Senators Grill DOJ Officials, Who Won't Provide Stats on Refusal to Prosecute Crime in Indian Country

Oh, is this typical of the Bush DOJ or what? Yesterday, in the hearing I announced in the post below, Senator Dorgan pointed out to DOJ officials that they routinely fail to go after 60% of cases in Indian Country. You would think DOJ would want to defend itself by providing statistics, but no...

(This is from an Indianz.com story)

Drew Wrigley, the U.S. Attorney for North Dakota, disputed suggestions that Indian crime is a low priority for the administration. He said "zero" percent of Indian cases are declined due to lack of resources.

...snip....

But Wrigley, who was nominated by President Bush, defended the department's decision to withhold data that would explain why cases are declined. He said providing the information would mislead the public and jeopardize criminal investigations.

Other committee members weren't convinced. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the vice chair, said the data will help improve law enforcement in Indian Country because it can shed light on areas of the system that need to be fixed.

...snip...

But Wrigley refused to agree there is a "problem" with the criminal justice system on reservations. "We don't know how to help you," said Tester of the refusal to provide information about declinations.

The Tribal Law and Order Act (S.3220) has a provision that would require the Justice Department to track all the cases it refuses to prosecute (declination rate).

Also, Syracuse University has a Transitional Records Access Clearinghouse on cases the DOJ declines to prosecute, if you want to do some detective work on your own.

From the Argus Leader:

According to a database maintained by Syracuse University and cited by committee chairman Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., U.S. attorneys failed to prosecute 50 percent of murder and manslaughter cases committed on Indian reservations from 2004 to 2007, 58 percent of serious assaults, 72 percent of child sex crimes and 76 percent of sex crimes involving adults.
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"Is there any wonder that many Native Americans have lost faith in the criminal justice system?" asked Dorgan, who threatened to subpoena the Justice Department to get the information. "This is a national disgrace, and it has to be dealt with."

..snip..

Overall, the violent crime rate on reservations is twice the national average, and methamphetamine addiction rates are three times higher, according to the committee. Meanwhile, fewer than 3,000 tribal and federal law enforcement officials patrol more than 56 million acres, less than half of the police presence in comparable non-Indian communities nationwide.

"(Violent crime) is one of the reasons we don't have economic development on reservations like we should have," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., a committee member.

A national disgrace indeed. When I see how DOJ treats crime on Indian reservations I am often incredulous that we can tolerate this in the 21st Century. It is testimony to how invisible the Native American population has been to the rest of this country. THAT is the biggest disgrace of them all.