Editorial: Tribes gain authority in Violence Against Women Act

The Minnesota Daily praises protections for American Indian and Alaska Native women in S.47, a bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act:
Among other additions were new protections for American Indians, which will hopefully go toward reducing the appalling number of American Indian women raped every year. According to the Justice Department, one in three American Indian women has been raped or has had someone attempt to rape them. Furthermore, an arrest is made in only 13 percent of all sexual assaults reported by American Indian women, compared with 35 percent for black women and 32 percent for whites.

One of the reasons attributed to the high rate of assault against American Indian women and low number of arrests is a gap in the law that has prevented non-Indians from being arrested by tribal police. The Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center says this gap has attracted sexual predators to tribal areas.

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Editorial: Justice on the reservation (The MInnesota Daily 3/5)

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