Members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee listen to testimony about violent crime and victimization in Indian Country at a hearing on June 10, 2015. Photo by Andrew Bahl for Indianz.Com

'We’re writing off another generation in Indian Country'
By Andrew Bahl
Indianz.Com Staff Writer

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs heard harrowing testimony from federal and tribal officials on Wednesday as lawmakers looked at ways to improve victim services in Indian Country.

Federal studies show that American Indians and Alaska Natives are more likely to be victimized than any other racial or ethnic group. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and some tribal governments are making efforts to provide victim services but resources are often scarce, allowing the problems to worsen.

“Native youth experience violent crime rates up to 10 times the national rate," said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), the chairman of the committee. "Violence is pervasive and tied to 75 percent of deaths among American Indian and Alaska Natives between the ages of 12 and 20."

“American Indian women are murdered at a rate of more than 10 times the national average on some reservations," Barrasso added. "It is clear that tribes lack the resources and capacity to provide basic services to victims of crime on their lands."

Rusty Stafne, the chairman of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana, used his community as an example of what he described as an endemic issue. Crime rates on the reservation are five times those in the rest of Montana, he explained, saying the disparities fuel other social and economic problems.

He added that one in every three middle school students on the reservation tested positive for an sexually transmitted disease, a statistic that visibly shocked many members of the committee. Stafne emphasized the need for greater funding, saying that more consistent resources are necessary to address these discrepancies.

Indianz.Com SoundCloud: Oversight Hearing on "Addressing the Need for Victim Services in Indian Country"

“We have to do more for our children, to help our children heal,” Stafne told the committee. “Tribes must compete for grants and when a grant ends tribes must find other sources of funding. We need consistent funding to provide these services. We are overwhelmed and it’s important to have a more reliable [stream of funding].”

Diane Baker-Harrold, a judge for the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and a member of the Cherokee Nation, was a domestic violence victim in the 1970s when services were virtually non-existent. Despite some improvements, she said some of the problems -- including a lack of faith in the justice system in rural and close-knit tribal communities -- she encountered exist today.

Baker-Harrold advocated for tribes to be able to develop culturally-appropriate treatment services and programs. “All crime victims need ways to recover," she testified. “Tribes must be able to incorporate cultural practices into victim services.”

Members of both parties were visibly upset by the inequalities presented at the hearing. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana), the vice chairman of the committee, called the testimony “criminal.”

“We’re writing off another generation in Indian Country. Things aren’t going to get better unless we give you the tools to make it better,” Tester said, adding that potential budget cuts would make matters even worse. He's introduced a bill to shield Indian Country from the harmful effects of sequestration.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) added that she was "horrified" by some of the data presented by the witnesses.

"Somewhere along the line, Native American children are getting left behind," Heitkamp said. "They're getting left behind because they're in a jurisdictional juggernaut, many times, or they're in remote locations where it's very difficult to provide services and where we don't fund what we need to fund to break the cycle of violence and abuse."

Darren Cruzan, the director of Justices Services for the BIA, echoed the concerns. He emphasized that his agency was committed to working with tribes to address the inequalities.

“The people closest to the issues have the solution to the problem,” Cruzan said. “There is not a federal, state or tribal solution—things work best when we work together. “

The hearing lasted about an 1 hour and 42 minutes. Audio can be found on the Indianz.Com SoundCloud.

Committee Notice:
Oversight Hearing on "Addressing the Need for Victim Services in Indian Country" (June 10, 2015)

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