NCAI: Congress deals setback to tribal justice
"According to studies, Indian reservations nationwide face violent crime rates more than 2.5 times the national rate, and some reservations face more than 20 times the national rate of violence.
WASHINGTON – Leaders of the National Congress of American Indians said the U.S. Congress has leveled a major setback to Indian tribes in need of critical resources to combat the highest crime rates in the country.
Congress’s decision to cut more than $90 million from proposed funding for Department of Justice measures in Indian Country leaves tribal law enforcement and federal personnel with far too few resources to fight crime on tribal lands, NCAI officials said.
Signed into law in 2010 with bipartisan support, the Tribal Law & Order Act sets out to reduce crime in Indian Country by making improvements to the way criminal justice is administered on tribal lands and reauthorizing critical tribal justice programs.
On Nov. 14, Congress released the fiscal year 2012 Appropriations Conference Report for Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. The report shows funding cuts for tribal justice programs across the board and did not include a proposed 7 percent tribal set-aside for all discretionary Office of Justice Programs.
The report also proposes $15 million cuts to both the COPS Tribal Resources Grant Program and the Tribal Youth Program. Funding for tribal assistance within OJP was also cut, receiving only $38 million – $62 million short of the approximate $100 million initially proposed in President Barack Obama’s FY 2012 budget request.
NCAI officials said the funding cut is a failure of significant proportions and will make the act’s intended goals difficult to attain."
This is absolutely the worst thing that could occur! I have worked on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in SD and the funds are critical! Violence and sexual abuse are at very high rates- and that was back in 2000 when I was there. It was unsafe for me to go to a client's home to see them for therapy during the first week of the month after checks arrived because of the alcoholism issues and there were some communities where they actually told me to be gone by 4 PM because after that I couldn't be safe and no one would be able to protect me as I was seen as White.
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