NCJ Number
181795
Date Published
1999
Length
119 pages
Annotation
This report addresses the handling of serious and violent Native American juvenile offenders by Federal and State courts.
Abstract
Driving factors in the processing of Native American juvenile offenders through Federal and State systems are location of the offense, relative willingness of the U.S. attorney to accept a case for prosecution, limitations imposed on Courts of Indian Crimes to effectively sanction the juvenile offender, and tribal inability to access State resources through lack of comity and lack of full faith and credit toward tribal court orders. Judicial comity is the principle by which courts of one jurisdiction observe the laws and judicial decisions of another jurisdiction. During 1995, 468 juveniles were referred to Federal prosecutors for investigation, and 49 percent of these cases were declined for further action. In the same year, 122 juveniles were adjudicated as delinquent in Federal courts, 47 percent for either a violent or a drug-related offense. Of the total number of juvenile delinquents confined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 61 percent were Native Americans. In the New Mexico juvenile justice system, Native American young people comprise 7 percent of total state commitments for acts committed on non-Indian land. Except for New Mexico, which allows for full faith and credit of tribal court orders with respect to children's mental health and developmental disabilities, no other State has effectively addressed the problem of accessing state resources through mutual recognition of tribal court orders. Supplemental information on Native American juvenile offenders is appended. References and tables