Experts: Justice grants not a long-term solution to ending violence

That's the title of an Indian Country Today article by Rob Capriccioso.

Read the whole thing HERE.

Basically, grants are great, but they're not a substitute from some long-needed changes in the law. That's the only way we're going to cut down on violence on Indian reservations.

Here's an excerpt:

WASHINGTON – Tribal justice advocates are hailing awards from the Department of Justice to aid and improve three reservation-based domestic violence programs, but many say the money itself isn’t going to solve bigger federal Indian law problems.

Some of the latest awards, announced in early September, come as a result of federal stimulus funding. They amount to $1.4 million for the Los Coyotes Band of Indians in California, the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

..snip....

“What is needed is real legal reform. In addition to funding shortfalls, the Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe loophole still remains.”

Carole Goldberg, a tribal law professor at the UCLA School of Law, elaborated on that loophole, saying the 1978 Supreme Court decision found that tribes don’t have criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians.

She said federal policy to correct the Oliphant decision is desperately needed to reduce reservation violence.

Matoy Carlson also said federal Indian law should be changed to rectify the loophole, or else she believes the epidemic of violence against Native women isn’t really being addressed.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher, director of the Michigan State University Indigenous Law & Policy Center, is grateful for federal awards to address violence in Indian country, but is skeptical about their long-term effects.

...snip.....

“But what happens when the grants run out? So many times in Indian country it means that those programs just die. I hope that won’t happen here.”

Fletcher believes a long-term solution to violence requires a re-examination of federal law in relation to tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians.

He said Congress could quickly correct issues stemming from Oliphant if it chooses.

Congress has long heard about the issue from tribal leaders, but has chosen not to act.
Bold is mine

Notice the last line. This is nothing new. We have to make sure Congress knows that we are watching, and we will be waiting for our representatives to make these changes N.O.W.!!!