Support H.R. 1585: The Violence Against Women Act

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which expired earlier this year, has been reintroduced in the House with expanded protections for Native women, who face disproportionately high rates of violence.

FCNL advocates have worked hard to secure the inclusion of Savanna’s Act and expanded jurisdiction for tribal law enforcement to investigate non-Indian perpetrators sexual assault, stalking, sex trafficking, and child abuse on Native lands. It also does not protect children who are often victims of domestic violence and abuse.

Tribes need the jurisdictional authority to protect their people from all forms of violence, and adequate resources to effectively respond to missing cases. Urge your Representative to support the tribal provisions in H.R. 1585.

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Native American women face disproportionately high rates of violence. Most of these violent acts involve non-Indians. Prior to the reauthorization of VAWA in 2013, tribal courts did not have jurisdiction over non-Indians. The Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction returned this jurisdiction, but it offers limited protections.

The current Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction is restricted to incidents of domestic violence involving non-Native perpetrators. It does not give tribes jurisdiction over crimes involving sexual assault, stalking, or sex trafficking. It also does not protect children who are often victims of domestic violence and abuse.

H.R. 1585 expands tribal jurisdiction to include sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, child abuse and violence against tribal law enforcement attempting to execute these provisions. It goes one step further in addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. The bill will facilitate improved communication and coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement. It will also strengthen our understanding of this crisis by increasing data collection and improving tribal access to resources and federal databases.

Please support tribal provisions H.R. 1585. Tribes need the jurisdictional authority to protect their people from all forms of violence, and adequate resources to effectively respond to missing cases.

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