emergency entries. If you entered, used, or occupied premises because of an immediate and dire need, the defense is available, but only if you contact the property owner, the owner’s agent, or the nearest police agency as soon as reasonably practical after the emergency and report when you entered and any damage you caused. Skip that step and the defense is lost.⁶

The statute addresses conditions common in Alaska: taking shelter in an unlocked cabin during a blizzard, or entering a fish camp to treat hypothermia. Property owners can waive the reporting requirement by posting a notice on the premises, which is relatively common at remote structures.

Reasonable Belief of Permission

Because the statute hinges on entering “unlawfully,” a genuine belief that you had permission can defeat the charge. If a landowner told you last month you could cross their property to reach a trailhead, and you didn’t know the permission had been revoked, your reasonable belief in ongoing consent undermines the prosecution’s proof of unlawful entry.

Necessity

Alaska courts also recognize a broader necessity defense. You must show that you acted to prevent a significant harm, that no adequate alternative existed, and that the harm caused by trespassing wasn’t disproportionate to the harm avoided.⁷ It is harder to establish than emergency use because it requires balancing harms rather than proving dire need. Stepping onto someone’s property to escape a charging moose is straightforward. Entering because you suspected a friend inside might be in trouble is much shakier.

When an Owner Can Use Force

A property owner, or anyone in possession or control of premises, may use nondeadly force when they reasonably believe it’s necessary to stop someone from committing criminal trespass in any degree. There’s no duty to retreat from your own property before using reasonable force to remove a trespasser.⁸

Deadly force is narrower. It is justified on your premises only to stop what you reasonably believe is a burglary in an occupied dwelling or building. A trespasser who is simply on your land, even one refusing to leave, does not create a justification for deadly force under Alaska law.⁸

Civil Liability Beyond the Criminal Charge

A trespass can produce a civil lawsuit alongside, or instead of, criminal charges. Even where there is no measurable harm, courts recognize that a property owner has suffered a legal injury through the violation of the right to exclude, and may award nominal damages as a symbolic acknowledgment of the intrusion.

When the trespass causes actual harm, compensatory damages cover the real cost: damaged crops, tire ruts across a field, a broken gate, contaminated water. If the entry was intentional and outrageous, punitive damages can be awarded on top of compensatory or nominal damages, even when physical damage is minimal. Owners facing repeat intrusions can also seek a court injunction ordering the trespasser to stay off the property, with contempt-of-court penalties behind it.

The statute of limitations for a civil trespass action on real property in Alaska is six years from the date of the trespass.⁹

1
Justia. Alaska Code 11.46.350 – Definition; Privilege to Enter or Remain on Unimproved Land
2
Justia. Alaska Code 11.46.330 – Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree
3
Justia. Alaska Code 12.55.135 – Sentences of Imprisonment for Misdemeanors
4
Justia. Alaska Code 12.55.035 – Fines
5
Justia. Alaska Code 11.46.320 – Criminal Trespass in the First Degree
6
Justia. Alaska Code 11.46.340 – Defense: Emergency Use of Premises
7
Alaska Court System. Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instruction 13.03 – Entry Privileged
8
FindLaw. Alaska Code 11.81.350 – Justification: Use of Force in Defense of Property and Premises
9
Justia. Alaska Code 09.10.050 – Certain Property Actions to Be Commenced Within Six Years