An update to the violence against Women Act is being
celebrated as an important step towards protecti
native communities, women and Children. We have an
ongoing crisis of violence in Alaska. More than half of
Alaska women surveyed in the 2020 Alaska victimization
survey have experienced intimate partner violence,
sexual violence or both in their lifetime. Senator lisa
murkowski of Alaska led a bipartisan group of lawmakers
to get the reauthorization done. Murkowski has worked
with many Alaska native women to strengthen and improve
the law Since its last reauthorization in 2013. T
violence against Women Act, als known as Vawa, is a
huge deal in Indian country because of its protecti
for Indian women. According to the Department of
Justice which tracks violent crime in native
communities, native women experience some of the
highest rates of violence. Most of those crimes are
committed by non natives. Vowell was first passed in
1994. When then Senator Joe Biden championed it. My dad
would say the greatest sin of all that anyone can
commit with the abuse of power and the cardinal sin was
for a man to raise his hand to a woman or a child. The
law has since been reauthorized four times since i
passage, Sarah dear is a muscogee nation citizen, an
expert on tribal law and a macarthur genius fellow. She
helped get the law reauthorized in 2013. She says this
new version is even better for native communities I
the 2022 reauthorization Um restores tribal criminal
jurisdiction over non Indians for a series of crimes
that native people and tribal nations have been asking
for ever since 1978 in 1978. The US Supreme Court
stripped tribal courts of their right to prosecute non
Indians when they commit crimes within the reservation
boundaries. The case was called Oliphant versus super
squamish Dear says it was a huge blow to tribal
sovereignty, but the new reauthorization of Vawa
reverses some of that. Now. With the 2022 version, it's
been expanded to a series of other crimes which have
been, you know, very difficult for tribes to deal with
without authority over non Indians. It's not a complete
oliphant fix, you know, like bribery is not in their um
it's mainly violent crime, but it is another step in
the right direction. The previous version only allowed
for tribal nations to prosecute non natives for
domestic violence. The new bill will include child
abuse, sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, and
violating protection orders. It will also allow tribal
courts to prosecute a non native who assaults a tribal
police officer, Elizabeth Rees, a citizen of the pueblo
of namby and a professor of tribal law at stanford
testified before Congress befor the new version of
Vawa was passed, expansion to adjacent crimes would
create a more equitable system for prosecutors and
defense counsel to navigate. And that is because the
vast majority of criminal cases in the United States
are resolved not a trial, but by plea bargaining. The
new bill commits more than $86 million dollars to
tribal justice program, which gives the act some teeth.
Dear says she's happy with the expanded jurisdiction,
but says tribes need to be fully able to prosecute non
natives for any crime they commit against indians on
their own land. It's about we are ready to help
ourselves and what we need is for Congress to be part
of that project with us so that we can finally, once
and for all deal with this. The act will be up for
renewal again in 2027 Allison Herrera, newsy Tulsa
Oklahoma.