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.