By Saundra Dobbs

If you were a Native American woman living on an Indian reservation, you would be three times more likely to be a violent crime victim than the average American. In fact, as a people, you and your fellow Native Americans living on Indian reservations would make up the group most likely to be crime victims. African American men take the number two spot. You would be 50 percent more likely to be crime victims than an African American man. You would also be 3.5 times more likely to be a victim of domestic violence than any other American woman.

In addition to being at risk for crime and domestic violence, you would be twice as likely to be a victim of sexual assault than any other member of a minority group. If you were to ask your fellow Native American women how many had experienced sexual abuse, 75 percent of them will say they experienced some type of sexual assault in their lifetime. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, “Among white victims of sexual violence, 69 percent of the offenders were white. Likewise, black victims of sexual violence were most likely to have been victimized by a black offender (81 percent).” However, if you asked those 75 percent of sexually assaulted American Indian women, about 8 in 10 would have had assailants who were non-Native American. What this means is that American men are crossing into Indian Nations and raping Native American women. This is a crisis in Indian Nations.

In the majority of the United States, women have a great deal of access to support systems, which include shelters, hotlines, and police protection. But if you were a Native American woman, your available resources would be limited. A report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights states that, “Per capita spending on law enforcement in Native American communities is roughly 60 percent of the national average.” You would be re-victimized by the system because the system cannot adequately help you.

But, chances are you are not a Native American woman living in an Indian Nation. However that does not mean that this issue should be ignored. Currently, these problems are not appropriately addressed in Native American communities because of the legal relationship between the United States and Indian Nations.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are problems that all of America faces. However, the rate of domestic violence and sexual assault on American Indian Reservations is so disproportionately high, that attention must be given to this crisis immediately. Court precedence states that the United States is responsible for the well-being of Indian Nations and as a result has direct responsibility to help Native Americans solve this growing problem. The Supreme Court has explicitly stated that the United States is directly responsible for ensuring the well-being and security of people who live on Indian Reservations.

However, this is difficult because legislation conflicts as to whether state or national agencies are directly responsible for protecting tribal lands. This causes a dangerous situation on Indian reservations because law enforcement agents are confused over jurisdiction. Federal and States’ courts argue constantly over who has jurisdiction over police actions and often do not respond to police calls. (Federal agents feel they have better things to do and local police is uneducated on their responsibilities). Tribal police forces do exist, however they are not funded well enough to be effective on their own.

Additionally, when a criminal is caught, crimes often go unpunished because tribal courts have so little control and power, and because state and federal courts cannot agree who should prosecute. Federal law requires that an American Indian court can “in no event impose for conviction of any one offense any penalty or punishment greater than imprisonment for a term of one year and a fine of $5,000.” These sentencing restrictions mean that Indian Nations cannot prosecute serious crimes that occur in their territories. Since they have to rely on federal or state governments to prosecute these crimes (who often can not agree whose jurisdiction a particular case falls under) serious crimes may go un-prosecuted. This removes the deterrence value as well as punitive value of the legal system from the perspective of a criminal.

Some programs and legislation have been put into effect in order to combat this problem. But, this legislation has not been effective enough and many more changes need to be made to the system. The most important legislative issue that must be dealt with is jurisdictional control over crimes on Indian Reservations. Legislation must be created which clearly defines who has jurisdiction over domestic violence and sexual assault crimes. Attempts should be made to increase the sovereignty of Indian Nations in regard to this issue, but the most important thing is that the jurisdiction is clearly defined regardless of who Congress determines should have the jurisdictional power.

There is legislation that includes provisions to protect this population called Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). However, additions must also be made to VAWA in order to help victims more thoroughly. Domestic violence is not currently a federal crime. As a result, the federal courts cannot prosecute a domestic violence assault. Advocates are trying to amend the newest version of VAWA (VAWA 3) to include making domestic violence a federal crime. This is essential to protecting Native American female victims until true jurisdictional changes can be made.

We must not stand by and let these atrocities continue. Something must be done immediately. Write your Congressperson, Senator, and the President and let them know you will not stand for these injustices any longer.