WASHINGTON — With spiraling crime rates battering Indian reservations across the West, the Senate on Wednesday passed legislation designed to plug gaping holes in the way crimes are investigated and prosecuted on Indian lands.
The legislation requires federal prosecutors to justify dropped cases to tribal leaders and allows tribal courts to impose sentences of up to three years, expanding authority that has been limited for more than 100 years.
It gives tribal police access to a key national crime database and allows felony crimes to be tried for the first time on the reservations where they occur.
“This will signify a dramatic change in the years ahead in the personal safety of a lot of American Indians who have been abused, who have been victims of crime,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who chairs the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
The system for investigating and prosecuting crimes on Indian reservations is complex — even arcane, according to some critics.
Felony crime is the sole responsibility of federal prosecutors, often based in cities hundreds of miles away. Under a law passed in 1885, the authority of tribal courts is severely limited and they can impose sentences of no more than a year.
Tribal leaders for years have accused U.S. attorneys of doing their jobs poorly, often showing little interest in prosecuting the rapes, assaults or small-time drug peddling that devastate some tribal communities.
In 2009, federal prosecutors declined to prosecute nearly half of all Indian Country felony cases presented to them, while federal crime statistics show that some reservations have violent-crime rates that are 20 times the national average.
But there is also wide disagreement on fixing the problem.
Expanding the authority of tribal courts has long been considered controversial, because in many cases tribal prosecutors and even judges aren’t required to have law degrees. Tribal court decisions in many cases are not appealable to federal court.
The Tribal Law and Order Act approved Wednesday — it passed with unanimous consent, meaning there was no formal, recorded vote — attempts to address those concerns.
Only tribal courts that meet certain standards, including minimum training requirements and the guarantee of counsel for indigent defendants, will be granted the new authority.
For the first time, the legislation also requires the Justice Department to make public yearly statistics on the number of Indian Country cases declined by federal prosecutors — and each declination must be reported to tribal leaders.
The bill also makes it easier to deputize tribal police so that they can enforce federal laws, including giving them jurisdiction over non-Indians.
“There is a requirement now that these declination reports be made public, so that we will know whether or not some of these cases are being prosecuted,” said U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. “It is not going to be the panacea,” but “this legislation . . . is a bit of a breakthrough.”
The bill must still be passed by the House of Representatives before making it to President Barack Obama’s desk, but it has significant bipartisan support and the backing of the White House, Dorgan said.
“I’m very anxious to go down and be a part of the signing ceremony” this year, he said.
Michael Riley: 202-662-8907 or mriley@denverpost.com
Tribal Law and Order Act
Key points of the bill passed in the Senate on Thursday:
• Requires the Department of Justice to maintain data on criminal prosecutions that were declined and share evidence in those decisions with tribal justice officials.
• Establishes an option for tribes to increase sentencing authority from the current maximum of one year to up to three years, if a tribe provides added protections to defendants.
• Enhances the Special Law Enforcement Commission program to deputize tribal police officers to enforce federal laws on Indian lands.
• Provides tribal police greater access to criminal databases such as the National Crime Information Center.
Source: Senate Indian Affairs Committee
