Are We There Yet? An Analysis of Violence Against Native American Women…
Written by Cassity B. Gies. for the Journal of Race, Gender & Poverty
AN ANALYSIS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SPECIAL CRIMINAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE JURISDICTION.
INTRODUCTION..........................................................
I. Shocking Statistics ..............................................
II. History of Violence ...........................................
III. Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Territory .......
IV. Alarming Declination Rates ...........................
V. VAWA’s Provisions ...........................................
VI. VAWA’s Impact...............................................
VII. Proposed Amendments ..................................
CONCLUSION ............................................................
INTRODUCTION
The Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court of Arizona made history in 2017 by prosecuting Frank Jaimez for domestic violence on tribal lands.1 Courts are universally entrusted to prosecute crimes, so a tribal court rendering a guilty verdict may not sound novel at first blush. But prior to Jaimez’s trial, no non-Native man had been convicted in tribal court for thirty-nine years.2 The Pascua Yaqui Tribe exercises Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (SDVCJ) granted with the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization of 2013.3 These landmark provisions and those in current legislative proposals represent a policy shift. As tribal courts implement SDVCJ, the nation watches using VAWA as a looking glass. By measuring the results achieved by tribes implementing VAWA, Congress can consider what consequences stem from longstanding federal policies that deny tribes prosecutorial power based on a defendant’s skin color. Mounting outcries over glaringly high rates of sexual violence against Native American4 women paved the way for VAWA’s reauthorization provisions.5 Since 1978,6 Federal law has denied tribal courts criminal jurisdiction over non-Native defendants committing crimes in Indian Country.7 The legal term “Indian Country” includes: 1) land within a reservation; 2) dependent Indian communities; 3) Indian allotments where Indian title has not been extinguished; and 4) Indian land held in trust by the United States.8 Now codified as 25 U.S.C. § 1304, VAWA authorized limited tribal jurisdiction to directly combat domestic violence in tribal communities.9