Only days remain for the 112th Congress to end partisan politics and do something to protect Native women by reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The 112th Congress will end on January 3, 2013, and Native nations and women’s advocates across the country are urging Congress to act immediately to send a strong VAWA to the President for his signature.
In April, a bipartisan majority of the Senate passed S. 1925, which could be a critical step forward in addressing longstanding jurisdictional gaps that prevent Native nations from prosecuting non-Indians committing crimes in Indian country. Section 904 of S. 1925 would restore criminal jurisdiction for Native nations over non-Indians that commit acts of domestic violence or dating violence, or violate orders of protection in Indian country. After the House passed a stripped down version removing these lifesaving provisions, the VAWA reauthorization bills have been stalled for months.
The statistics are shocking. Collectively, Native women suffer from violence at a rate 2½ times greater than other women in the United States. Individually, one in three Native women can expect to be raped, two in five will experience domestic violence, and three in five will be physically assaulted in their lifetime. Even worse, most of these crimes will go unprosecuted, many not even investigated. This is because the Department of Justice and Bureau of Indian Affairs, primarily responsible for investigating and prosecuting major crimes on reservations are failing to do so, including the vast majority of these crimes that are being committed by non-Indians over whom Native nations lack jurisdiction.
While law enforcement in the United States has seen drastic improvements in recent years, Indian country has become a safe haven for non-Indians to violate Native women with impunity. The New York Times reported recently that, according to data from the Department of Justice, while crime fell 13% nationally between 2000 and 2010, crime on some reservations increased by as much as 50% during the same period. Significantly, the drastically increasing number of crimes being committed in Indian country was accompanied by a 3% decrease in the number of those crimes being investigated. Full-time police operating in Indian country likewise decreased from 3,462 in 2000 to just 3,000 in 2012. Funding for Indian country remains abysmally low, thus compounding the problem. For instance, although Philadelphia enjoys a law enforcement budget of $552 million, and Phoenix $540 million, to police 1.5 million and 1.4 million people, respectively, this year Indian country received just $322 million to police 1.6 million residents spread across 56 million acres.
With time running out in this session of Congress, advocates to end violence against all women are still working to get a stronger, better VAWA reauthorized this year. Just last week, Representatives Issa (R-CA) and Cole (R-CA) showed their support for protecting Native women by introducing a stand-alone bill, H.R. 6625, with a modified version of Section 904 of S. 1925. VAWA's Senate champions have been in talks with House leadership this week trying to work out a bipartisan bill that would protect all women, including Native women. If the Congress fails to reauthorize VAWA during this lame duck session of Congress, advocates will be forced to start over with a new bill for the 113th session of Congress. Although that session will have the largest number of female representatives in history, action is needed now to protect Native women – our country’s most vulnerable group.
Native women cannot afford to wait. Please watch our video urging lawmakers take immediate action to reauthorize a stronger version of VAWA and join our petition drive asking Congress to stop the epidemic of violence against Native women and all women. To learn more about how you can take action to stop the violence, visit www.indianlaw.org/safewomen/takeaction.
