The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hosted a “roundtable” in mid-February noting the fifth anniversary of the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA).
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hosted a “roundtable” in mid-February noting the fifth anniversary of the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA). This event was facilitated by Judge William A. Thorne, who has served as a tribal judge in nine western states, and as a state judge in Utah.
A roundtable is a somewhat informal discussion among invited representatives, open to the public as observers, often held in preparation for new legislation on a complex topic.
TLOA certainly qualifies as “complex.” It created some significant new authorities for tribal police and courts, and mandated closer relationships between the federal Department of Justice and tribal law enforcement agencies. Some parts of the law have expired and need to be renewed; the whole Act will need to be re-authorized soon.
A law enforcement panel noted a number of improvements under TLOA:
- better relations between tribal chiefs of police and U.S. attorneys,
- the value of consultation – including the Assistant U.S. Attorney tribal liaisons and the Justice Department’s on-going consultations with tribes.
They also listed several needed improvements:
- a need for non-incarceration treatment options for alcohol and drug addictions,
- the insufficiency of crime prevention alternatives, particularly for youth,
- the need for assistance with recruitment and retention of law enforcement personnel, and
- the specific need to overturn the 1978 Oliphant Supreme Court decision, which curtailed the jurisdiction of tribal police over non-Indians in Indian Country.
A panel focusing on court systems echoed the law enforcement panel on the success of the Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys program, and the need for alternatives to incarceration. The panel also highlighted the success of the Bureau of Prisons tribal prisoner pilot program, and the training of 600 tribal court personnel. They also noted the need to
- look at law enforcement issues in native Alaskan communities, as recommended by the Indian Law and Order Commission,
- provide consistent, recurring federal funding (rather than one-time grants), and
- help collect data to justify additional investment of federal resources.
They remarked on the challenge of implementing the new TLOA authority to convict and incarcerate a person for up to three years, by tribes that cannot afford the additional costs of incarceration, or the Act’s requirement for public defense.
As a reauthorization of the TLOA moves forward, we can expect more discussion about due process issues and the increase in public defense in Indian Country, along with other needed supports for the tribal justice system.
