"The Alaska Federation of Natives and all other Native corporations, both village and regional, including all nonprofit Native organizations and all representative candidates for public office should provide support for full implementation of the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission recommendations and call upon Congress to implement them.

Now is the time for full participation of all parties involved to define “tribal authority” and “tribal justice.”

Since Alaska Natives make up 36 percent of the inmate population all across Alaska’s prison system, we should be leading the discussions. There are many Alaska Native women and men who would love to be home for the Christmas holidays. One way to see this happen is to beef up tribal village court systems, all them to handle all misdemeanor and class C felony cases.

This can be done under administrative order 186, dated Sept. 29, 2000, — 22 AAC.05.155. This policy reinforces government-to-government relationships between the state Department of Corrections and federally recognized tribes in Alaska through consultation on significant matters of mutual concern.

We would like to see support for an amendment to the tribal law and order bill, allowing all tribal village courts to retain jurisdiction over all class C felony cases. This would allow the village member to remain in their village so they may pay restitution to the victim."

Get the Story:
Grover G. Riley: Tribal Justice (The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 10/21)

Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act:
H.R.725

Tribal Law and Order Act:
S.797 | H.R.1924

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