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Voices of Victims: American Indian Issues and the Tribal and Criminal Justice System

NCJ Number
213810
Date Published
October 2006
Length
0 pages
Annotation
In this video, American-Indian crime victims speaking at roundtables sponsored by the U.S. Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime talk about their experiences in interacting with the criminal justice system in the course of processing their cases.
Abstract
American Indians whose criminal victimization occurs on tribal lands experience distinctive problems not faced by other crime victims. This is the focus of many of the complaints offered by the crime victims at the roundtables. A tribal judge notes that no matter how serious the crime for which a conviction is obtained in his court, Federal law sets the maximum sentence. It is 1 year in jail, a $5,000 fine, or both. A victim of domestic violence complains that there is nothing specific in the tribal code that deals with domestic violence, so it is often processed under misdemeanor laws related to disorderly conduct. Another complaint is that when cases are transferred to Federal court, they can take as long as 2 years to resolve. The primary recommendation is that Federal law be modified to ensure that American Indians victimized on tribal lands can receive the same quality and efficiency of case processing available to non-Indians. Other recommendations are to improve training for criminal justice personnel who deal with crimes committed on Indian lands, improve communication between victims and criminal justice personnel, introduce more culturally based practices into case management, and provide interpreters when language barriers exist. Ways that the Office for Victims of Crime is dealing with these victim issues are listed at the end of the video.

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