Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act
This bill extends tribal jurisdiction over the following crimes:
In addition, the bill reauthorizes grants to tribal governments for exercising tribal criminal jurisdiction for those crimes through FY2024.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 290 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 290
To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 31, 2019
Mr. Udall (for himself, Ms. Murkowski, and Ms. Smith) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Indian Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Native Youth and Tribal Officer
Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times more
likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2 times more
likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes.
(2) The vast majority of American Indian and Alaska Native
victims, 96 percent of female and 89 percent of male victims,
report being victimized by a non-Indian.
(3) 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.
(4) More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native
women have experienced violence in their lifetime.
(5) 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.
(6) On some reservations, American Indian women are
murdered at more than 10 times the national average.
(7) Tribal prosecutors report that the majority of domestic
violence cases involve children either as witnesses or victims,
and the Department of Justice reports that American Indian and
Alaska Native children suffer exposure to violence at some of
the highest rates in the United States.
(8) 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.
(9) Violence against children and crimes associated with
dating violence and domestic violence increase the number of
instances of trauma in Tribal communities, which--
(A) affects health outcomes;
(B) reduces educational attainment;
(C) hinders economic growth; and
(D) undermines public safety.
(10) Domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous
calls that law enforcement receives, and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation's Uniform Crime Report shows that police
officers, including Tribal police officers, are assaulted when
responding to disturbance calls more often than under any other
circumstances.
(11) The complicated jurisdictional structure in Indian
country--
(A) requires a high degree of commitment and
cooperation among Tribal, Federal, and State law
enforcement officials; and
(B) when that cooperation breaks down, results in a
significant negative impact on the ability to provide
public safety to Indian communities.
(12) The Indian Law and Order Commission, established by
Congress to review Federal criminal justice policies and
practices in Indian country, issued a report in 2013 entitled
``A Roadmap for Making Native America Safer'' that recommends
the restoration of the inherent authority of Tribal courts.
(13) Restoring and enhancing local, Tribal capacity to
address violent crimes provides for greater local control,
safety, accountability, and transparency.
(14) Tribal communities should be able to protect
themselves from dating violence, domestic violence, child
violence, and violence committed against members of the Tribal
justice system.
SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF NATIVE CHILDREN AND TRIBAL COMMUNITIES.
Section 204 of Public Law 90-284 (25 U.S.C. 1304) is amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking ``domestic
violence'' and inserting ``domestic violence, child violence,
and violence against law enforcement officers'';
(2) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``means
violence'' and inserting ``means covered conduct'';
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by striking ``means violence'' and
inserting ``means covered conduct''; and
(ii) by striking ``where the violence
occurs'' and inserting ``where the covered
conduct occurs'';
(C) in paragraph (4), by striking ``domestic
violence'' and inserting ``tribal'';
(D) in paragraph (6)--
(i) in the paragraph heading, by striking
``domestic violence'' and inserting ``tribal'';
and
(ii) by striking ``domestic violence'' and
inserting ``tribal'';
(E) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as
paragraphs (12) and (13), respectively;
(F) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (5) as
paragraphs (6) through (10), respectively;
(G) by inserting before paragraph (6) (as
redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the following:
``(1) Caregiver.--The term `caregiver' means--
``(A) the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of
the child;
``(B) the spouse or intimate partner of a parent,
guardian, or legal custodian of the child;
``(C) any relative of the child, including a
parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, stepparent,
brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother,
or half-sister;
``(D) a person who resides or has resided regularly
or intermittently in the same dwelling as the child;
``(E) a person who provides or has provided care
for the child in or out of the home of the child;
``(F) any person who exercises or has exercised
temporary or permanent control over the child; or
``(G) any person who temporarily or permanently
supervises or has supervised the child.
``(2) Child.--The term `child' means a person who has not
attained the lesser of--
``(A) the age of 18; or
``(B) except in the case of sexual abuse, the age
specified by the child protection law of the
participating tribe that has jurisdiction over the
Indian country where the child resides.
``(3) Child violence.--The term `child violence' means
covered conduct committed against a child by a caregiver of the
child.
``(4) Covered conduct.--The term `covered conduct' means
conduct that--
``(A) involves the use, attempted use, or
threatened use of physical force against the person or
property of another; and
``(B) violates the criminal law of the Indian tribe
that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the
conduct occurs.
``(5) Covered individual.--The term `covered individual'
means an officer or employee of an Indian tribe, or an
individual authorized to act for or on behalf of an Indian
tribe or serving an Indian tribe, who is--
``(A) authorized under law to--
``(i) engage in or supervise the
prevention, detection, investigation, arrest,
pretrial detention, prosecution, or
adjudication of an offense or the sentencing,
including the probation, parole, incarceration,
or rehabilitation, of an individual; or
``(ii) serve as a probation or pretrial
services officer; and
``(B) carrying out an activity described in
paragraph (11)(C).''; and
(H) by inserting after paragraph (10) (as
redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the following:
``(11) Related conduct.--The term `related conduct' means a
violation of the criminal law of an Indian tribe that is
committed--
``(A) against a covered individual;
``(B) by a person--
``(i) who is subject to special tribal
criminal jurisdiction; and
``(ii) has committed criminal conduct that
falls into one or more of the categories
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of
subsection (c); and
``(C) in the course of resisting or interfering
with the prevention, detection, investigation, arrest,
pretrial detention, prosecution, adjudication, or
sentencing, including the probation, parole,
incarceration, or rehabilitation, of that person
relating to that criminal conduct.'';
(3) in subsection (b)--
(A) by striking ``domestic violence'' each place it
appears and inserting ``tribal''; and
(B) in paragraph (4)(B)(iii), in the matter
preceding subclause (I), by striking ``, or dating
partner'' and inserting ``, dating partner, or
caregiver'';
(4) in subsection (c)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
striking ``domestic violence'' and inserting
``tribal'';
(B) in paragraph (1)--
(i) in the paragraph heading, by striking
``and dating violence'' and inserting ``,
dating violence, and child violence''; and
(ii) by striking ``or dating violence'' and
inserting ``, dating violence, or child
violence''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Related conduct.--An act of related conduct that
occurs in the Indian country of the participating tribe.'';
(5) in subsection (d), by striking ``domestic violence''
each place it appears and inserting ``tribal'';
(6) in subsection (f)--
(A) by striking ``special domestic violence'' each
place it appears and inserting ``special tribal'';
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``prosecutes''
and all that follows through the semicolon at the end
and inserting the following: ``prosecutes--
``(A) a crime of domestic violence;
``(B) a crime of dating violence;
``(C) a crime of child violence;
``(D) a criminal violation of a protection order;
or
``(E) a crime of related conduct;''; and
(C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``child
violence, related conduct,'' after ``dating
violence,''; and
(7) in subsection (h), by striking ``2014 through 2018''
and inserting ``2020 through 2024''.
SEC. 4. INCREASED INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services (referred to in this section as the
``Secretaries'') shall coordinate with the Attorney General to ensure,
to the maximum extent practicable, that Federal programs to support
Tribal justice systems and to support provision of victim services for
Indians are working effectively together to serve the needs of Indian
tribes and Indians (as such terms are defined in section 4 of the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C.
5304)).
(b) Coordination of Federal Indian Facilities With National
Domestic Violence Hotline Grantees.--The Secretaries shall ensure that
information for contacting any toll-free telephone hotline operated by
recipients of a grant authorized by section 313 of the Family Violence
Protective Services Act (42 U.S.C. 10413), is posted and readily
visible in each publicly accessible Federal facility utilized by--
(1) the Indian Health Services;
(2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; or
(3) the Bureau of Indian Education.
(c) Coordination on Training Federal Indian Program Employees To
Recognize and Respond to Domestic Violence.--The Secretaries (acting
through the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, the Director of the
Bureau of Indian Education, and the Director of the Indian Health
Service) shall coordinate with the Director of the Office on Violence
Against Women of the Department of Justice and the Associate
Commissioner for the Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Department
of Health and Human Services to ensure that training materials on
recognizing and responding to domestic violence are available to Tribal
and Federal employees of--
(1) the Indian Health Services;
(2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and
(3) the Bureau of Indian Education.
SEC. 5. REPORT.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior (acting through the
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs) and the Secretary of Health and
Human Services (acting through the Director of the Indian Health
Service) shall jointly submit a report to--
(1) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate; and
(2) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives.
(b) Contents of the Report.--The report required under subsection
(a) shall include a description of the degree of effectiveness of--
(1) Federal programs that are intended to build the
capacity of criminal justice systems of Indian tribes to
investigate and prosecute offenses relating to dating violence,
domestic violence, child violence, and related conduct (as
defined in section 204 of Public Law 90-284 (25 U.S.C. 1304),
as amended by section 3(2));
(2) the required coordination activities required under
section 4, including compliance with the posting of domestic
violence victim service access information required under
section 4(b); and
(3) the interagency employee training material development
required under section 4(c).
(c) Timing.--The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services shall submit the report required under
subsection (a) by not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of
this Act.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 116-67.
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