Survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking have multiple needs for legal assistance and are faced with a complex maze of criminal and civil justice systems. The need for legal services is even more complicated for Native American victims of these crimes, who not only are victimized at higher rates than the general population, but must navigate the added complexity of overlapping local, state, federal and tribal laws.
The Division of Victim Services (DVS) was awarded VOCA funds for the Statewide Victim Services Liaison Project (SVSLP) to better identify the barriers to civil legal assistance for rural and indigenous survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking and to develop a roadmap to enhance access to civil legal assistance in Michigan’s rural and tribal communities. This report provides information on the project, process, and information that was gathered, as well as recommendations for increasing access to legal assistance and services for victims/survivors in these communities.
Because of the successful 2013 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which President Obama signed into law on March 7, 2013, tribal courts and law enforcement will soon be able to exercise the sovereign power to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence those who commit acts of domestic violence or dating violence or violate certain protection orders in Indian country, regardless of the defendant’s Indian or non-Indian status. The tribal provisions of this landmark legislation were originally proposed by the Department of Justice in 2011 to address alarming rates of violence against native women. We believe today, as we did then, that this is not only constitutionally sound law, but it is also a moral prerogative and an essential tool to ensure that non-Indian men who assault Indian women are held accountable for their crimes.
This report provides a record of the work I performed as the Economic Justice Coordinator for UDVC between January 2010 and April 2011. It is designed to be useful for any DV advocate who is approaching issues of economic empowerment and justice at the systems level. Most of the work completed is folded into the narrative, particularly in the assessment and contact sections. Rather than creating a list of projects completed, I incorporated this information topically were it would be of most help to someone using this report in the future. There is a resource section at the end, which is by no means comprehensive. I focused on the resources and contacts that are not already well-integrated into UDVC’s collaboration and referral structure. Also, the Economic Empowerment Curriculum provides a more comprehensive topical discussion of resources, which this report merely complements. These two projects should be used in conjunction with each other. Further, I left folders on the UDVC’ shared drive which contains policy articles and discussion of many of the substantive areas of Economic Justice and Empowerment. I have appended a brief summary of the trainings, and will attach in hard copy the lists of those trained and their contact information
The dismissal of a federal domestic violence charge against a 37-year-old enrolled member of the Northern Ute Tribe was reversed and sent back to the lower court by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on July 26.
The justices ruled that neither the absence of counsel in two prior domestic violence convictions in Ute Tribal Court nor differences between tribal and U.S. law violated the rights of Adam Ray Shavanaux of Fort Duchesne, Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah.
Shavanaux was arrested in January 2010 after Ute tribal police officers were called to aid an assault victim who was able to escape from a home in Fort Duchesne and seek assistance. The victim was later taken to the hospital, according to the U.S. Attorney in Utah.
Turtle Talk 
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