U.S. criminal justice & tribal sovereignty: a brief history

Part 2 of 2: Here’s how a nearly 140-year-old U.S. law took away tribal nations’ right to fully run their own justice systems.

📲To learn how more recent Supreme Court rulings have reshaped criminal justice in Indian Country, scroll back to part 1.

✍️: Cary Aspinwall / The Marshall Project & Graham Lee Brewer for High Country News
🎥: Aspinwall & Chris Vazquez / The Marshall Project; Allison Herrera / APM Reports

#shorts #oklahoma #law

[Mattjammar]

You really should read up on the Crow Dog Case of 1883.
Crow Dog was a captain of the tribal police and a traditionalist, he gunned down Spotted Tail who was considered a peaceful chief who was willing to work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
For his crimes he paid the family of the victim $600, 8 horses and a blanket.

So, the reason for restricting self-governance within the tribes is to prevent those in authority within the tribes from buying their way out of harsh punishments.

[realspark]

Restorative Justice? Giving people a pass on criminal activity because someone did something bad at a prior time?
Foolishness.

[vernalbmx]

I was assaulted by a tribal member 2 years ago. He was set free 2 hours after and was never charged.
State paid for my medical bills. If it was reversed id be in jail with federal and racial charges

[sinkopation]

The amount of racism in these comments show that colonizers are never done dehumanizing indigenous people.

[JordanMayjorp]

As an Osage Native... If you do the crime you do the time... There is no "restorative" justice for murder.

[beccalife]

I understand tribal courts having power over tribal citizens on tribal land, but why do they have power over not tribal domestic violence?

[BennyRuff]

Because the chief would get away with murder while the rest of the Indians got charged with murder. That's why there are three different types of governments.

[andrewsmallwood]

Couple problems the use of the words restorative justice could mean just about anything. It's probably better to just say what the tribal court actually did if you want support from the questioning types.
The fact that any race is incarcerated more than another doesn't necessarily mean any racial bias. The majority of people who go to prison are relatively poor. Groups with more poor people will have more people imprisoned. This makes sense. Are you more likely to commit a crime if you are doing well financially or if you feel you have nothing to lose.
Also this The NSDUH Report indicates that AI/AN individuals are almost more than twice as likely than other racial demographics to need treatment for a drug and/or alcohol addiction problem: 17.5% versus 9.3% based on data obtained between 2003 and 2011. This group is also more likely to seek help for addiction and substance abuse concerns, however, and more willing to admit that they would benefit from a treatment program.

[williwonti]

Gotta love the glossing over of 'restorative justice'

[zeyv]

Why are there so many misding native women?

[rts]

Most reservations are horrible places to live. You have much more than the national average for drug and alcohol abuse along with hopelessness. This leads to higher amounts of violence. It's socioeconomic, not discrimination.

[TXVETJEB]

Do 4 times the amount of crime, go to prision 4 times as often.

[stevethesaint]

I dont believe there should be any tribal courts..we all live under the same justice system and should all be subject to it

[firstnameperiodlastname]

Every “race” has their good and bad people. Everyone in America are punished for bad things done by the few instead of just punishing the bad ones on a case by case basis; preventive can be good in some situations while also being bad - infringing on the freedoms of others.

[MNNski]

It's pretty rare for someone to end up in prison if they didn't commit a crime. So the real question is not "is the justice system racist" it's "why does this group of people commit a disproportionate amount of crime?" I'd say poverty rates and culture has a big impact in crime rates. Also when talking about culture when it comes to the Native population, I'm mainly talking about the alcohol and drug culture that runs rampant with many tribes.

[Pataleck]

Why don't they just stop committing violent crimes

[Quirll]

Then are they going to do the same to other countries since you only make treaties with countries and I never knew Congress could take that authority away from foreign countries

[BG-mrxv]

Maybe they commit 4x more crimes? Poverty and criminal behavior are positively correlated. Education and poverty are negatively correlated. Perhaps additional emphasis should be made on improving education.

[consultant]

When you compare races crime incarceration figures you need to check the proportionate rate of crime by those races. Unfortunately Native American communities typically suffer high drug & alcohol addiction with high unemployment.

[Mrclean]

Yeah, but at some point you just gotta understand you don't get to make the rules.
It's been a hundred and forty years get over it.