Disagreement Over Amendments to the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization

Native American Legislative Update - September 2012

Disagreement Over Amendments to the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization

This week, we celebrated the 18th anniversary of the signing of the first authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994. But Congress still has not agreed on a final version of a bill to reauthorize this important legislation. The Senate passed its version (S. 1925) in April, including new provisions making the act more effective for immigrant women, same-sex partners and Native women. The following week, the House passed its own version (H.R. 4970) that did not include these new provisions. Since then, neither chamber has been willing to budge, and so the reauthorization has languished.

As it stands now, the Senate version includes a provision (Section 904) which would ensure that tribal governments have full concurrent jurisdiction over all persons, Indian and non-Indian, who commit certain crimes of domestic or dating violence on tribal lands. Even with this provision, the authority of tribal police and courts would be narrower than the authority of law enforcement agencies in neighboring counties and states. For example, even with Section 904, tribal police and courts would not have jurisdiction over non-Indian perpetrators of violence against women in Indian Country, if the perpetrators are not in a close relationship with their victims. In order to ease the bill’s final passage, some tribal advocates and leaders have been considering alternatives to this language that would further limit tribal jurisdiction, but the National Congress of American Indians (and the FCNL) remains in strong support of tribal jurisdiction over these crimes.

Read more about the provisions affecting Native women in the Violence Against Women Act.