Native American Courts

Crime in Indian Country

According to recent census data, approximately 4.3 million American Indian and Alaska Natives live in the United States. Approximately half live in Indian Country, which comprises more than 50 million acres of land spread across more than 30 continental states. Although the majority of reservations and off-reservation trust lands lie west of the Mississippi River, there are some tribes located in the east as well.

Although tribes vary significantly in terms of social, economic, and cultural characteristics, Indian Country is currently experiencing severe social and economic problems. The Native American unemployment rate hovers around 50%, making them the poorest of all minority groups. Their school dropout rate is twice the national average, with many youth dropping out before the [Page 573]10th grade. With the exception of a few densely populated areas on reservations, most Native Americans live in geographically isolated areas. As a consequence, Native Americans and communities are often characterized by high rates of alcoholism and substance abuse, high suicide rates, poor health, lack of affordable housing, substandard education, a critical lack of jobs, and high crime rates.

Unlike U.S. police departments and courts, it is difficult for tribal criminal justice agencies to collect systematic data because of the lack of resources such as understaffing, funds, data collection systems, and analysis software. It is also difficult to obtain data on court statistics because of the cultural diversity between tribes and court structures. Since criminal offenses can be tried at multiple governmental levels (i.e., tribal, state, or federal court), tribal data collection efforts are further hampered. Statistics that are reported are likely to be underestimated because of victim hesitation to report the crime and the high level of discretion of criminal justice actors. Nonetheless, there are some data available that provide a tentative picture of what Native courts are currently facing.

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information on violent crimes including rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault for persons 12 and older. Based on data over a 9-year period (1992–2001), American Indians experienced 1 violent crime for every 10 residents ages 12 or older. Compared to both African Americans (1 out of 20) and Whites (1 out of 25), Native Americans in this sample were victimized at an alarming rate. American Indians were more than twice as likely as Whites, African Americans, and Asians to experience a sexual assault or rape, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Robbery was the only violent crime for which American Indians were victimized at a rate more similar to African Americans, although it was still double that of other races.

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