The Justice Department on Thursday announced that it had chosen three American Indian tribes for a pilot project in which they will be authorized, for the first time, to prosecute non-Indian men for certain crimes of domestic violence against Indian women.
The tribes, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, the Tulalip Tribes of Washington state and the Umatilla Tribes of Oregon, will be the first of the nation’s federally recognized 566 Indian tribes to exercise criminal jurisdiction over domestic and dating violence when a non-Indian man is involved. The authority was granted last year in an amendment to the 2013 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.
Associate Attorney General Tony West called the department’s actions “a historic turning point” for justice on tribal lands.
“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,” West said. “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.”
3 tribes authorized to prosecute non-Native American men in domestic violence cases
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