Sec. 901. Findings and purposes

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Congress finds the following: American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times as likely to experience violent crimes—and at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes—compared to all other races. More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women, or 84.3 percent, have experienced violence in their lifetime. The vast majority of Native victims—96 percent of women and 89 percent of male victims—report being victimized by a non-Indian. Native victims of sexual violence are three times as likely to have experienced sexual violence by an interracial perpetrator as non-Hispanic White victims and Native stalking victims are nearly 4 times as likely to be stalked by someone of a different race.

While tribes exercising jurisdiction over non-Indians have reported significant successes, the inability to prosecute crimes related to the Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction crimes continues to leave Tribes unable to fully hold domestic violence offenders accountable. Tribal prosecutors report that the majority of domestic violence cases involve children either as witnesses or victims, and Department of Justice reports that American Indian and Alaska Native children suffer exposure to violence at rates higher than any other race in the United States.

Childhood exposure to violence has immediate and long-term effects, including: increased rates of altered neurological development, poor physical and mental health, poor school performance, substance abuse, and overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide is the third leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women between 10 and 24 years of age and the fifth leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native women between 25 and 34 years of age.

On some reservations, Indian women are murdered at more than 10 times the national average. According to a 2010 Government Accountability Office report, United States Attorneys declined to prosecute nearly 52 percent of violent crimes that occur in Indian country. Investigation into cases of missing and murdered Indian women is made difficult for tribal law enforcement agencies due to a lack of resources, such as— necessary training, equipment, or funding; a lack of interagency cooperation; and a lack of appropriate laws in place.

Domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous calls that law enforcement receives. The complicated jurisdictional scheme that exists in Indian country— has a significant negative impact on the ability to provide public safety to Indian communities; has been increasingly exploited by criminals; and requires a high degree of commitment and cooperation among tribal, Federal, and State law enforcement officials. Restoring and enhancing local, tribal capacity to address violence against women provides for greater local control, safety, accountability, and transparency.

In States with restrictive land settlement acts such as Alaska, Indian country is limited, resources for local tribal responses either nonexistent or insufficient to meet the needs, jurisdiction unnecessarily complicated and increases the already high levels of victimization of American Indian and Alaska Native women. According to the Tribal Law and Order Act Commission Report, Alaska Native women are over-represented in the domestic violence victim population by 250 percent; they comprise 19 percent of the State population, but are 47 percent of reported rape victims.

And among other Indian Tribes, Alaska Native women suffer the highest rates of domestic and sexual violence in the country. The purposes of this title are— to clarify the responsibilities of Federal, State, tribal, and local governments with respect to responding to cases of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, trafficking, sexual violence, crimes against children, and assault against tribal law enforcement officers and murdered Indians; to increase coordination and communication among Federal, State, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies; to empower tribal governments with the resources and information necessary to effectively respond to cases of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, sex trafficking, sexual violence, and missing and murdered Indians; and to increase the collection of data related to missing and murdered Indians and the sharing of information among Federal, State, and tribal officials responsible for responding to and investigating cases of missing and murdered Indians.