Tribes are now able to prosecute non-Indians for domestic violence

To commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness month, the U.S. Department of Justice hosted a streaming video presentation that featured reports from tribes that implemented pilot projects under the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act of 2013.

The pilot projects demonstrated the tribe’s ability to handle criminal domestic violence cases for the first time in more than 30 years.

Tribes lost their power to prosecute non-Indians in 1978, when Mark Oliphant, a non-Indian was arrested by Suquamish tribal police. But, he got off because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he wasn’t subject to tribal jurisdiction because he wasn’t a tribal member.

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