Criminal

ICT Special Report on Domestic Violence in Indian Country

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From ICT:

Part 1 of 4

Native American women experience the highest rates of Intimate Partner Violence of any ethnic group in the United States. Knowledge of the prevalence of IPV in Native American communities is an important starting point to understand the pervasiveness and importance of domestic violence in American Indian communities.

This article, the first in a series of four on IPV against Native women, explores the prevalence of IPV among Native Americans from the national to tribe-specific level, focusing on Native American communities in the Southwest. Although numbers will vary from community to community, health care personnel and prominent community members must be aware of the high prevalence in order to adequately respond to the needs of Native American women. The rates of domestic violence will not begin to decrease until the problem is recognized so resources can be mobilized in response.

A review of statistical research on the prevalence of intimate partner violence in Native populations provides the justification for studying this problem. However, a literature review can prove difficult because many studies are based on small reservation samples and cannot be extrapolated to a general population. In addition, national surveys often do not include a sufficient representative sample of Native women to provide reliable numbers according to an article in a 2006 American Journal of Public Health. Each study notes differences in study design, the definition of IPV, and the demographic characteristics of the study population, which complicates comparison and analysis. Because of these issues, this article uses a variety of sources, from national to tribe-specific, to provide a statistical base for the importance of the study on IPV in Native populations.
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Profile on Criminal Justice at Colville

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Wenatchee News:

NESPELEM — Charlene Bearcub looks out her office window in Nespelem and does not see justice.

A probation officer for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Bearcub lost her son to a gun nearly five years ago.

A few blocks away, she can see the small, gray house where her oldest son, Ronald D. Thomas Jr., was shot and killed Jan. 12, 2005.

Next to her office sit two pale yellow prefabricated buildings which house Colville Tribal Court, where a tribal jury acquitted the teenager arrested and charged with her son’s homicide.

They were both 18, and best friends.

Even if he had been convicted, the boy would have spent only a year in jail for the crime, at most, because he was tried in tribal court. Under terms of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, no tribe may impose punishment greater than one year imprisonment. Serious crimes — like rape and murder — are supposed to fall to federal agents to investigate, and the U.S. Attorney for prosecution. But when the U.S. Attorney declines to prosecute, the only other option is tribal court.

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Miranda v. Nielson — Tribal Court Authority to Stack Consecutive Sentences

Matthew L.M. Fletcher4 Comments

A federal magistrate has issued a report and recommendation (something not yet binding until the federal judge signs it) holding that Indian tribes do not have authority to sentence convicted criminals to consecutive sentences amounting to more than 1 year (the limit set by the Indian Civil Rights Act).

Here is the report and recommendation — Magistrate Report

NYTs Article on Indian Country Gangs

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

PINE RIDGE, S.D. — Richard Wilson has been a pallbearer for at least five of his “homeboys” in the North Side Tre Tre Gangster Crips, a Sioux imitation of a notorious Denver gang.

One 15-year-old member was mauled by rivals. A 17-year-old shot himself; another, on a cocaine binge and firing wildly, was shot by the police. One died in a drunken car wreck, and another, a founder of the gang named Gaylord, was stabbed to death at 27.

“We all got drunk after Gaylord’s burial, and I started rapping,” said Mr. Wilson, who, at 24, is practically a gang elder. “But I teared up and couldn’t finish.”

Mr. Wilson is one of 5,000 young men from the Oglala Sioux tribe involved with at least 39 gangs on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The gangs are being blamed for an increase in vandalism, theft, violence and fear that is altering the texture of life here and in other parts of American Indian territory.

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DOJ Indian Country Jails Report

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Highlights:

• The number of inmates confined in Indian country jails declined by 1.3% at midyear 2008, dropping to 2,135
inmates.
• The number of inmates admitted into Indian country jails during June 2008 was about 6 times the size of the average
daily population.
• Since midyear 2004, jail bed space for admissions expanded faster than the growth in the inmate population (37% compared to 22%).
• Thirty-six facilities were operating above their rated capacity on their most crowded day in June 2008. Of these facilities, 17 were operating above their rated capacity at midyear 2008 and 16 were operating above their rated capacity on an average day in June 2008.
• Sixteen jails (a fifth of all facilities) held 53% of the inmates confined at midyear 2008.
• Inmates held for aggravated and simple assault increased at midyear 2008; domestic violence declined.
• The number of inmates confined in Indian country jails declined by 1.3% at midyear 2008, dropping to 2,135inmates.
• The number of inmates admitted into Indian country jails during June 2008 was about 6 times the size of the average daily population.

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Suit over Housing Authority Board Member Suspensions

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the initial opinion denying Crow Creek Sioux Tribe’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and HUD’s first motion to dismiss — Crow Creek Sioux Tribe v Donovan Initial DCT Order

And the materials:

Crow Creek Sioux Motion for Judgment on Pleadings

HUD First Motion to Dismiss

HUD Second Motion to Dismiss

House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on the Tribal Law and Order Act — Prepared Statements

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Witness List

Panel I
Hon. Herseth Sandlin
U.S. House of Representatives
At-Large, SD
Panel II
Hon. Tom Perrelli
Associate Attorney General
Washington, DC
Panel III
Marcus Levings
Great Plains Area Vice-President
Native American Justice Committee
New Town, ND
Tova Indritz
Chair
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Native American Justice Committee
Albuquerque, NM
Scott Burns
Executive Director
National District Attorneys Association
Alexandria, VA
Barbara Creel
Associate Professor
Southwest Indian Law Clinic
University of New Mexico School of Law
Albuquerque, NM

Federal Court Dismisses ICRA Habeas Case for Failure to Exhaust Tribal Remedies

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the opinion in this unremarkable case (Acosta-Vigil DCT Order).

What is remarkable, though I could be wrong, is why the tribal judge is literally defending the petition. Shouldn’t the tribal prosecutor be doing this?

Here is the response: Delorme-Gaines Response

Federal Court Weighs Prior Tribal Court Convictions in Sentencing

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in United States v. Latone — US v Latone

An excerpt:

The Court has carefully considered the arguments of counsel and the record before the Court. Latone’s record does not appear substantially different from that of other offenders off the state’s reservations with a criminal history category of 1, and so the Court will deny the upward departure that the United States requests. The [Zuni] tribal court gave a few days or community service as punishment for the tribal convictions, and the tribal court did not treat those offenses as seriously as the United States now requests the Court to do. The Court is reluctant to treat the prior offenses more seriously than did the tribal court. The Court thinks these prior convictions provide little indication how Latone will act in the future, because he has not received a sentence of long duration before this case. With the sentence in this case, he may act very differently in the future. Further, only two of his prior convictions — both simple assaults — were crimes of violence. See PSR PP 35, 37, at 10-11. Moreover, the Court is reluctant to treat the juvenile offenses before the tribal court more seriously than it does non-tribal juvenile counts. There does not appear to be a good reason in this case to vary from the Guidelines’ good judgment that the Court generally should not consider juvenile and tribal convictions in sentencing. There is little or no information about some of the tribal convictions, and therefore there is no reliable information to indicate that Latone’s criminal history is substantially underrepresented.

Study on Sexual Assault of Native Women Published

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Minn. Public Radio via Dan:

Duluth, Minn. — A three-year Duluth study finds Native American women, victimized by sexual assault, tend to get lost and overlooked in the legal system.

A coalition of victim advocacy groups and public safety agencies undertook the study. They wanted to address problems related to high rates of sexual assault among Native American women. Forty-one victims took part in focus groups, and none of their cases resulted in prosecutions.

Rebecca St. George, with the group Mending the Sacred Hoop, said the women felt investigators didn’t believe them.

“Pretty much all of them felt that they hadn’t been believed,” St. George said. “We certainly saw parallels in the police reports that we read; sort of a general ‘not sure if this is what really happened.'”

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