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Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Native Americans made up 1.3 percent of the arrests in the United States last year, according to data released by the FBI on Monday.

In its annual report on crime, the FBI compiled statistics from more than 10,000 law enforcement agencies. City, suburban and rural areas were examined, with arrest rates for Native American adults and youth varying by jurisdiction.

Overall, about 130,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives were arrested last year, accounting for 1.3 percent of all arrests in the nation. Native Americans make up less than 1 percent of the general population.

According to the report, about 110,000 Native adults were arrested. Offenses covered the range of crimes, with driving under the influence, non-aggravated assaults, public drunkenness and property crimes ranking high on the list.

About 20,000 Natives under the age of 18 were arrested, accounting for 1.3 percent of all juvenile arrests. The top offenses were property crimes, larceny-theft, violation of liquor laws and non-aggravated assaults.

Rates for Native adults and youth varied by jurisdiction, with Natives in cities accounting for 1.3 percent of the arrests. In suburban counties, Natives made up only 0.7 percent percent.

Rural counties saw much higher rates. According to the report, Native adults made up 2.9 percent of arrests in nearly 2,000 rural county areas. Native juveniles made up 3.1 percent of the arrests in rural areas.

The Uniform Crime Report also contained statistics about hate and bias crimes. Based on data from about 12,000 law enforcement agencies, there were 62 incidents of anti-Native bias, 68 offenses and 72 victims. This accounted for about 0.8 percent of all reported hate and bias crimes last year.

Based on the data, 43 Native Americans committed some sort of hate or bias crime, accounting for 0.6 of known offenders. "The majority of these known hate crime offenders were white," the report stated.

If the 56 million acres of Indian Country were treated as a state, it would have a "modified crime index" of 29,234. The index is the sum of seven violent crimes including murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, property crimes, plus arson, that were reported by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It is difficult to compare the index to other states because the FBI report does not state the population of Indian Country. The report doesn't provide the BIA crime index for 2001 either.

Law enforcement personnel are reported by a number of tribal agencies nationwide. The Miccosukee Tribe of Florida said it had 51 full-time officers and civilian employees as of October 31, 2002. Six tribes in New Mexico employed 155.

Overall, violent crime dropped slightly by about 1.1 percent last year. The number of murders increased by 1 percent, although the rate has dropped significantly over the past decade.

Get the Report:
Crime in the United States: 2002 (FBI October 2003)

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Native youth victimization outpaces nation (07/17)
Natives top violent crime list again (4/8)
One in 10 hate crimes target American Indians (10/1)
DOJ: American Indians highest injured (6/25)
DOJ: Violent crime plagues Indian Country (3/19)
Violence in Indian Country (6/15)

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