Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act

Ninth Circuit Affirms SORNA Conviction of Former Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation Resident (UPDATED)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in United States v. Elk Shoulder.

Update — here are the briefs:

Elk Shoulder Opening Brief

USA Answer Brief

Elk Shoulder Supplemental Brief

USA Supplemental Brief

Here is the Fifth Circuit opinion with which the CA9 disagrees:

US v Kebodeaux CA5 Opinion

Umatilla Confederated Tribes First Tribes to Implement SORNA

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the tribal press release — SORNA first tribe in nation

And the Dept. of Justice press release.

From the tribal press release:

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation learned this week from the US Department of Justice that it is the first tribe in the nation to comply with, and implement, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) passed by Congress in 2006. The CTUIR and the state of Ohio are the first two jurisdictions in the country to comply with SORNA (commonly known as the Adam Walsh Act),  according to information released this week by the US Department of Justice.

Davis and Washburn on Sex Offender Registration in Indian Country

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Virginia Davis (NCAI) and Kevin Washburn (Arizona) have posted “Sex Offender Registration in Indian Country,” forthcoming in the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. Here is the abstract:

Congress was first confronted with the issue of sex offender registration following an incident at a BIA Indian school on the Hopi reservation after a BIA school teacher was convicted of molesting 142 Indian boys during a six-year period in the 1980s. The case, which resulted in a criminal conviction and a $50 million civil settlement, left a scar on the national consciousness. Despite this history, Congress all but ignored the needs of Indian victims and Indian tribes when it enacted the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act as part of the Adam Walsh Act, mandating sex offender registration nationally. This essay criticizes this legislation and the undeliberative and unconsultative process that produced it. It concludes that the legislation might have been far more effective in dealing with sex crimes victimization on Indian reservations if Congress had embraced tribes as equal partners with states in implementing the law’s provisions. In the end, the law is likely to help least the very people who suffer from sex crimes the most. This tragedy could have been averted with a more thoughtful approach and greater recognition of the nuances of jurisdiction and insititutional capacity in Indian country.