Indigenous Peoples and Violence

Domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, homicide, stalking, and sex trafficking disproportionately affect Indigenous peoples. The focus has been on Indigenous women and girls, but these issues also affect indigenous men and boys. These various forms of violence are  interconnected and transcend national, state, and reservation borders. The missing and murdered indigenous peoples crisis has manifested itself in Canada, the United States, Mexico, on reservations and in urban areas. Violence against indigenous peoples is an international crisis. 

This page is a work in progress to provide information and resources to the issues nationally and to help connect Indian Country together on these issues. 

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Legislation

  FEDERAL

• Savannas's Act
• Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act
• Tribal Law and Order Re-authorization and Amendments Act of 2017
• Securing Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment Act
• S.Res.401 –  A resolution designating May 5, 2018 as the "National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls".
• Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization (H.R. 6545)  The bill will produce annual reports on known statistics of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. There is currently no system in place to collect comprehensive data on the number of missing and murdered Native American women, which by itself makes them more vulnerable to extreme violence. 
• Oversight Hearing titled “Missing and Murdered: Confronting the Silent Crisis in Indian Country”  was held on Dec 12, 2018.​

STATE

• Washington State  
  House Bill 2951 would require the Washington State Patrol (WSP) to work with tribal law enforcement and the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs to conduct a study to increase state resources for reporting and identifying missing Native American women throughout Washington state. ​
• North Dakota -Representative Ruth Buffalo of Fargo introduced two bills that would require additional training and data collection by law enforcement related to missing and murdered indigenous people.  
• The first bill (HB 1313) will require the state’s criminal justice data information sharing system to include data related to missing and murdered indigenous people.  
• The other bill (HB 1311) would provide training for state’s attorneys and law enforcement officers and officials regarding missing and murdered indigenous people. The training would be provided by the North Dakota Human Trafficking Commission. ​
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TRIBAL 

• ​Navajo Nation                              The Navajo Nation Law Against Human Trafficking 

Reports 

• Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice Response
• Human Trafficking in Indian Country
• Human Trafficking Action Needed to Identify the Number of Native American Victims Receiving Federally-funded Services
• Urban Indian Health Institute: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls 

Orgs 

• Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women
• National Indian Women Resource Center 
• Seeding Sovereignty 
• National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
• It Starts with Us 
• Urban Indian Health Institute

Quick Stats 

• American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times as likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes compared to all other races.
• More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women, or 84.3 percent, have experienced violence in their lifetime. 
• ​Homicide is the third leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women between 10 and 24 years of age and the fifth leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native women between 25 and 34 years of age.