The Facts on Violence Against American Indian/Alaskan Native Women, Futures Without Violence, Undated

 
 
 
Impact Statement   
American Indian women living on Indian reservations experience unique challenges that 
intensify the epidemic of violence against them. Accurate statistical data quantifying 
incidences of violence against women on reservations, or “Indian country”, is in small 
quantity. Comprehensive data on violence against women under tribal jurisdiction does 
not exist since no federal or Indian agency nor organization systematically collects this 
information  
 
Data on crime in Indian country is also lacking. This is partially due to the 
underreporting of crimes to tribal authorities and partly due to underreporting to the 
federal authorities. While a comprehensive survey of the devastation caused by 
violence against American Indian women remains elusive, the glimpse that emerges 
from existing data collection is grim. The scope of this data collection examines violence 
committed against American Indian women and issues around the effectiveness of the 
local, state and federal responses.  
 
Note on Terminology  
Futures Without Violence is committed to using terminology that respects and honors 
the individuals to whom this research is concerned. Currently, there are over 560 
federally recognized American Indian and Alaskan Native Indian tribes in the U.S. While 
no single term is universally accepted by all indigenous peoples in the U.S., the terms 
“American Indian, Alaskan Native, Indigenous, and Native American,” are used for data 
reporting purposes only, and appear in the form the terminology was originally  
published. It is not meant to minimize, exclude or generalize the individuals involved nor 
endorse one form of terminology over the other.  
 
Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence/Physical Assault 
• American Indian women residing on Indian reservations suffer domestic violence 
and physical assault at rates far exceeding women of other ethnicities and 
The Facts on Violence Against American Indian/Alaskan Native Women 
locations.1 A 2004 Department of Justice report estimates these assault rates to be 
as much as 50% higher than the next most victimized demographic.2 
 
• National annual incidence rates and lifetime prevalence rates for physical assaults 
are also higher for American Indian and Alaskan Native women compared to other 
women. 3  
 
• In a 2008 CDC study, 39% of Native women surveyed identified as victims of 
intimate partner violence in their lifetime, a rate higher than any other race or 
ethnicity surveyed. 4 This finding has been common over the years.  A study from 
1998 that utilized a large national probability sample (n=8000) found that American 
Indian/Alaskan Native American women were the most likely racial group to report a 
physical assault by an intimate partner5   
 
• According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Justice, Office of 
Justice Programs at least 70% of the violent victimizations experienced by American 
Indians are committed by persons not of the same race— a substantially higher rate 
of interracial violence than experienced by white or black victims.6   
 
• In a 2006 study, 96% of American Indian respondents who had been a victim of rape 
or sexual assault had experienced other physical abuse as well. 7 
 
• During a physical assault, American Indian and Alaska Native women were more 
likely to be injured than women of all other groups and more of these injuries needed 
medical care. 8 
 
• Violence against Indian women occurs as a gauntlet in the lives of Indian women: at 
one end verbal abuse and at the other murder. Most Indian women do not report 
such crimes because of the belief that nothing will be done. 9 
 
Sexual Assault 
• Federal government studies have consistently shown that American Indian women 
experience much higher levels of sexual violence than other women in the U.S. Data 
gathered by the U.S. Department of Justice indicates that Native American and 
Alaskan Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually 
assaulted than women in the USA in general (5 vs. 2 per 1,000).10  
 
• 
Additionally, 34% or more than one in three Native women will be raped during their 
lifetime, whereas for women as a whole the risk is less than one in five. 11 
 
• A 2004 study that examined intimate partner rape among American Indian women 
found that one in five respondents (20.9%)  reported they had been a victim of at 
least one incident in their lifetime. 12 
Stalking 
• 
17 percent of Native American and Alaskan Native women have been stalked in their 
lifetime.13  
 
Heath Connections/ Risk Factors 
• Native American victims of intimate and family violence are more likely than victims 
of all other races to be injured and need hospital care. 14 
 
• In general studies of American Indians, researchers have found evidence that this 
population has higher levels of alcohol abuse and dependence, suicide rates, and 
mental distress than the general population. 15 
 
• A 2009 study that examined the overlap of intimate partner violence and alcohol, 
drug, and mental disorders found significant unadjusted prevalence ratios (severe 
physical and sexual abuse) for anxiety, PTSD, mood and any mental disorder. 16 
• During the past twenty years, there has been growing recognition among health care 
professionals that domestic violence is a highly prevalent public health problem with 
devastating effects on individuals, families and communities. The health care setting 
offers a critical opportunity for early identification and even primary prevention of 
abuse. 17 
 
• Given the multiple risks present in the AI/AN communities, the prevalence of 
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is substantially higher among AI/AN persons in 
the general community. 18 
 
• It is likely that higher rates of exposure to traumatic events coupled with the 
overarching cultural, historical, and intergenerational traumas make this population 
more vulnerable to PTSD. 19 
 
• Alcohol and drugs appear to play a larger role in the sexual attacks of American 
Indian and Alaska Native women compared to other women. Over two-thirds (68%) 
of American Indian and Alaska Native sexual assault victims believed their attackers 
had been drinking and/or taking drugs before the offense. 20 
 
American Indian Children and Youth 
• American Indian and Alaska Native children are more likely to receive needed 
mental health care services through a juvenile justice system and inpatient facilities 
than non-Indian children. They are also the group most likely to encounter systems 
with a consistent lack of attention to established standards of care for the 
population.21 
 
• 
The number of American Indian children and adolescents reporting depression and 
suicidal ideation is a significant cause for concern in the United States. 22 
 
Victim Perspective (Tribal specific/Culturally Sensitive) Resiliency 
• Some American Indian and Alaskan Native communities are developing culturally 
sensitive interventions for violence against American Indian and Alaska Native 
women both within and outside of the criminal justice system. These family or 
community forums emphasize restorative and reparative approaches to justice. 23 
 
• Problems in law enforcement are exacerbated on many tribal lands due to 
insufficient funding, inadequate funding, inadequate training, and victims’ trust for 
outside authority. 24 
Historical Trauma 
• The abuse of Indian women and children can be traced to the introduction of 
unnatural life ways into Native culture25. Scholars support this idea and suggest that 
violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women directly relates to 
historical victimization. According to proponents of this idea, domination and 
oppression of native peoples increased both economic deprivation and dependency 
through retracting tribal rights and sovereignty. Consequently, American Indian and 
Alaska Natives today are believed to suffer from internalized oppression and the 
normalization of violence. 26 
Jurisdictional /Sovereignty Problems 
• There are many jurisdictional complexities and limitations in Indian Country. The 
confusing division of authority among tribal, federal and state governments results in 
a jurisdictional maze that is complicated by the lack of tribal courts’ criminal 
jurisdiction over non-Indians, the practical impact of Public Law 280, and other 
limitations on tribal criminal jurisdiction. The difficulty of determining jurisdiction, and 
provisions for concurrent jurisdiction of certain cases, can cause conflict and 
confusion for law enforcement, prosecution, courts, service providers, and crime 
victims in Indian Country.27 As a result, non-Indians who commit acts of domestic 
violence that are misdemeanors on Indian reservations are virtually immune from 
prosecution in most areas of the country. This is because the Supreme Court has 
held that tribal governments may not prosecute non-Indians.28 29 
 
• About one-quarter of all cases of family violence (violence involving spouses) 
against American Indians involve a non-Indian perpetrator, a rate of inter-racial 
violence five times the rate of inter-racial violence involving other racial groups.30 
 
• A larger percent of victimization against American Indian and Alaskan Native women 
are committed by white offenders compared to American Indian and Alaska Native 
offenders.31 
 
• Jurisdiction over law enforcement varies by the location of the offense (on or off 
reservation), what parties are involved (the race/ethnicity of the victim and offender), 
the nature of the crime (major crime or misdemeanor) and if the tribe resides in a 
PL-280 state. 32Passed in 1953, Public Law 280 gave state governments jurisdiction 
over offenses committed in Indian Country or involving American Indian and Alaska 
Natives in PL-280 states. The six “mandatory” states required to adopt PL-280 were 
Alaska, California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and Wisconsin.33 
 
• In addition to practical problems of funding, training, coordination, and jurisdictional 
complexities, tribal governments suffer from an inability to use what sovereignty 
duties they are realistically allowed to implement. Researchers have suggested that 
the erosion of the tribal government’s ability to address crime significantly harms 
American Indian and Alaska Native women in particular. 34 American Indian 
advocates argue that tribal government’s inability to prosecute non-American Indian 
and Alaska Natives attracts offenders of various crimes to Indian country. 35 
 
• In 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a part of the Federal Crime 
Control Bill, gave federal support to develop and strengthen law enforcement and 
prosecution strategies to combat violence against Indian women and children and 
develop and strengthen victim services particularly involving violent crimes against 
women. VAWA created the Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) – now known 
as the Office of Violence Against Women – within the Office of Justice Programs 
(OJP), Department of Justice.36 
 
 
 
 
Lack of Resources /Social Isolation on Reservation 
• Poverty contributes to a number of less than desirable environmental conditions that 
create increased stress and trauma. Approximately 26% of AI/AN live in poverty, 
compared with 13% of the general population and 10% of White Americans. Single 
parent AI/AN families have the highest poverty rates in the country. 37 
 
• With well over 500 federally recognized tribes, there are barely 26 Native specific 
shelters in existence today with only a few more in development.38 
 
• The barriers of social isolation precludes some American Indian and Alaska Native 
women from obtaining adequate medical care including the availability of rape kits 
being preformed by trained medical staff to aid in prosecution.39 
 
Emerging Trends /Interventions  
• Extended safety and support. In the work to end violence against Indian women, 
many Native nations are finding that shelter options alone do not provide the time or 
the stability for women to create a solid base for change in their lives. Longer-term 
housing and affordable permanent housing that goes beyond providing simply the 
physical structure, needs to be implemented in order to create opportunities for 
battered women leaving abusive relationships to live in a community that extends 
safety, support and a place to work toward reclaiming their connections with 
themselves and each other.40 
 
• Domestic Violence intervention in the health care setting. The health care 
setting offers a critical opportunity for early identification and even primary 
prevention of abuse. 41 
 
                                                           
1 Brief for National Network to End Domestic Violence et al. as Amici Curiae Supporting Respondents at 2, Plains 
Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land and Cattle Co., 128 S. Ct. 2709 (2008) (No. 07-411). 
2 Steven W Perry, American Indians and Crime- A BJS Statistical Profile 1992-2002, Bureau of Justice Statistics, US 
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, December 2004. 
3 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:7 
4 Adverse Health Conditions and Health Risk Behaviors Associated with Intimate Partner Violence, United States, 
2005, MMWR February 8, 2008/ 57(05); 113-117. 
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5705a1.htm  
5 Tjaden, P. & Thonennes. (2000). The Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: 
findings from the National Violence Survey Against Women. National Institute of Justice & the Centers for Disease 
Control & Prevention. http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/183781.txt  
                                                                                                                                                                                           
6 Greenfeld, Lawrence & Smith, Steven. American Indians and Crime. Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of 
Justice, Office of Justice Programs, February 1999. NCJ 173386. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/aic.pdf  
7 Saylors, K., Daliparthy, N. (2006) Violence against Native Women in substance abuse treatment. American Indian 
and Alaska Native Mental Health Research: The Journal of National Center, 13(1), 32-51  
8 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:49 
9 Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA. Amnesty International, 2007: 2 
10 Steven W Perry, American Indians and Crime- A BJS Statistical Profile 1992-2002, Bureau of Justice Statistics, US 
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, December 2004. 
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=386 
11 Tjaden, P. & Thonennes. (2000). The Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: 
findings from the National Violence Survey Against Women. National Institute of Justice & the Centers for Disease 
Control & Prevention. http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/183781.txt 
12 Malcoe, L.H., & Duran, B. (2004) Intimate partner violence and injury in the in the lives of low income Native 
American women. In U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and 
the Criminal Justice Response: What is known. 2008:45 
13  Stalking in America: Findings from National Violence Against Women Survey; NIJ & CDC 1998.  
14 US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics; American Indians and Crime, 
1992-96 Report.  
15 Gone, J., & Alcantara, C. (2007). Identifying effective mental health interventions for American Indians and 
Alaska Natives: A review of the literature. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 356-363. 
16 Duran, B, Oetzel J, Parker T, Malcoe L.H., Lucero J, Jiang Y. (2009). Intimate Partner Violence and Alcohol, Drug 
and Mental Disorders Among American Indian Women from Southwest Tribes in Primary Care, American Indian 
and Alaska Native Mental Health Research: The Journal of the National Center, Vol. 16, No. 2:  p. 11-26.  
17 Building Domestic Violence Health Care Responses in Indian Country: A Promising Practices Report. Family 
Violence Prevention Fund, 2010. 10 
18 Kessler, R.C., Sonnega, E., Hughes, M., & Nelson, C.B. (1995) Posttraumatic stress disorder in the National 
Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52(12), 1048-1060. 
19 Bigfoot, Dolores S. & Schmidt, Susan R (2010). “Honoring Children, Mending the Circle: Cultural Adaption of 
Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for American Indian and Alaska Native Children. Journal of Clinical 
Psychology. Vol 66: 849 
20 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:39 
21 Bigfoot, Dolores S. & Schmidt, Susan R (2010). “Honoring Children, Mending the Circle: Cultural Adaption of 
Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for American Indian and Alaska Native Children. Journal of Clinical 
Psychology. Vol 66: 847 
22 Olson, L.M. & Wahab, S. (2006) American Indian and suicide: A neglected area of research. Trauma, Violence, & 
Abuse, 7(19), 19-33.  
23 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:10 
24 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:9 
25 Paula Gunn Allen. (1985) “Violence and the American Indian Woman: Working to Prevent Sexual and Domestic 
Violence, Vol5, No.4 (April). Seattle: Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence. 
26 Burbar, R., & Thurman, P.J. (2004) Violence against Native women. Social Justice, 31(4), 70-86. 
27 Valencia-Weber, G., and C. P. Zuni, “Domestic Violence and Tribal Protection of Indigenous Women in the 
United States.” St. John’s Law Review 69:69 (1995): 16. 
28 See Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191 (1978). 
29 In Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, followed by Duro v. Reina,  the Court held that Indian tribes do not have 
the authority to criminally prosecute any non-tribal citizens. The Court held that the federal judiciary has the 
authority to divest aspects of Indian tribes’ sovereign authority (such as, for example, the power to prosecute non-
                                                                                                                                                                                           
Indians) if the court concludes that that aspect of sovereignty is “inconsistent with their status” as domestic 
dependent nations.29  
30 See GREENFIELD & SMITH, supra note 2, at 8.  
31 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:38 
32 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:79 
33 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:75 
34 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:69 
35 Deer, Sarah. (2005) Sovereignty of the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Rape Law Reform and Federal Indian 
Law. Suffolk University Law Review, 38, 455-466 
36 University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, (UOHSC). Grant number 97-VI-GX-0002, Office of Victims of 
Crime (OVC), United States Department of Justice. 1997. 
37 National Child and Neglect Data System (2002). Child maltreatment 2002. Washington, DC: Department of 
Health and Human Services , Administration on Children and Families.  
38 Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance Project. (2003) Addressing Violence in Indian Country: 
Introductory Manual. http://www.msh-ta.org/Resources/Addressing%20Violence%20in%20Indian%20Country.pdf  
39 U.S. Department of Justice. Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice 
Response: What is known. 2008:9 
40 Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance Project. (2003) Addressing Violence in Indian Country: 
Introductory Manual. http://www.msh-ta.org/Resources/Addressing%20Violence%20in%20Indian%20Country.pdf 
41 Building Domestic Violence Health Care Responses in Indian Country: A Promising Practices Report. Family 
Violence Prevention Fund, 2010. 10