Why Can Indians Now Prosecute NON Indians?

Forums: Legal, American Indians
Email this Topic • Print this Page

This is a new thing, it used to be that Indian Justice systems on reservations could only deal with indians, now they increasingly can deal with anyone. How is this legal? I am an American, it is the American justice system that has jurisdiction over me while I am in America, and I am protected by the US Constitution.

Is going on the reservation now like going to a foreign country?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 5 • Views: 802 • Replies: 9

[+4] - Peter Frouman - 05/25/2014Can you provide a source to support the claim that tribal courts in the U.S. now have jurisdiction over nonmembers? Technically, the recognized tribes are sovereign nations and thus it would...

@hawkeye10,

Native American justice systems are part of the American justice system. Think of it as if all the reservations were a 51st state. All constitutional protections apply.

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

I think anything charged above the misdemeanor level is investigated by FBI or other federal agency, and tried in federal courts. I've been wrong before, but this is "common knowledge" in Indian Country.

1 Reply

@roger,

roger wrote:

I think anything charged above the misdemeanor level is investigated by FBI or other federal agency, and tried in federal courts. I've been wrong before, but this is "common knowledge" in Indian Country.

I am not sure this is nationwide but here in Washington State they just vastly increased what the indians can do to non-indians. I really dont like my odds of getting justice from an Indian judge as I sit cooling my heals in an Indian prison. Hundreds of years of indian history do not inspire confidence in indian competence.......right up to all of those casinos they built, most of which are not very or at all profitable, and under contracts with gaming companies that give the indians almost nothing.

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Can you provide a source to support the claim that tribal courts in the U.S. now have jurisdiction over nonmembers?

Technically, the recognized tribes are sovereign nations and thus it would actually make sense for tribal courts to have jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases involving matters within their territory. However, their sovereignty has been greatly constrained and diminished by treaties and their incorporation into the United States. An excellent example of this is that they have no jurisdiction at all over nonmembers in criminal cases (see the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe) and only very limited jurisdiction in civil cases involving nonmembers (see the 1981 U.S. Supreme Court court decision in Montana v. United States).

The only way this could change would be a new federal law that expanded their jurisdiction to include cases involving nonmembers or a U.S. Supreme Court decision reversing established precedents holding that tribal courts have no jurisdiction in cases involving nonmembers. As far as I know, that hasn't happened yet and thus tribal courts still have no jurisdiction over nonmembers.

1 Reply

@Peter Frouman,

Quote:

Can you provide a source to support the claim that tribal courts in the U.S. now have jurisdiction over nonmembers?

I read it someplace a couple weeks back. Now that I try to track down the claim I am not coming up with anything. I only heard the claim from one source.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

this appears to be it

Quote:

I am proud that Tulalip’s court system was recently chosen to pilot a program under the Violence Against Women Act to prosecute non-tribal domestic violence offenders.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/05/22/tulalip-progress-has-been-undeniable

However what I read made it sound like more than this....I was aware that the recent reauthorization of VAWA massively changed how tribal lands are handled, because the feminists insist that their is a massive amount of abuse of women on tribal lands that have not been much mitigated by the many years the VAWA has been in force, but I was not aware till now that this includes the indian courts dealing with non indian alleged abusers.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Last year, Congress passed a law (the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013) that expanded the criminal jurisdiction of tribal courts over domestic violence crimes as well as civil jurisdiction in some cases involving protection orders. It is still limited jurisdiction in that it is concurrent with federal and state jurisdiction, doesn't apply to certain cases and only applies to tribes which have chosen to exercise it.

Quote:

Although the provisions authorizing the special jurisdiction take effect generally in March 2015, the law also gives the Attorney General discretion to grant a tribe’s request to exercise the jurisdiction earlier, through a voluntary pilot project. The authority to approve such requests has been delegated to Associate Attorney General Tony West. Associate Attorney General West today congratulated tribal leaders on this historic achievement in letters to the three tribes.

"The old jurisdictional scheme failed to adequately protect the public – particularly native women – with too many crimes going unprosecuted and unpunished amidst escalating violence in Indian Country," stated Associate Attorney General West. "Our actions today mark a historic turning point. We believe that by certifying certain tribes to exercise jurisdiction over these crimes, we will help decrease domestic and dating violence in Indian Country, strengthen tribal capacity to administer justice and control crime, and ensure that perpetrators of sexual violence are held accountable for their criminal behavior."

Since the Supreme Court’s 1978 opinion in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, tribes have been prohibited from exercising criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian defendants. This included domestic violence and dating violence committed by non-Indian abusers against their Indian spouses, intimate partners, and dating partners. Even a violent crime committed by a non-Indian husband against his Indian wife, in the presence of her Indian children, in their home on the Indian reservation, could not be prosecuted by the tribe. In granting the pilot-project requests of the Pascua Yaqui, Tulalip, and Umatilla tribes today, the United States is recognizing and affirming the tribes’ inherent power to exercise “special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction” (SDVCJ) over all persons, regardless of their Indian or non-Indian status, for crimes committed on or after Feb. 20, 2014.
Source: Justice Department Announces Three Tribes to Implement Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction Under VAWA 2013

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Quote:

Is going on the reservation now like going to a foreign country?

In a word, YES.

Advice: Don't screw up on the Res.

1 Reply

@bobsal u1553115,

bobsal u1553115 wrote:

Advice: Don't screw up on the Res.

Look what happened to Colonel Custer.

0 Replies

Why Can Indians Now Prosecute NON Indians?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know