Steven W. Perry, Bureau of Justice Statistics

July 10, 2014    NCJ 246917

Describes Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) activities to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, as required by the Tribal Law and Order Act, 2010. The report summarizes BJS's efforts in 2014 to field a survey to document the capabilities and caseloads of tribal court systems, develop a survey of all state and local law enforcement agencies and offices serving Indian country, study the handling of American Indian and Alaska Native juvenile and adult criminal cases in the federal justice system, and enhance current funding programs to support tribal participation in regional and national criminal justice databases. It summarizes tribal eligibility for Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) awards from 2008 to 2014, and presents Uniform Crime Reporting Program statistics on offenses reported by tribal law enforcement agencies from 2008 to 2012.

Highlights:

• BJS awarded funding to conduct a survey of state and local justice agencies that service tribal lands, to better understand this aspect of the tribal justice system.
• BJS identified 426 tribal courts across the United States for the National Survey of Tribal Court Systems.
• At midyear 2012, a total of 2,364 inmates were confined in 79 Indian country jailsa 5.6% increase from the 2,239 inmates confined at midyear 2011.
• During 2011, 2,658 American Indian or Alaska Natives were arrested and booked by federal law enforcement agencies; 1,254 were sentenced in U.S. district courts, 1,713 entered federal prison, and 1,548 exited federal prison.
• The number of tribal law enforcement agencies reporting crime data to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program increased from 143 in 2010 to 158 in 2012.
• Tribes received $350,609 through the Bureau of Justice Assistance's 2014 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program.

Part of the Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities Series

Full report (PDF 465K)
ASCII file (23K)

Help for using BJS products

To cite this product, use the following link:
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5053

View All Publications and Products