"A bill signed Thursday by President Obama should lend a bit more stability to American Indian reservations nationwide. The Tribal Law and Order Act is designed to strengthen tribal law enforcement, provide tribes with more tools to fight crime, and establish accountability measures for federal agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting reservation crime. The bill passed easily through Congress and that pleases us, since crime is such a terrible problem on South Dakota reservations. In a Daily Republic report last week, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., said “the need for this bill is clear.” We wholeheartedly agree.

Herseth Sandlin, who sponsored the bill, cited some oft-used statistics about crime on reservations, including this one: The violent crime rate on reservations nationwide is 2.5 times higher than the national rate. She also cited statistics that predict one in three Indian and Alaska native women will be raped in their lifetime.

Those are national statistics, but here is one that hits closer to home: The homicide rate in nearby Buffalo County — home of the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation —is 29.5 per 100,000 residents, more than 10 times the statewide rate of 2.8.

Another problem is a lack of numbers among law-enforcement officers. There just aren’t enough officers to cover those vast stretches of land that constitute South Dakota’s reservations."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Tribal Law and Order Act is good starting step (The Mitchell Daily Republic 7/30)
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Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act:
H.R.725

Tribal Law and Order Act:
S.797 | H.R.1924

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