On March 7, President Obama signed legislation that will change the landscape of protecting American Indian victims of domestic violence in Indian Country. The Violence Against Women Act of 2013 (VAWA) contains key provisions that recognize the inherent authority of tribal courts to prosecute domestic violence crimes committed against Native American women.

This is a big leap forward in the crusade to care for native domestic violence victims. Indigenous women experience some of the highest rates of sexual assault in the country. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, nearly half of all native women have been raped, beaten or stalked by an intimate partner. On some reservations, women are murdered at a rate 10 times higher than the national average.

Criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country is a complex area of federal Indian law. Piecing together statutory provisions and case holdings results in a maze of jurisdictional rules, which until March 7, resulted in significant gaps in protections for native victims of domestic violence.