Violence Against Women Act

After much give-and-take in both the Senate and House an expanded Violence Against Women Act was past and subsequently signed by the President.


The 'expanded' part was the bump in the road for many Republicans. Violence Against Women Act now includes abuse in gay relationships and on Native American Reservations. I'm going to address the Native American aspect. It comes to light that Native Americans could not bring charges against non-Native Americans in their tribal courts.

Native American women are victims twice as much as non-Native American women. Not all these acts are committed by non-Native Americans, but many are and with little consequences. This is because non-Native Americans could not be tried in tribal courts.

Unknown to me was that tribal courts do not have the same constitutional protections as those judicial system outside the reservations. The tribal courts will have to amend their legal codes to reflect protections given to defendants off the reservation before the expanded Violence Against Women Act can be implemented on the reservation.