VAWA 2022 White House Fact Sheet

Here.

An excerpt:

Expanding special criminal jurisdiction of Tribal courts to cover non-Native perpetrators of sexual assault, child abuse, stalking, sex trafficking, and assaults on tribal law enforcement officers on tribal lands; and supporting the development of a pilot project to enhance access to safety for survivors in Alaska Native villages.

Designed by Nez Perce artist Helen Goodteacher to support The Native American Alliance for Policy and Action MMIW events in 2021

Section 903 of H.R. 1602 (which is what I assume Congress adopted) includes the additional crimes that Indian tribes may not prosecute against non-Indians:

SEC. 903. TRIBAL JURISDICTION OVER COVERED CRIMES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE, SEX TRAFFICKING, STALKING, AND ASSAULT OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER OR CORRECTIONS OFFICER.

Section 204 of Public Law 90–284 (25 U.S.C. 1304) (commonly known as the “Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968”) is amended—

(1) in the heading, by striking “CRIMES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE” and inserting “CRIMES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE, SEX TRAFFICKING, STALKING, AND ASSAULT OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT OR CORRECTIONS OFFICER”;

(2) in subsection (a)(6), in the heading, by striking “SPECIAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION” and inserting “SPECIAL TRIBAL CRIMINAL JURISDICTION”;

(3) by striking “special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction” each place such term appears and inserting “special Tribal criminal jurisdiction”;

(4) in subsection (a)—

(A) by adding at the end the following:

“(12) STALKING.—The term ‘stalking’ means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person proscribed by the criminal law of the Indian Tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the violation occurs that would cause a reasonable person to—

“(A) fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or

“(B) suffer substantial emotional distress.”;

(B) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs (10) and (11);

(C) by inserting before paragraph (10) (as redesignated) the following:

“(8) SEX TRAFFICKING.—

“(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘sex trafficking’ means conduct—

“(i) consisting of—

“(I) recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, obtaining, advertising, maintaining, patronizing, or soliciting by any means a person; or

“(II) benefitting, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture that has engaged in an act described in subclause (I); and

“(ii) carried out with the knowledge, or, except where the act constituting the violation of clause (i) is advertising, in reckless disregard of the fact, that—

“(I) means of force, threats of force, fraud, coercion, or any combination of such means will be used to cause the person to engage in a commercial sex act; or

“(II) the person has not attained the age of 18 years and will be caused to engage in a commercial sex act.

“(B) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph, the terms ‘coercion’ and ‘commercial sex act’ have the meanings given the terms in section 1591(e) of title 18, United States Code.

“(9) SEXUAL VIOLENCE.—The term ‘sexual violence’ means any nonconsensual sexual act or contact proscribed by the criminal law of the Indian Tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the violation occurs, including in any case in which the victim lacks the capacity to consent to the act.”;

(D) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as paragraphs (6) and (7);

(E) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (3) as paragraphs (2) through (4);

(F) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated), to read as follows:

“(3) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term ‘domestic violence’ means violence—

“(A) committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic- or family- violence laws of an Indian Tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the violence occurs; or

“(B) (i) committed against a victim who is a child under the age of 18, or an elder (as such term is defined by Tribal law), including when an offender recklessly engages in conduct that creates a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to the victim, or committed as described in subparagraph (A) while the child or elder is present; and

“(ii) the child or elder—

“(I) resides or has resided in the same household as the offender;

“(II) is related to the offender by blood or marriage;

“(III) is related to another victim of the offender by blood or marriage;

“(IV) is under the care of a victim of the offender who is an intimate partner or former spouse; or

“(V) is under the care of a victim of the offender who is similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic- or family- violence laws of an Indian Tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the violence occurs.”;

(G) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as redesignated), the following:

“(1) ASSAULT OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT OR CORRECTIONAL OFFICER.—The term ‘assault of a law enforcement or correctional officer’ means any criminal violation of the law of the Indian Tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the violation occurs that involves the threatened, attempted, or actual harmful or offensive touching of a law enforcement or correctional officer.”; and

(H) by inserting after paragraph (4) (as redesignated), the following:

“(5) OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.—The term ‘obstruction of justice’ means any violation of the criminal law of the Indian Tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the violation occurs, and the violation involves interfering with the administration or due process of the Tribe’s laws including any Tribal criminal proceeding or investigation of a crime.”;

(5) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting after “the powers of self-government of a participating Tribe” the following: “, including any participating Tribes in the State of Maine,”;

(6) in subsection (b)(4)—

(A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by inserting after “over an alleged offense” the following: “, other than obstruction of justice or an act of assault of a law enforcement or corrections officer,”; and

(B) in subparagraph (B)—

(i) in clause (ii), by striking “or” at the end;

(ii) in clause (iii)(II), by striking the period at the end and inserting the following: “; or”; and

(iii) by adding at the end the following:

“(iv) is being prosecuted for a crime of sexual violence, stalking, sex trafficking, obstructing justice, or assaulting a police or corrections officer under the laws of the prosecuting Tribe.”;

(7) in subsection (c)—

(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “domestic violence” and inserting “Tribal”; and

(B) in paragraph (1)—

(i) in the paragraph heading, by striking “AND DATING VIOLENCE” and inserting “, DATING VIOLENCE, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE, STALKING, SEX TRAFFICKING, OR ASSAULT OF A LAW ENFORCEMENT OR CORRECTIONS OFFICER”; and

(ii) by striking “or dating violence” and inserting “, dating violence, obstruction of justice, sexual violence, stalking, sex trafficking, or assault of a law enforcement or corrections officer”;

(8) in subsection (d), by striking “domestic violence” each place it appears and inserting “Tribal”;