Engaging Tribes as SART Members
By Nigel Perrote
Introduction
For this month’s Rural Blog, SVJI wanted to take some time to focus on the intersection of Rural Communities and Tribal Communities [1]as it relates to Sexual Assault Response Teams. While not all Rural Communities have Tribal Communities and vice versa, according to the Center of Rural Innovation, about 2.7 million people who identify as American Indian live in Rural Communities. Sexual Violence is also prevalent amongst American Indians, with one in three American Indian women experiencing rape in their lifetime according to Amnesty International. With the advent of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, visibility amongst non-American Indian people has been growing on violence against American Indian women.
Understanding Jurisdiction
This blog is focused on engagement rather than jurisdiction, but it is important to highlight the concept as it impacts the criminal legal responses. Jurisdiction in Indian County is often referred to as a maze. The idea of jurisdiction in Indian Country is built around federal laws and Supreme Court decisions that can be a barrier for victim-survivors to seek justice particularly if their perpetrator is non-Native. According to Amnesty International, at least 86% of perpetrator are non-Native men. It is a challenge to Tribes to address sexual violence as federal law limits the ability of Tribes to arrest and prosecute non-Natives. Federal law has also empowered some states to act against non-Natives through Public Law 280, but often confusion by States around jurisdiction can be an issue as well limiting the prosecution of non-Natives. For further information about Tribal Jurisdiction check out Tribal Court Clearinghouse from the Tribal Law and Policy Institute.
Engaging with Tribal Communities
Because of the challenges Tribal Communities face around jurisdiction as highlighted above, building trust with Tribal Communities can be challenging given failures by systems within the criminal legal system that victim-survivors have often experienced. In the author’s professional experience of working with Tribes, there are three things that are often needed in building trust and relationships with Tribes.
First, acknowledgement of past harms is important. This step is based in being Trauma-Informed and acknowledgement can go a long way in relationship building to heal and move the relationship into a positive direction.
The second thing is an understanding of what you can and cannot offer. It is best practice to not promise things you can’t deliver on and doing so will not support development of a positive relationship.
The third and final thing is a commitment to fulfilling whatever you agree to do. Don’t commit to something you can’t deliver on or make promises you can’t keep.
These three points are not going to solve every issue around support victim-survivors, but it is a good starting point to begin engagement and building trust. Additionally, you cannot expect things to change overnight or a relationship to form right away if you’ve never previously collaborated. So, patience will be another important factor to consider.
Sexual Assault Response Teams
The venue of a sexual assault response team can be a great way to address the needs of Native victim-survivors, engage Tribal partners, and build collaborations. Through this process you can strengthen collaboration with Tribal partners by working on issues mutually beneficial to all partners involved. You can leverage resources available in the community with resource to better coordinate services to support victim survivors. Collaborations via a SART is also a great way to provide education to team members around topics relevant to Tribes like cultural Tribal jurisdiction, culture, and experiences to create a comprehensive response.
This blog only scratches the surface of the possibility of ways to engage Tribal Nations and invite them to the table of your SART. If you have more questions, please reach out to us at [email protected]. If you would like to see another blog on the topic of working with Tribal Nations, let us know as well.
This project was supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-22-GK-04024-RURA awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.
[1] A quick note about language, this blog utilizes a few terms that are often used to referred and used interchangeable to Tribes and American Indians. American Indian is the official term used by the US government in relation to data and policies. Indigenous is a term that has come into usage in the last decade that can be considered a reclamation of identity. Native American is another term that may also be used in a similar manner to Indigenous. Tribes refers is often used to refer to federally recognized Tribal Nations, thought there are some Tribes that are not federally recognized, or may just be recognized by states or other Tribes. Tribal Nations is sometime used interchangeable with Tribes and recognizes the inherent sovereignty of Tribes. Indian Country is another term used by the US government in relation to data and policies that include Reservations and Tribal land. This is not a full explanation but enough to help you get through this blog with best practice being just ask how someone would like to be referred to as an Indigenous person.