Juvenile Justice

American Indian youth are over-represented in state and federal juvenile justice systems and Indian youth in the system are more likely to face harsher treatment in the most restrictive environments. AI/AN youth are 50 percent more likely than White youth to receive the most punitive measures, including pepper spray, restraint, isolation, out-of-home placement following adjudication, or a waiver to adult criminal court. Not only are AI/AN youth disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system (with one 2008 study finding that tribal youth comprise 60 percent of the juvenile justice population), but they are also often held in long-term facilities far away from their tribal lands. ¹

The violent crime rate among American Indians is twice that of the U.S national rate. Tribal communities are also afflicted by high rates of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, alcohol use, and gang involvement. Given such factors, many tribal youth are exposed to multiple risk factors, which can contribute to delinquency. Native youth have very high rates of violent victimizations and exposure to violence. They are overrepresented in arrests for alcohol, drug offenses, and running away. They are also overrepresented in the most restrictive placements and interventions.²

While the violent crime rate for U.S. youth has steadily declined over the past few years, the rate of violent juvenile crime in tribal communities continues to grow. Risk factors for delinquency for the nearly two million American Indians and Alaska Natives who live on or near tribal lands are compounded by a lack of social services. Inadequate resources for their juvenile justice systems are a challenge for tribal communities, resulting in insufficient training of law enforcement and other justice personnel, and a shortage of programs that comprehensively combat juvenile delinquency through appropriate prevention, intervention, and sanction activities.³

Although there are few evidence-based programs that focus on AI/AN youth disparity issues,⁴ there have been some successful programs for improving their juvenile justice outcomes:

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe’s Talking Circles

The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota began their Talking Circles program in 2011 as a part of the girls’ juvenile probation as an alternative to detention. The program functions to connect the youth with positive role models and mentors from their community. Participating in Talking Circles allows the young women to discuss whatever they are thinking about (positive or negative), resolve conflict, and choose how to manage their circle. Participants in this program have been reported to have a decrease in suicide attempts, reduction in gang activity, improved school attendance, increase in graduation rates, and overall improved compliance with probation conditions. ⁵

Village of Kake, Alaska’s Adult and Youth Circle Peacemaking

The Kake Youth Circle Peacemaking group is an Alternative Dispute Resolution Group. The Alaska State Court System orders that minors consuming alcohol and youth who commit first-time offenses be diverted to the Kake Youth Circle Peacemaking group. Youth participants act as the facilitators while adults are often invited to participate, and support from the community is essential. The group’s success has been measured through Tribal member’s participation, the time taken to hear cases, and the restoration of relationships. There are additional circles held for follow-up cases and celebration circles for participants who have achieved milestones.⁶

Despite an overall lack of research examining best practices for juvenile justice with AI/AN youth, the following recommendations pose promising avenues towards improving AI/AN youth outcomes within the juvenile justice system and their rehabilitation after involvement with it:⁷

• Provide publicly funded legal representation to AI/AN youth who encounter the juvenile justice system. Doing so will mitigate instances of harm towards tribal youth and will better ensure their legal rights remain protected throughout their involvement with the system.
• Avoid punitive measures such as out-of-home placement and/or detention whenever possible (such measures may be necessary when the youth poses a danger to themselves or society). Based on the abundance of evidence on non-AI/AN youth outcomes when provided with diversion/delinquency prevention programming and when given the opportunity to avoid exposure to the justice system, the same emphasis on restoration, habilitation, and rehabilitation must be taken with tribal youth.
• Provide individually tailored and culturally relevant reentry services when detention is necessary.
• Provide trauma-informed, culturally appropriate screening, assessment, and care throughout the federal, state, and tribal justice systems so that AI/AN youth can effectively have their mental, emotional, and physical needs met in a manner that is not standardized for White and/or non-native youth.

Resources

Tribal Youth Programs and Services
This webpage provides brief summaries of programs and services geared towards Tribal youth to prevent victimization and juvenile delinquency, reduce violent crime, and improve juvenile justice systems.

Building Culturally Relevant Youth Courts in Tribal Communities (PDF, 118 pages)
This resource draws on the ideas and expertise of many who work in youth courts throughout the United States, as well as on the experience of staff at the National Youth Court Center at the American Probation and Parole Association, who research and work with youth courts on a national level.

Improving Outcomes for American Indian/Alaska Native People Returning to the Community from Incarceration: A Resource Guide for Service Providers (PDF, 31 pages)
This resource guide for providers working with American Indian/Alaska Native people reentering their communities from incarceration, contains a compilation of federal resources, research, examples, and considerations for facilitating a successful reentry. Population-specific considerations are provided for youth, children, families, and more.

Collaboration and Resource Sharing to Improve Services to Indian Youth
This webpage highlights successful resource sharing strategies that represents commitment to something larger than the single focused organizational goals and objectives and a shift to enter relationships with other agencies to achieve shared goals, visions and responses to mutual interest and obligations.

Tribal Consultation Webinar
This webinar was conducted between 288 tribal leaders and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Throughout the recorded event, the Tribal Consultation explored specific ways in which the OJJDP can better collaborate with and serve currently under-resourced tribal justice systems. The webinar focused on the Juvenile Justice Reform Act and its relevance and relation to tribes across the nation.

Tribal Consultation Response (PDF, 29 pages)
This report summarizes the findings discussed between the OJJDP and tribal representatives at the webinar as well as OJJDP’s actions and responses since the event.

Minority Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, Disproportionate Minority Contact (PDF, 12 pages)
National Conference of State Legislatures Research by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Center for Children’s Law and Policy suggests that youth who are members of racially/ethnically marginalized groups receive harsher treatment than their white counterparts at nearly every stage of the juvenile justice process.

Youth Gangs in Indian Country (PDF, 16 pages)
This resources describes the nature and makeup of youth gangs in Indian Country by drawing on research findings from a survey conducted by the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC).

References