2009
University of Arizona Press
American Indians, Inuit, Aleuts, Hawaiians – these are Native Americans. There are over
500 federally recognized groups of Native Americans entitled to special treatment under law. As this work so clearly illustrates, that special treatment as often as not rests on racist discrimination, and instead of bringing undeserved favors brings unwarranted difficulties to America’s original peoples.
For generations the state of the Native American has been dismal, and this collection of essays provides an introduction to one reason that Native Americans have excessively high incarceration rates. Not only is the criminal justice system skewed against Native Americans, but it is also extremely complex, with multiple jurisdictions whose boundaries are ambiguous at times, cumbersome at best. Furthermore, the Native American criminal justice is an imposed system that is inappropriate to their cultures. Those are just some of the findings that the various authors of this collection of essays present.
For example, the chapter on crime rates discusses these issues over a two decade span, a time when rates in general fell in the United States. The author notes that Native American rates fell as well, in some cases matching overall rates but in other cases still remaining extraordinarily high. And Native American victimization rates are consistently out of line with American norms. Although part of the discrepancy is due to enforcement differentials, another part is due to problems such as alcohol abuse that are more prevalent and more likely to result in arrest for Native Americans. As the author notes, this is a reflection of a dysfunctional social support structure, raising questions about the efficacy and applicability of that structure to traditional cultures. The same question of applicability continues through the subsequent topical chapters.
Designed as an introductory text, the collection begins with an overview of historical and current Native American involvement in the criminal justice system. An essay on the incarceration rates and other numbers includes graphs that are quite informative. Topical essays deal with women and juveniles and the adverse effects of an inappropriate and often cruel system on them. Additional essays deal with hate crime, and corporate crime, specifically
uranium mining. Although the author of the article on uranium mining attempts to define corporate misconduct as a hate crime, the attempt appears to be a bit of a stretch, but otherwise, the article is very compelling.
Within the reservation, chapters address the court systems, Indian police and Indian policing. These chapters illustrate the personal conflicts that arise from divided jurisdictions and conflicting views of what constitutes justice. There is also treatment of the weakened autonomy of tribal governments. Rounding out the coverage are essays on, and alternatives to, the white European systems – peacemaking and tribal healing traditions. A final essay ties the effort together, summarizes problems and proposes solutions. The author also notes that problems and prescriptions are largely the same as they were when she wrote of them in 1996; that’s a depressing thought.
The essays are variable but most are of high quality. It’s obviously hard for some of the authors to contain their rage at the mistreatment that an inappropriate and imposed system has provided their subjects, but most are careful to document their concerns and to separate opinion from documented fact, as is proper in a survey work. The essay on traditional healing methods is somewhat superficial in listing such things as prayer circles and sweat lodges and offering of tobacco to the four directions and vision quests, but it redeems itself in providing context of clashing traditional and modern cultures as well as diverse traditions among the more than 500 tribes. It does make a valid point that traditional methods are not available in prison and jail for those whose tribal affiliation is with a
non-BIA-recognized tribe. Again, federal and tribal practice clash.
The authors are mostly academics with significant involvement either as enrolled members or participants in pan-Indian activities, and some have significant applied experience that informs their narratives. The general tilt is liberal, of course, as is standard in introductory social problems literature. After all, social problems are the preserve of the activist, not those satisfied with the status quo. That said, the authors are fairly consistent about avoiding preaching. The authors take care to point out where the data is insufficient or not available and to indicate where additional research is desirable. And each essay has an extensive list of readings for the student desiring more.
No serious scholar would pretend to draw a single broad European history as other than grossly oversimplified. Even a reasonably thorough and inclusive history of, say, France, or Great Britain, is challenge enough given wide regional variations such as lack of a single uniform language, different development paths, and religious and social differences. Imagine how much more complex the task of writing a single narrative about over 500 distinct nations. Necessarily, then, this survey has gaps. Every statement, it seems, has an exception, maybe dozens. But given the alternative of defining the task as hopeless and throwing the manuscript out the window, these authors and editors have made a sincere and committed effort to bring some order to their topic. In doing so they have located commonalities within the diversity, making their effort worthwhile. They have given the beginning student or casual reader a solid starting point for learning about Native Americans and justice systems. The book is good.
North America 
