Office on Violence Against Women Announces Awards

December 8, 2021 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Office on Violence Against Women Announces Awards to 11 Indian Tribal Governments to Exercise Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction The U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) today announced awards to 11 Indian Tribal governments to support them in exercising special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction (SDVCJ). The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) recognized the authority of tribes to exercise SDVCJ over certain defendants, regardless of their Indian or non-Indian status, who commit crimes of domestic violence or dating violence or violate certain protection orders in Indian country. [...]

November 19, 2021 Interior Secretary Deb Haaland moves to ban the word ‘squaw’ from federal lands Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland formally declared “squaw” to be a derogatory term Friday and ordered a task force to find replacement names for valleys, lakes, creeks and other sites on federal lands that use the word. The order, which takes effect immediately, stands to affect more than 650 place names that use the term, according to figures from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. “Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation’s lands and waters [...]

November 15, 2021 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Justice Department Awards Nearly $104 Million to Help Crime Victims in Indian Country The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), has awarded nearly $104 million to serve victims in tribal communities, of which nearly $101 million was awarded through the Crime Victims Fund Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside. More than 140 awards were made through the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside formula program to fund culturally-appropriate victim services to meet the needs of Tribal communities. “American Indian and Alaska Native crime victims deserve the [...]

November 15, 2021 President Biden Signs Executive Order on Improving Public Safety and Criminal Justice for Native Americans and Addressing the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People “By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order as follows: Section 1. Policy. The safety and well-being of all Native Americans is a top priority for my Administration. My Administration will work hand in hand with Tribal Nations and Tribal partners to build safe and healthy Tribal communities and to support comprehensive law enforcement, prevention, intervention, and [...]

November 15, 2021 Washington, DC Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks at the 2021 White House Tribal Nations Summit: “Good afternoon. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to join the first Tribal Nations Summit in five years. The Justice Department shares the President’s commitment, expressed in the Executive Order he signed today, to work in partnership with Tribal nations to support comprehensive law enforcement, prevention, intervention and support services. We are committed to working together to make Tribal communities safer. We are committed to honoring and strengthening our nation-to-nation relationship. And we are committed to protecting the civil rights of [...]