Indian sexual offenders who reside in Indian Country are subject to "civil commitment" under state law, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today.

Jeremiah Jerome Johnson, a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, and Lloyd Robert Desjarlais, a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, were convicted of sexual offenses. The state sought to confine them as "sexually dangerous persons" -- in effect, removing them from their residences in Indian Country and forcing them to undergo treatment for an "indefinite duration," according to the Minnesota court system.

Johnson and Desjarlais challenged the state's civil commitment proceedings, during which their offenses both on and off the reservation were discussed. But the court noted that Minnesota falls under Public Law 280, a federal law that grants the state "jurisdiction over civil causes of action ... to which Indians are parties which arise in the areas of Indian country."

"In sum, through [the civil commitment process] the State of Minnesota does not seek to impose its sovereign authority onto Indian country," the court wrote. "Rather, the State—through enforcement of the statute -- seeks to adjudicate the status or condition of private individuals."

The court also noted that the civil commitment proceeding doesn't interfere with tribal or federal interests. Neither the Bois Forte Band nor the Leech Lake Band, for example, offer treatment for sexual offenders, and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act doesn't address commitment issues either, the court said.

"Removing members from their reservations to commit them undoubtedly affects those tribes," the court wrote. "But appellants have not demonstrated in this case that the commitment of tribal members in off-reservation state facilities, based at least in part on their off-reservation conduct, necessarily undermines tribal sovereignty."

The court's decision was unanimous although some judges disagreed with some of the analysis used by the majority.

Get the Story:
Court: Tribal members not exempt from civil commitment (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 7/20)

Minnesota Supreme Court:
In the Matter of the Civil Commitment of: Jeremiah Jerome Johnson and In the Matter of the Civil Commitment of: Lloyd Robert Desjarlais (July 20, 2011)