How Minn. Courts Respond to Domestic Violence Against Indians

On any given day the Family Justice Center in downtown Minneapolis is filled with individuals seeking help for domestic violence. Encompassing all of Hennepin County, Minnesota’s 4th Judicial District Family Court (the “family court”), is the largest judicial district in the state. It is also home to the state’s largest population of American Indians; more American Indians reside here than anywhere else in the state including on any one of the 11 reservations in Minnesota.

Each year approximately 3,000 civil domestic abuse cases are filed in the family court. In 2013, after reviewing existing but limited data, we had reason to believe that American Indian families were not accessing the family court for domestic violence relief relative to their population in our district. We also had reason to believe that a potential disparity existed between the American Indian population filing for domestic violence relief in our district and those in the general population seeking the same relief. We were very concerned given the known magnitude of violence perpetrated against American Indian women.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/08/13/how-minn-courts-respond-domestic-violence-against-indians