Tribal Law and Order Act on the Standing Rock Reservation

OK, so while it's a huge step ahead that the Tribal Law and Order Act has become law, thanks to the efforts of Senator Dorgan, there isn't a direct line between the passage of the law and increased sovereignty in law enforcement on many reservations. The Standing Rock Reservation, where the Pretty Bird Woman House shelter is located, is no exception. Many reservations will have to change their constitutions or judicial systems to accommodate the new law - and it will be all for the better.

According to an article by Jenny Michael in the Bismarck Tribune, the tribe's constitution will have to be changed:

While some tribes would have to make fundamental changes to their court structure in order to implement longer sentences — such as using law-trained attorneys and judges rather than lay people — Standing Rock already has an advanced court system similar to state district courts.

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Standing Rock public defender Jim Cerny said the possibility of three-year sentences likely would result in the U.S. attorney’s offices leaving more cases in tribal court, resulting in the tribe having more control over crime on the reservation. The sense of paternalism exhibited throughout history by the government toward tribes may be eased by the new law, Cerny speculated.

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Zuger said another provision of the law would enable federal criminal trials related to reservation crime to be held on reservations.

“Nobody wants to have to go somewhere else to have a case tried,” he said.

Tribal courts and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over several felonies classified in the Major Crimes Act, including murders and rapes, that occur on reservations. If federal prosecutors decline prosecution in those cases, tribal officials don’t always receive investigative information from federal agencies, making it difficult to prosecute the crimes in tribal court. The Tribal Law and Order Act requires the Department of Justice to file reports to tribal justice officials explaining why cases aren’t being prosecuted federally to coordinate the prosecution of crimes on reservations.

Cerny said most of the criminal cases from the reservation that he defends in federal court are easy cases for the U.S. attorney’s offices. If a case is questionable, they leave the cases in tribal court, he said.

The problem with that, he explained, is that the Federal Bureau of Investigation often investigates crimes that fall under the Major Crimes Act, which are serious crimes such as murder and rape. If the U.S. attorney does not bring federal charges in those cases, federal agencies don’t always share investigatory information with tribal law enforcement and courts.
Standing Rock Chief Prosecutor Grant Walker said declinations are still an “on-going process.” Sometimes, investigations into the same incident have been going on in both the tribal and federal systems without either agency realizing it, he said.

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The new law also provides resources to enhance cooperation among tribal, state and federal agencies, authorizes tribal police to make arrests for all crimes committed on reservations, provides tribal police more access to national criminal history databases, improves collection of reservation crime data, increases resources for dealing with domestic and sexual violence, increases training opportunities and seeks to increase the pools of potential Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement officers by upping the age limit from 35 to 46 and expediting background checks for potential peace and correctional officers.

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(go to the link above to read the entire text of the article).

“I think (the law) is going to make some improvement on our reservation,” Murphy said.

Folks, the shelter needs a new wheelchair ramp

We're going to be kicking off a fundraiser as soon as we get the estimate for the wood cost, but the shelter could use your help now.

When we were doing all those fundraisers last year there was plenty of money for a wheelchair ramp. So, the shelter contracted for one, and most of one was built.

"Most"? Yup. Most. Not only did the contractor leave it incomplete, what he did do was substandard.

Right now there is little recourse but to just build another one. There are at least 2 companies on Standing Rock that are doing shoddy work and going after them isn't always practical when you are busy running a shelter.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but Jackie Brown Otter, the shelter's founder and new director, uses a wheelchair so this is a daily issue for her.

Alternately, if anyone has appropriate wood that they would like to take over to Standing Rock, we my be able to ask someone from Sitting Bull College to build one the right way.

Either way, the shelter could use your donations now. You will see a new donations button on the right to make this easier.

Thank you.

More on the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010

Here's the White House Press Release on this new legislation, which President Obama signed into law on July 29.

The President just signed the Tribal Law and Order Act -- an important step to help the Federal Government better address the unique public safety challenges that confront tribal communities.

According to a Department of Justice report, Native American women suffer from violent crime at a rate three and a half times greater than the national average. Astoundingly, one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes. At the White House Tribal Nations Conference in November 2009, President Obama stated that this shocking figure "is an assault on our national conscience that we can no longer ignore."

Last week, Congress took another important step to improve the lives of Native American women by passing the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010. The Act includes a strong emphasis on decreasing violence against women in Native communities, and is one of many steps this Administration strongly supports to address the challenges faced by Native women.

The stipulations in the Act that will benefit Native women reflect several Administration priorities. The Act will strengthen tribal law enforcement and the ability to prosecute and fight crime more effectively. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act will require that a standardized set of practices be put in place for victims of sexual assault in health facilities. Now, more women will get the care they need, both for healing and to aid in the prosecution of their perpetrators.

Victims of domestic violence and sexual assault will now more often encounter authorities who have been trained to handle such cases. The Act expands training of tribal enforcement officers on the best ways to interview victims of domestic and sexual violence and the importance of collecting evidence to improve rates of conviction. The Director of Indian Health Services will coordinate with the Department of Justice, Tribes, Tribal organizations and urban Indian organizations to develop standardized sexual assault policies and protocols.

Special Assistant US Attorneys will be deputized under the Act to prosecute reservation crimes in Federal courts, and tribes will be given greater authority to hold perpetrators accountable. These provisions help to increase communication between tribal law enforcement, Federal authorities and the court system. As numbers of convictions grow, more women may be willing to report the abuses against them so that their abusers may be prosecuted.

However, the Act focuses not only on prosecution but also on prevention. It reauthorizes and improves programs to prevent and treat alcohol and substance abuse, as well as programs that improve opportunities for at-risk Indian youth. Getting men and boys involved in stopping the violence against women and girls is an important step to ending it everywhere, giving youth a chance to change their own futures.

This Act, combined with the great work that Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice are doing to combat violence in American Indian/Alaska Native communities, is an important step towards our Administration’s priority of ending violence against women and girls, and making Native communities safer and more secure. One in three is a statistic that is intolerable, and the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 will help to change that.

Lynn Rosenthal is the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women