{"id":58401,"date":"2024-12-02T15:01:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T20:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=58401"},"modified":"2024-12-02T15:37:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T20:37:54","slug":"cronkite-news-hearing-confronts-crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-relatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/12\/02\/cronkite-news-hearing-confronts-crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-relatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Hearing confronts crisis of missing and murdered relatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7bhLNW1bfgI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">House Committee on Appropriations: <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/7bhLNW1bfgI>Oversight Hearing \u2013 Investigating the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women &#8211; Panel 1 &#8211; November 20, 2024<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">After years of funding with little headway, Indigenous women still missing and murdered at alarming rates<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, December 2, 2024<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\"> By Gabrielle Wallace<\/div>\r\n<DIV class=source>Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n<DIV class=source-website><A \r\nhref=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<p>WASHINGTON \u2013 Despite grants and numerous programs to help mitigate the issue, cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women continue at relatively high rates.<\/p>\r\n<p>The extent of the problem is almost certainly underestimated.<\/p>\r\n \r\n<p>The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System showed a dozen missing Indigenous women from Arizona as of mid-2020. They\u2019d been missing, on average, for 21 years. But the Arizona-based Navajo Nation alone lists 22 missing women. Some of the cases date to the 1970s.<\/p>\r\n<p>Advocates for women and Native American crime victims attribute the chronic undercounts and frustrations with resolving these cases to confusion over jurisdiction and lack of cooperation among law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cSadly because a person is Navajo, it is sometimes assumed that Navajo will handle the case \u2013 in essence, the buck gets passed,\u201d said Eugenia Charles-Newton, chair of the law and order committee of the Navajo Nation Council.<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0cwaQSavWNw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">House Committee on Appropriations: <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/0cwaQSavWNw>Oversight Hearing \u2013 Investigating the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women &#8211; Panel 2 &#8211; November 20, 2024<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<p>Indigenous women are five times more likely than white women to experience violence from their partners, according to research from the National Congress of American Indians.<\/p>\r\n<p>Arizona has two tribal women\u2019s coalitions that aid survivors of domestic and sexual violence. The Hopi-Tewa Women\u2019s Coalition to End Abuse works with Hopi women. The Southwest Indigenous Women\u2019s Coalition works with others.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cIf we could have ended this violence against ourselves, we would have done it a long time ago,\u201d said Memory Longchase, the domestic violence response director of Southwest Indigenous Women\u2019s Coalition.<\/p>\r\n<p>Jurisdiction issues occur in cities where tribal members live and on or near reservations.<\/p>\r\n<p>A 2018 report from the Urban Indian Health Institute identified 153 cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women that do not exist in any law enforcement records. The report focused on 71 cities in 29 states, including Phoenix, Tucson, Tempe and Flagstaff.<\/p>\r\n<p>Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute and a member of the Pawnee Nation in Oklahoma, said city police departments often assume that if a tribal member reports a crime, it is the tribe\u2019s responsibility to handle the case \u2013 even if the woman doesn\u2019t live on tribal land.<\/p>\r\n<p>That misconception has caused a \u201cnationwide data crisis\u201d that hides the extent of violence involving Indigenous women and girls, according to the report. It also causes investigative delays or leads to cases slipping through the cracks entirely.<\/p>\r\n<p>And that, advocates say, has discouraged people from even reporting such cases, out of a common belief that \u201cif somebody \u2026 goes missing \u2026 they\u2019re probably not going to do anything,\u201d Longchase said.<\/p>\r\n<p>Tucson ranked fourth on the list of cities in Echo-Hawk\u2019s report. Arizona had the third most cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women and girls cases.<\/p>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/12\/02\/cronkite-news-hearing-confronts-crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-relatives\/navajonationmissingpersons\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-58439\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1978\" height=\"2560\" data-attachment-id=\"58439\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/12\/02\/cronkite-news-hearing-confronts-crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-relatives\/navajonationmissingpersons\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/02\/navajonationmissingpersons.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1978,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Navajo Nation Missing Persons\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Navajo Nation Missing Persons&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;There are currently 75 missing men, women and children in the Navajo Nation &amp;#8212; the biggest tribe in the United States. Image courtesy of Navajo Nation Police Department&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/02\/navajonationmissingpersons.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/02\/navajonationmissingpersons.jpg\" alt=\"Navajo Nation Missing Persons\"  class=\"size-full wp-image-58439\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">There are currently 75 missing men, women and children in the Navajo Nation &#8212; the biggest tribe in the United States. Image courtesy of Navajo Nation Police Department<\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<p>In Arizona, 10 of the 12 women listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System had lived in rural areas, according to an Arizona State University research study. Their ages ranged from 20 to 54.<\/p>\r\n<p>The Department of Justice started the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program in mid-2023 to help with jurisdictional issues.<\/p>\r\n<p>Five regional programs are each assigned an assistant U.S. attorney and a program coordinator. The Southwest program encompasses Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.<\/p>\r\n<p>The program is intended to streamline communication between tribes and state governments. It is still in its early stages.<\/p>\r\n<p>In 2023, 10,650 missing persons cases were filed for American Indians and Alaskan Natives, according to the FBI. By the end of the year, 1,631 remained open; about 40% of those involved women.<\/p>\r\n<p>But advocates say many that Native American women have learned through hard experience that abusers rarely face prosecution, so some don\u2019t ask authorities for help.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cIf you know five people that have been raped and reported it and nothing happened, how likely are you to report?\u201d Longchase said.<\/p>\r\n<p>Jurisdiction issues can be complicated in Indian Country. Policing and prosecution is split between tribes, counties and the state and federal governments. The responsible entity in many cases is unclear.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cNo one has been willing to take up the cause to say all law enforcement regardless of where they reside are responsible for the public safety of everybody in their communities, and that absolutely includes the first people of this land,\u201d Echo-Hawk said.<\/p>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/12\/02\/cronkite-news-hearing-confronts-crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-relatives\/eugeniacharlesnewton\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-58406\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data-attachment-id=\"58406\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/12\/02\/cronkite-news-hearing-confronts-crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-relatives\/eugeniacharlesnewton\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/02\/eugeniacharlesnewton.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1200,675\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Eugenia Charles\u2013Newton\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Eugenia Charles\u2013Newton&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Eugenia Charles\u2013Newton, chair of the law and order committee chair for the Navajo Nation Council, delivers remarks on missing and murdered Indigenous women to a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, hearing in Washington, D.C., on November 20, 2024. Photo courtesy of Navajo Nation Council&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/02\/eugeniacharlesnewton.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/02\/eugeniacharlesnewton.jpg\" alt=\"Eugenia Charles\u2013Newton\"   class=\"size-full wp-image-58406\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Eugenia Charles\u2013Newton, chair of the law and order committee chair for the Navajo Nation Council, delivers remarks on missing and murdered Indigenous women to a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, hearing in Washington, D.C., on November 20, 2024. Photo courtesy of Navajo Nation Council<\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<p>Charles-Newton said she was a victim both of violence and a lack of follow-up by authorities. When she was 17, her abuser took her to a shack for about a week. She didn\u2019t know where she was, though she knew the abuser.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cBecause I didn\u2019t know where I was being kept \u2013 where the shed was located \u2013 they could never identify the jurisdiction,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the man \u2013 who I knew \u2013 \u2026 I said his name \u2013 they never prosecuted him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>Native women and men both experience high rates of victimization, with 84% of women and 82% of men reporting they had experienced violence at some point, according to DOJ data.<\/p>\r\n<p>More than half of Native women have experienced sexual violence, according to the National Institute of Justice \u2013 far higher than the overall rate of one in six. Native women are twice as likely to experience sexual assault compared to other races, according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.<\/p>\r\n<p>A House Appropriations subcommittee held a <a href=https:\/\/docs.house.gov\/Committee\/Calendar\/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=117713>hearing on November 20<\/a> on what it called the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women.<\/p>\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/playlists\/1917029827&#038;color=%23ff5500&#038;auto_play=false&#038;hide_related=true&#038;show_comments=false&#038;show_user=false&#038;show_reposts=false&#038;show_teaser=false&#038;visual=true\"><\/iframe>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Indianz.Com Audio: <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/indianz\/sets\/investigating-the-crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women\" title=\"Investigating the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women\" target=\"_blank\">House Committee on Appropriations &#8211; Investigating the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women &#8211; November 20, 2024<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<p>Five witnesses, all advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women, each told the panel they knew at least one missing person. Each also had been a victim of violence.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cThis is obviously a vitally important issue to all of us,\u201d the subcommittee chairman Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said. \u201cIt brings up many questions and only some of them (involve) funding.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>Multiple laws and programs have been implemented in recent years to alleviate jurisdiction and communication issues. The witnesses said frustrations persist.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cThe jurisdictional issues have really just become an excuse, an excuse to not do the job,\u201d Charles-Newton testified.<\/p>\r\n<p>Congress approved the Not Invisible Act in 2020 and established a joint commission between the DOJ and the Department of the Interior to reduce violent crimes against Native Americans. The act established a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee of tribal leaders, federal officials and relatives of missing and murdered individuals.<\/p>\r\n<p>Another 2020 measure known as Savanna\u2019s Act \u2013 named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a member of the Spirit Lake Nation who was murdered when she was eight months pregnant \u2013 was meant to streamline communication between state, federal and tribal governments and improve MMIP data collection.<\/p>\r\n<p>The Violence Against Women Act also provided $86 million for the DOJ to help tribal victims and support programs.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cThis is way out of proportion to what happens in other areas,\u201d said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, chairman of the Appropriations Committee and member of the Chickasaw Nation. \u201cWe clearly have a very unique problem. We clearly have a lack of jurisdiction in many cases. \u2026 We clearly have an enormous resource problem.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<STRONG>For more stories from Cronkite News, visit <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/?utm_source=referral&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=client\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<HR><EM>Note: This story originally <a href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2024\/11\/27\/missing-murdered-indigenous-women-alarming-rates-arizona-undercounted\/\">appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>.  It  is published via a <A href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">Creative  Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkite.asu.edu\/\">Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at <A href=\"https:\/\/www.asu.edu\">Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM><HR>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite grants and numerous programs to help mitigate the issue, cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women continue at relatively high rates.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,13,1,14],"tags":[3586,573,214,42,46,118,362,2924,48,894,511,5738,3977,197,24,7,1490,127,47,2846,5737,297,572,6,455,44],"class_list":["post-58401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-trust","category-law","category-national","category-politics","tag-118th","tag-abigail-echo-hawk","tag-appropriations","tag-arizona","tag-cronkite-news","tag-doi","tag-doj","tag-eugenia-charles-newton","tag-house","tag-idaho","tag-law-enforcement","tag-memory-longchase","tag-mike-simpson","tag-mmiw","tag-navajo","tag-ncai","tag-not-invisible-act","tag-oklahoma","tag-race","tag-savannas-act","tag-siwc","tag-tom-cole","tag-uihi","tag-urban-indians","tag-vawa","tag-women","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/02\/eugeniacharlesnewton.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-fbX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58401"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58480,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58401\/revisions\/58480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}