This resource is intended to assist Tribal nations in drafting and/or revising their juvenile statutes as part of the development and/or reform of their juvenile justice systems.
This resource is a tool to be used as part of policy and planning discussions and includes sample statutory language with critical commentary. It is based in the principle that Tribal statutes should blend the vision and values of the Native community and reinforce the Tribal community's commitment to and protection of their youth. Part I consists of chapters on how to start a juvenile code development project, preliminary choices to guide code development, assessing the resources that are needed, and criminal offenses. Part II consists of a workbook with chapters on general provisions of the juvenile justice code, subject-matter jurisdiction, juvenile offenses, transfer to Tribal criminal court or other jurisdictions, relations with other agencies and courts, juvenile court records, rights in juvenile proceedings, evidentiary rules in juvenile proceedings, taking a child into custody, and chapters on various proceedings in juvenile case processing, dealing with special juvenile populations, and the integration of various Tribal cultural values and traditions in the juvenile justice system. 4 annotated tribal legal code resources