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FEDERALhearing transcript

High Impact

Senate Hearing on Victim Services in Indian Country

Original title: ADDRESSING THE NEED FOR VICTIM SERVICES IN INDIAN COUNTRY

January 1, 2015

victim services tribal affairs criminal justice public safety native american rights

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The Frame

What this does

The hearing addresses the systemic failure of federal funding to reach tribal victims of crime, directly impacting the availability of support services for Native American populations facing high rates of violent crime.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Native American and Alaska Native communities

These populations experience high rates of violent crime and currently lack adequate access to victim services and federal funding.

Tribal governments

Tribal authorities are responsible for providing services on their lands but face significant resource and capacity constraints.

What changed

Last recorded activity January 1, 2015.

What's next

Next step not available in the current record.

Summary

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a hearing on June 10, 2015, to examine the lack of adequate victim services and resources for crime victims in Native American communities. The committee discussed how current federal funding mechanisms, specifically the , are failing to reach tribal populations effectively.

Key Facts

Native youth experience violent crime rates up to ten times the national average.
Violence is a factor in 75 percent of deaths among American Indian and Alaska Natives aged 12 to 20.
American Indian women are murdered at a rate more than ten times the national average on some reservations.
The Crime Victims Fund is identified as the primary source of victim assistance funding, but is currently not effectively serving Native victims.
Tribes currently lack the resources and capacity to provide basic services to victims of crime on their lands.
The hearing took place on June 10, 2015, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Crime Victims Fund not working for Native victims?

The hearing testimony indicates that the current administrative system for the fund prevents a sufficient portion of the money from reaching tribal communities.

What is the purpose of this Senate hearing?

To examine the lack of resources and capacity for victim services in and to address the high rates of violent crime in these communities.

Why It Matters

News Coverage

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Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Funding Gap Identification

The hearing explicitly identifies a structural failure in the Crime Victims Fund's distribution mechanism regarding tribal nations.

Crime Victims Fund Committee on Indian Affairs

Connected Entities

personDarren Cruzan“Director, Office of Justice Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs”Map →

personDianne Barker Harrold“Tribal Court Judge, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma”Map →

personJohn Barrasso“Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs”Map →

otherCrime Victims Fund“Primary federal source of victim assistance funding”Map →

organizationCommittee on Indian Affairs“U.S. Senate committee overseeing tribal policy”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.govinfo.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance85
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy40
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment10
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz20
Current news / social attention level

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