tribal courts

Tribes now free to prosecute non-Indians for certain crimes

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American Indian tribes that meet certain criteria now have the authority to prosecute non-Indians for a limited set of domestic violence crimes, a shift supporters hope will reduce the high rate of violence on reservations.

Three tribes in Arizona, Oregon and Washington state have exercised that power for more than a year under a pilot project approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Together, the tribes have brought more than two dozen domestic violence cases against non-Indians who live or work on their reservations, according to the National Congress of American Indians...

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Associated Press. "Tribes now free to prosecute non-Indians for certain crimes." Missoulian. March 9, 2015. Article. (http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/tribes-now-free-to-prosecute-non-indians-for-certain-crimes/article..., accessed March 23, 2015)

Cross swearing-in marks a first for California courts

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A groundbreaking cross swearing-in ceremony last week forged a new partnership between the Shingle Springs Tribal Court and the Superior Court El Dorado County.

In a Jan. 5 event at Red Hawk Casino in Placerville, Judge Suzanne N. Kingsbury, presiding judge of the Superior Court of El Dorado County, was sworn in to the Tribal Court of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, and Judge Christine Williams, chief judge of the Shingle Springs Tribal Court, sworn in to the Superior Court of El Dorado County...

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McNabb, Lydia. "Cross swearing-in marks a first for California courts." El Dorado Hills Telegraph. January 14, 2015. Article. (http://www.edhtelegraph.com/article/1/14/15/cross-swearing-marks-first-c..., accessed February 24, 2015)

Arizona tribe set to prosecute first non-Indian under a new law

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Tribal police chief Michael Valenzuela drove through darkened desert streets, turned into a Circle K convenience store and pointed to the spot beyond the reservation line where his officers used to take the non-Indian men who battered Indian women.

“We would literally drive them to the end of the reservation and tell them to beat it,” Valenzuela said. “And hope they didn’t come back that night. They almost always did.”

About three weeks ago, at 2:45 a.m., the tribal police were called to the reservation home of an Indian woman who was allegedly being assaulted in front of her two children. They said her 36-year-old non- Indian husband, Eloy Figueroa Lopez, had pushed her down on the couch and was violently choking her with both hands.

This time, the Yaqui police were armed with a new law that allows Indian tribes, which have their own justice system, to prosecute non-Indians. Instead of driving Lopez to the Circle K and telling him to leave the reservation, they arrested him...

Native Nations
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Horwitz, Sari. "Arizona tribe set to prosecute first non-Indian under a new law." The Washington Post. April 18, 2014. Article. (https://www.dailyitem.com/news/arizona-tribe-set-to-prosecute-first-non-indian-under-a-new-law... accessed March 3, 2023)

UA Alums Involved in Effort to Legally Prosecute Non-Indians on Pascua Yaqui Tribe

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University of Arizona alumnus Alfred Urbina, chief prosecutor for Southern Arizona's Pascua Yaqui tribe, has sat in front of families whose loved ones have been victims of violent crimes, only to say there is nothing that can be done.

"I have had to face whole families and explain that we could not provide the full measure of justice that their loved ones deserved," he says. "I have watched mothers and grandmothers cry and I could do little to help them."

Now there is something that can be done...

Native Nations
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Ballard, Amanda. "UA Alums Involved in Effort to Legally Prosecute Non-Indians on Pascua Yaqui Tribe." UA News. April 21, 2014. Article. (https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/ua-alums-involved..., accessed April 22, 2014)

Pascua Yaqui gain added power to prosecute some non-Indians

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Southern Arizona’s Pascua Yaqui Tribe is one of the first Native nations in the country to earn legal standing to prosecute outsiders who attack women on tribal lands.

The Pascua Yaquis – along with the Tulalip Tribes of Washington and the Umatilla Tribes of Oregon – have been been awarded special domestic-violence criminal jurisdiction, included in the Violence Against Women Act of 2013. The measure allows tribes to prosecute non-Native Americans in tribal courts if they are accused of domestic violence on tribal lands...

Native Nations
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McNamara, Patrick. "Pascua Yaqui gain added power to prosecute some non-Indians." Arizona Daily Star. February 10, 2014. Article. (http://tucson.com/news/local/pascua-yaqui-seek-broader-jurisdiction..., accessed February 10, 2014)

Health, Innovation and the Promise of VAWA 2013 in Indian Country

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Yesterday morning, we made our way north from Seattle, past gorgeous waterways, and lush greenery to visit with the Tulalip Tribes of western Washington, where we were greeted by Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon, Vice Chairwoman Deb Parker, and Chief Judge Theresa Pouley. We saw first-hand, a tribal court system which serves to both honor the traditions of its people and to foster a renewed era of tribal self-determination...

Native Nations
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Jarrett, Valerie and Tony West. "Health, Innovation and the Promise of VAWA 2013 in Indian Country." President Obama and the Native American Community Blog. Washington, D.C. September 06, 2013. Article. (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/09/06/health-innovation..., accessed May 31, 2023)

Where Tribal Justice Works

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In 2011, a man in northeastern Oregon beat his girlfriend with a gun, using it like a club to strike her in front of their children.

Both were members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The federal government, which has jurisdiction over major crimes in Indian Country, declined to prosecute.

So the tribes stepped in. The man was convicted in their courts and sentenced to 790 days in federal prison.

But had the assault happened a week earlier, the case could never have gone to trial.

The Umatilla tribes had recently enacted new provisions from a federal law, the Tribal Law and Order Act, that allowed Native American courts to try their own people for felony crimes instead of relying on the federal authorities.

Without those provisions, once federal prosecutors declined the case, the woman would have had no other legal recourse...

Navigating VAWA's New Tribal Court Jurisdictional Provision

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President Obama signed into law the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a federal statute that addresses domestic violence and other crimes against women. As initially conceived in 1994, VAWA created new federal crimes and sanctions to fill in gaps, provided training for federal, state and local law enforcement and courts to address such crimes, and funded a wide array of community services aimed to protect and support victims. In a historic move, this new version of VAWA recognizes and affirms that tribal courts have jurisdiction over criminal cases brought by tribes against non-members–including non-Indians–that arise under VAWA. This is the first time since the Supreme Court’s 1978 decision in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978), that Congress has recognized and affirmed tribal courts’ criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians...

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King, Winter and Sara Clark. "Navigating VAWA's New Tribal Court Jurisdictional Provision." Indian Country Today Media Network. March 31, 2013. Article. (https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/opinions/navigating-vawas-new-tribal..., accessed April 1, 2013)

Hopi Revises Criminal Code, Regains Sovereignty

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Crime rates in Indian Country are more than twice the national average. But for decades antiquated criminal codes have limited what tribal courts could do.

For example, crimes like child abuse and sexual assault didn’t exist on the books. And, tribal judges couldn’t sentence a defendant to more than a year in jail. But that's changing now. The Hopi Tribe has recently revised its criminal code and as a result is regaining a degree of tribal sovereignty in its court system...

Native Nations
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Morales, Laurel. "Hopi Revises Criminal Code, Regains Sovereignty." Fronteras: The Changing America Desk. March 8, 2013. Article. (https://fronterasdesk.org/content/6793/hopi-revises-criminal-code-regains-sovereignty, accessed July 17, 2023)

Oglala Sioux tribe to vote on constitutional changes

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A more stable tribal government and economic development on the reservation could be the result of a vote on constitutional changes by Oglala Sioux Tribal members on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation April 22, supporters say...Key proposals include an amendment to separate the tribe's judicial system from its tribal council and an amendment that would establish four-year staggered terms for council members and four-year concurrent terms for the tribe's president and vice-president...

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Gease, Heidi Bell. "Oglala Sioux tribe to vote on constitutional changes." Rapid City Journal, April 14, 2008. Article. (http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/oglala-sioux-tribe-to-vote-on-con..., accessed February 9, 2012).