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Watson’s Atlas Map of Indian Territory (1886)

A startling 1 in 3 American Indian women will experience rape in her lifetime, according to the US Justice Department. Yet only federal attorneys can prosecute felonies like rape committed on tribal land – attorneys that are also responsible for terrorism and drug cases. The result: US attorneys decline to prosecute 75% of American Indian rape cases every year, according to NPR. Even if tribal authorities were able to prosecute rape cases, they would still only be able to prosecute members of federally recognized tribes. This poses a severe dilemma, since 86% of assailants are reported to be non-Indian. To address these issues, Congress is now attempting to strengthen the control of tribal authorities and increase the accountability of responsible federal agencies with the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2009.

While tribes maintain sovereignty through tribal police departments and tribal judiciary systems, the federal government holds the purse strings, and federal law still preempts tribal law in civil rights and criminal jurisdiction. Tribal law enforcement officials can’t prosecute non-Indian offenders, and even if a crime is committed by an American Indian, they can’t prosecute felonies like rape. Underfunding has also led to inadequate tribal law enforcement; in 2007, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation had only 5 Bureau of Indian Affairs officers patrolling an area the size of Connecticut.

This may change — if the new bill passes. Introduced by a bipartisan group of senators, the bill would increase the authority of  tribal police by allowing them to make arrests for all crimes committed on tribal land, and to transfer prisoners to the Bureau of Prisons where the tribal government reaches an agreement with the Bureau.  It would also increase the accountability of federal agencies by establishing an “Office of Indian Country Crime” dedicated to enforcing federal criminal law committed on tribal land, among other provisions.

The bill specifically addresses the epidemic of domestic violence and sexual assault in that it would require the Indian Health Service (IHS) to implement policies and procedures for victims, establish concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute sexual assaults at the request of a tribe, and require the development of victim training programs for law enforcement and IHS personnel. The bill may not be a panacea, but giving tribes the authority to arrest non-Indians for federal crimes such as rape is an essential step in the protection of American Indian women against sexual violence.

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