Washington, DC
United States
~
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Remarks as prepared for delivery
Thank you, Associate Attorney General [Stuart] Delery, for
that kind introduction – and for your hard work on the vital issues that we are
here today to discuss. It’s a pleasure
to welcome everyone to the department this afternoon and it’s a privilege to
join so many distinguished tribal leaders, dedicated colleagues and passionate
advocates for this important conversation about the challenges we face, the progress
we’ve made and the work we’ll continue to do – together – to ensure the safety,
security and well-being of the communities we love.
It is a tragic fact that violence affects women of every
background in every region of the United States. But the story is even worse for women in
Indian Country, where in recent years violence against women has become an
epidemic. The numbers, as you know all
too well, are shocking. According to a
nationwide survey by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), one-third of
American Indian women experience rape. A
survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that nearly 40
percent of Native women have been victims of rape, physical violence, or
stalking by a spouse or partner. And an
NIJ-funded survey found that, on some reservations, Native women are murdered
at a rate more than 10 times the national average. Until recently,
jurisdictional issues, flawed statutes and insufficient resources prevented
tribal and federal law enforcement from effectively addressing these heinous
acts, especially when the perpetrators weren’t Indians – even when the incident
involved a non-Indian man assaulting his Indian wife on tribal land.
This has been a fraught and deeply challenging issue. But with the decisive action and vital
partnership of leaders across Indian Country – including many of the men and
women in this room – we have made encouraging progress, most notably through
the bipartisan passage of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of
2013 (VAWA), which incorporated provisions recommended by the Justice
Department that, for the first time in decades, empower Indian women who
experience abuse by non-Native men. That
historic piece of legislation recognized tribes’ inherent ability to exercise special
domestic violence criminal jurisdiction over all offenders on their lands. It made clear that tribal courts are fully
entitled to enforce civil protection orders.
And it strengthened federal sentences for certain acts of domestic
violence in Indian Country, ensuring that wrongdoers are held wholly
accountable for their crimes, regardless of where they occur.
The leaders of the Tulalip and the Pascua Yaqui tribes have
led the way in implementing these essential provisions. Along with Oregon’s Umatilla tribe, you were
the first three tribes to be selected as part of a pilot project to exercise
your jurisdiction in domestic violence matters before the law took full effect
this past March. Thanks to your determination,
perseverance and vigilance, you demonstrated that with greater control over
your own lands and closer partnership with the federal government, justice can
and will be done. Over the course of the
pilot year, more than 25 cases have been brought against non-Indians by tribal
prosecutors – and more than 200 defendants have been charged under VAWA’s
enhanced federal assault statutes. Just
as crucially, you’ve been working to ensure that other tribes can replicate and
build upon your promising success through your participation in the Department
of Justice’s Inter-Tribal Working Group, where you’ve described your
experiences, recommended best practices and shared tools and technical
assistance with more than 40 fellow nations.
Your sustained and concerted efforts send a clear message that no
individual is above the law and that no one should ever be denied the law’s
protection – no matter who they are or where they live.
In this work and in all of the Obama Administration’s
efforts in Indian Country, we have been proud to work together with sovereign
tribal nations to expand opportunity, to promote equal justice and to replace a
shameful historical pattern of mistrust, disregard and termination with a
strong commitment to partnership, collaboration and respect. Under the leadership of my predecessor,
Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice deepened cooperation
between tribal justice leaders and U.S. Attorney’s Offices to an extent that
had never been done before. We deployed
tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys to prosecute Indian Country cases in
federal and tribal courts alike, resulting in stronger working relationships
and a sharp increase in federal prosecutions on tribal lands. We created a Tribal Nations Leadership
Council made up of men and women elected by their peers to advise the Attorney
General on matters critical to Indian Country.
We succeeded in passing the Tribal Law and Order Act, which has
significantly broadened tribal authorities’ capacity to uphold the rule of
law. And we took important steps to institutionalize
our approach so that the partnerships we’ve built can be as durable as they are
effective. In one of my own first acts
as Attorney General, I called on Congress to help remove barriers to voting in
Indian Country so that American Indians and Alaska Natives can enjoy the full
participation in our democratic institutions that is their fundamental
right. And I will continue to promote
and advance all of these efforts to help bolster the sovereignty of tribal
nations, as well as the safety of Indian and Alaska Native communities.
Of course, I have no illusions that the challenges we face
will be easily overcome. These are
complex issues with long and difficult histories. But as I look around the room at this
remarkable group of leaders, partners and friends, I’m hopeful about all that
we will achieve and I’m eager to continue the work we have begun together. Thank you once again for being a part of
today’s conversation. Thank you for your
trust and your partnership. And thank
you for your steadfast devotion to the cause of justice.
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