Native American Youth In The Juvenile Justice System

11/29/2017 The Quiet Crisis in Native American Juvenile Justice
warrant confinement, such as an overdose.
Native American youth also tend to find themselves isolated in the justice system. Consequently the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention has published guidance for a tribal court CASA (court-appointed special advocate) program.
Finally, the Native American community must deal with a patchwork of inconsistent law enforcement, court, and corrections systems.
This is mostly the result of the evolution of tribal justice systems under the influence of treaties and federal laws. The Indian Civil Rights
Act limited the sentencing power of tribal courts to one year of imprisonment and a maximum fine of $5,000. Legal jurisdictions on tribal
territories are usually complex, and authority is almost always shared with the federal government.
Environmental factors also play a role. By federal judicial precedent tribal courts have no jurisdiction over non-Indians, even when they
commit crimes on tribal territory. As for Native American offenders, because prosecution of even relatively minor juvenile offenses like
shoplifting, underage drinking, or fighting falls to the U.S. Attorney, the priority of limited resources generally goes to more significant
cases, so these crimes tend to go unpunished. Together these two factors contribute to a lawless environment on reservations.
Culturally, the various Native American tribes do not approach juvenile delinquency from the same perspective as America’s Western
European-based norms. This often creates issues for youth who move between the reservation and the community and do not fully
understand the standards of conduct expected of them off-reservation. This increases their risk for run-ins with the juvenile justice
system. Moreover, Native American culture historically did not use confinement as a criminal punishment. Most tribal court systems rely
on restitution, community service, mental health treatment and counseling, and probation to answer juvenile crimes, so confinement tends
to be off-reservation.
There is no single or simple solution to such a complex challenge, and of course any solution must also be culturally relevant. The federal
government made a number of attempts over the years to remedy the flaws in the current Native American justice system. But the
numbers cited here should make it clear that the country risks losing an entire generation of Native American youth.
Corrections.com author, Robert Winters, holds a Juris Doctorate degree and is a Professor with Kaplan University. He is also a member
of the National Criminal Justice Association and serves as a Western Regional Representative, a member of the National Advisory Board
and their National Elections Committee.
Other articles by Winters [http://www.corrections.com/news/result?
keyword=&from=01%2F10%2F2005&to=01%2F16%2F2043&name[id]=139]
Comments:
1. mtyrrell on 06/18/2014:
Excellent article. I was born on the reservation and also returned to teach college and high school for six
years before leaving to find a better environment for my growing children. You have definitely hit the
many factors hitting kids there. With the high alcoholism on the reservation I was raised on in SDak., most
of the youth come into contact with the tribal police, state highway patrol, county sheriff in additional to
city police forces. Drug use is forever increasing. With little legal safe recreation available extremely
limited. youth travel 70-90 miles to see a movie or go shopping at a mall. With the cold, wind and ice of
winter roads often are not in good shape and someone coming along after you will be extremely limited.
Add drinking, drugs, and speed in cars that are powerful and faster every year, many end up dying or
severely injured facing charges in court in a variety of courts. Youth have to be taken off reservation if a
significant time is given to be placed in that training school mentioned in the article. I grew up in the
sixties and it was no different. Hopefully your article continues and inspires people to address treatment
solutions to work within the courts when appropriate and better places to send juveniles than adult prisons.
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