"The Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA), signed into law by President Obama last July with bipartisan support, makes federal agencies more accountable for serving Indian lands. TLOA also provides greater freedom for tribes to design and run their own criminal justice systems.

TLOA’s reforms—including enhanced sentencing options for tribal courts, expanded Indian Country law enforcement training, and greater transparency for federal prosecutors who decline to file cases—are welcome and long overdue. Yet many of the greatest challenges to securing equal justice for Native Americans living and working on Indian lands are structural. They’re rooted in a system of federal institutions, laws and practices that pre-date the modern era of tribal sovereignty and self-determination, and which TLOA does little or nothing to change.

That’s why TLOA created the Indian Law and Order Commission. This independent, all-volunteer advisory group, whose nine members were appointed by the President and Congress, is charged with looking beyond the horizon.

TLOA directs the Commission to report back to the White House and Capital Hill next year with specific proposals to make Indian Country safer and more just, so that Native Americans may finally receive the full protections guaranteed to all U.S. citizens by the Constitution."

Get the Story:
Troy Eid: Indian Law & Order Commission Moves Ahead (Indian Country Today 4/30)

Related Stories:
Indian Law and Order Commission holds first in-person session (4/6)
President Obama names 3 to Indian Law and Order Commission (1/19)