Committee on Indian Affairs United State

Addressing the Need for Victim Services in Indian Country Committee on Indian Affairs United State

Federal data shows that Indian communities face some of the highest victimization rates in the Country. Native youth experience violent crime rates up to ten times the national rate. Violence is pervasive and tied to 75 percent of deaths among American Indian and Alaska Natives between the ages of 12 and 20. American Indian women are murdered at a rate of more than ten times the national average on some reservations. Most tribes do not have emergency shelters for crime victims. Most tribes do not have facilities or personnel for the delivery of critical services, such as medical care and counseling. Most tribes cannot provide temporary or transitional housing, even when the perpetrators live in the same home as the victim. It is clear that tribes lack the resources and capacity to provide basic services to victims of crime on their lands. The primary source of victim assistance funding is the Crime Victims Fund. Despite the exceedingly high crime rates and great need for victim services in Indian Country, over the last five years, tribes have never received more than 0.7 percent of the Crime Victims Fund available for victim assistance.