Justice Issues: Tribal Justice

Justice Issues

Tribal Justice

BJA is committed to preventing and controlling crime, violence, and substance abuse and improving the functioning of criminal justice systems in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. BJA works with tribes providing leadership, good management, and quality services in grant administration and policy development, and coordinates with other U.S. Department of Justice components and other agencies and organizations to ensure that limited federal funds are used to achieve the maximum possible benefit.

At BJA, we are committed to:

Working collaboratively with American Indian and Alaska Native officials to build safer, better, and more caring communities.
Partnering with tribal officials to develop, implement, and enhance justice systems that reflect community values, needs, and expectations.
Fostering communication and developing viable partnerships among tribal, federal, state, and local units of government to coordinate and resolve jurisdictional issues, which is necessary for the effective administration of justice.
Preventing and controlling crime, alcohol, and substance abuse.
Stopping the spread of methamphetamine into tribal communities.
Resolving community differences through traditional dispute resolution and alternative sanctions.
Enhancing the technological capacity of tribal information systems to share justice-related information with offices and agencies internal and external to the jurisdiction.
Providing assistance to plan and construct correctional facilities on tribal lands for the incarceration of offenders subject to tribal jurisdiction.

Programs
BJA administers three tribal justice programs. Eligible applicants under the following programs are limited to federally recognized tribal governments, including Alaska Native villages and corporations, and authorized tribal consortia.

Tribal Courts Assistance Program
Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program
Correctional Facilities on Tribal Land Program

Training
BJA provides training and technical assistance on a variety of tribal justice issues to Indian Country.

The Tribal Judicial Institute at the University of North Dakota Law School is the lead training and technical assistance provider for the Tribal Courts Assistance Program and coordinates with a consortium of organizations that include but is not limited to Fox Valley Technical College, the National Tribal Judicial Center at the National Judicial College, National Tribal Justice Resource Center, Center for Court Innovation, and the Alaska Native Justice Center. Training and Technical Assistance is provided to TCAP grantees and non-grantees to plan, develop implement, and enhance tribal justice systems (traditional courts and western-style, restorative justice, wellness courts and drug courts, ICWA, judges and clerks training, family violence, gangs, code development, etc.).

The Criminal Justice Center for Innovation at Fox Valley Technical College is the lead training and technical assistance provider for the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program. Fox Valley coordinates with the Tribal Judicial College at the University of North Dakota Law School, the National Tribal Judicial College, the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, and the Alaska Native Justice Center. Training and technical assistance is provided to IASAP grantees and non-grantees to develop, implement, and enhance tribal justice strategies to address crime issues related to alcohol and substance abuse.

Justice Planners International provides training and technical assistance to tribes in developing strategies to cost effectively plan, renovate, and/or construct facilities associated with the incarceration of juvenile and adult offenders subject to tribal jurisdictions.

Upcoming Training
TCAP Tribal Justice Conference, December 14-16, 2009, San Diego, CA
This BJA sponsored training event will be hosted by the Tribal Judicial Institute at the University of North Dakota Law School. The conference will focus on the administration of justice in PL-280 states and other states where state-tribal cooperation is critical to the administration of justice. Specific sessions will be devoted to justice issues in Alaska, California and other states where there is concurrent state-tribal jurisdiction. An emphasis will be on developing positive state-tribal relationships in Law Enforcement, Court Services, Offender Management and Full-Faith and Credit. For additional information, please go to http://www.law.und.nodak.edu/tji/events.php.

Related Publications
Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program (IASAP) Fact Sheet
Tribal Courts Assistance Program Fact Sheet
Correctional Facilities on Tribal Lands Program Fact Sheet

For more links, search our Related Web Sites database.

Other Information
For related research and evaluation information, visit the National Institute of Justice web site, and for statistical information, go the Bureau of Justice Statistics web site.