KUOW: Tribal Law and Order Act expands authority of tribal courts

Monday, January 31, 2011  

"Last July, Native American leaders gathered in Washington, DC, to celebrate the passage of a new law: the Tribal Law and Order Act. As President Obama noted that day, it's intended to address the crime rate on Indian reservations.

Obama: "It is unconscionable that crime rates in Indian Country are more than twice the national average, and up to 20 times the national average on some reservations."

Tribes pressed for the law to get more accountability from federal authorities and to strengthen their own criminal justice systems.

Ron Whitener is a law professor and expert in tribal law at the University of Washington. Whitener says tribes are often asking the US government to leave them alone. But not here.

Whitener: "In the area of law enforcement they're crying out, saying give us the resources or do your job which you claim is your job, which is to provide law enforcement on the reservations."

Many tribal courts and police departments are only a few decades old. While their courts only hear cases involving tribal members, tribal police often have the authority to arrest non–Indians. But tribal judges say lack of sentencing power and lack of help from federal authorities have stymied their attempts to combat reservation crime."

Get the Story:
Tribal Courts Expand: New Law Gives Tribal Courts Authority To Try Felonies (KUOW 1/31)