South Dakota attorney general Larry Long says Department of Justice studies about the victimization rate of American Indians are wrong.

Based on 10 years of data from South Dakota, Long says most violent crimes against American Indians are committed by American Indians. That runs contrary to two DOJ reports that said non-Indians perpetrate most crimes against Indian victims.

"When you talk about violent crime, violent crime nationally is intra-racial. That means white people kill white people, blacks kill blacks, Asians kill Asians," Long told the Associated Press.

According to Long, 8 percent of intentional homicides and 17 percent of forcible rapes involve non-Indian perpetrators and Indian victims.

Steven W. Perry, the statistician who wrote one of the DOJ reports, said Long mischaracterized the federal studies. White South Dakota numbers may be different, Perry said the national data shows most violent crimes against Indians are committed by non-Indians.

Long's study will be published in the American Indian Research and Culture Journal in the fall.

Get the Story:
Indian crime studies disputed (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 7/15)
S.D. attorney spars with feds over Indian crime (AP 7/15)

Get the Study:
Jurisdictional Variation in American Indian Criminal Justice: An Argument for Stronger Understanding and Better Methods (July 2008)