"After pressing for months, the chief criminal prosecutor for the Navajo Nation, Bernadine Martin, finally persuaded the U.S. Department of Justice to release its internal statistics on felony investigations. It turns out federal agents last year made just 28 arrests in sexual assault cases on an Indian reservation the size of West Virginia.

That's an arrest rate in sexual assault cases of about 11 per 100,000 people. By comparison, Denver's arrest rate in the same category in 2008 was 38 per 100,000. In other words, federal agents investigating sexual assaults on the Navajo Nation made less than one arrest for every three by Denver police.

This kind of unfairness prompted the Tribal Law and Order Act, sponsored by retiring Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and signed by President Obama last week.

Despite the good intentions of many fine public servants, the federal government isn't getting the job done. Violent crimes on Indian reservations are two and a half times the national average, yet tribal lands are served by half the number of police as comparable communities.

Federal agents, prosecutors and judges are chiefly responsible for enforcing the most serious felonies, called "major crimes," at Navajo and many other Indian reservations. The Tribal Law and Order Act doesn't change this unfortunate division of labor, which has federal officials performing local governmental functions.

However, the new law does make them more accountable to the people they serve. Federal prosecutors will now be required to report when they decline to prosecute felonies and explain why, while still protecting the confidentiality of victims and defendants. Credit for this change goes to Denver Post reporter Michael Riley, whose 2007 investigative series focused on the lower priority some U.S. Attorney's Offices give Indian Country cases."

Get the Story:
Troy Eid: Bringing justice to Indian Country (The Denver Post 8/3)

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

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

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