MUCKLESHOOT INDIAN TRIBE 39015 172ND AVENUE S.E. - AUBURN, WASHINGTON 98002 - (206) 939-3311 unresponsive to reservation law and order problems. cc: Senator Edward Kennedy Yours truly, Marie Atarr Marie Starr The tribes I represent, the Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and Kalispel all received your letter of January 18, 1980, which outlined your plans for legislation upgrading the utilization of federal magistrates in the enforcement of Tribal and Federal Indian law. Your observations of how the Federal Magistrates Act has worked out on Reservations are quite accurate. Actually in many areas, the availability of magistrates has been almost non existent. The combination of reluctance of United States Attorneys and Federal Magistrates to act or prosecute becomes almost total. I have seen excellent cases languish for years and eventually die for lack of prosecutorial action. Legislation making the magistrate system more readily available to tribes is badly needed. The tribes I represent would like to respond to your letter in more detail but would first like to have drafts of your proposed legislation to consider. Would your office kindly send me copies of this draft legislation. Sincerely yours, Robert D. Dellwo RDD/lv XC: Spokane Tribal Council Coeur d'Alene Tribal Council In response to your letter of January 18, 1980 regarding criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians on Indian reservations. There is only one solution that will resolve this problem and that is for a bill granting criminal jurisdiction over all crimes committed on Indian reservations to the Indian tribe, with concurrent jurisdiction granted to the Federal Government for some major crimes. Increase the sentencing authority to $10,000.00 and 10 years imprisonment with Tribal access to state or federal penitentiaries with such confinement at the expense of the Federal Government. If you want more specific information on my recommendations, I am at your disposal and will do all in my power to help resolve this most serious situation. DC/bm Sincerely, PUEBLO OF ACOMA Avain Clack Dwain Clark, Chief Judge We appreciate receiving your recent letter considering expansion of the role of Magistrates in the criminal justice systems on Indian reservations. We urge you to continue work on the matter and we offer these comments and thoughts. A proposal to improve law enforcement on reservations should be mindful of the existing jurisdictional complexities and should strive to avoid adding further layers of authority to the area. From this standpoint an enhanced federal presence could be most desirable, especially if it were coupled with the greatest possible reliance on existing tribal institutions. For example, the federal judiciary could make use of tribal court mechanisms already in place, including judges, courthouses and court personnel. If there were concern that these institutions meet federal standards, a certification process could be established to assure that the judges are trained members of a state or federal bar and that record keeping and procedural mechanisms met federal specifications. Such a process would place a Magistrate's court where it is most effective, convenient and necessary on the reservation -- and would solve the problem of providing judicial services to quite a number of reservations at minimal cost to the United States. An expanded role for Magistrates, either through the method described above or another process, is entirely consistent with the proposed retrocession of criminal jurisdiction from the states to the United States. Retrocession, as you know, is presently provided for in S. 1722, the reformed federal criminal code. This criminal jurisdiction was initially turned over to some states, through Pub. L. 83-280 in 1953, in hopes of providing better law enforcement through local authorities. In practice the idea has simply not worked. Reservation crime has generally gotten worse because of state authorities' indifference to reservation problems, states' reluctance to bear the added cost of policing reservations, and the distance of reservations from established state courts and police agencies. Many tribes who welcomed Pub. L. 83-280 have learned to repent of that decision and are advocates of its repeal, and states' reluctance to yield their acquired jurisdiction is not based on their provision of good law enforcement, Retrocession coupled with an amplified federal presence in criminal justice matters on the reservations would do a great deal to overcome the difficulties experienced with the existing allocation of responsibility. It would have the added virtue of addressing the matter by simplifying, rather than complicating, the existing situation. Thank you for your concern in matters of reservation law enforcement. We hope you will continue work on the proposals now under consideration. We will be pleased to discuss any of the above in more detail with you or your staff. Very truly yours, Carl Villman CARL V. ULLMAN |