Vice President Joe Biden got heavily involved, pressuring Rep. The idea of extending tribal jurisdiction to non-Natives was concerning to a group of congressional Republicans: Even though advocates sought to assure them that non-Natives would receive fair due process like anyone else, some remained skeptical.Īs lawmakers debated the issue in Congress and in public, an increasingly powerful and influential force went to work behind the scenes: lobbyists representing America’s tribal nations.Ī handful of tribes led the way in advocating for their desired changes to VAWA, including one of the country’s most prosperous and powerful tribes: the Shakopee Mdewakanton (Mid-ah-WAH-kah-ton) Sioux Community.Īdvocates for tribes recall an all-out push to get the new VAWA provisions through. Others in Congress, however, did not see the tribal VAWA provision as narrow, and it sparked a contentious debate that made the law’s reauthorization - usually a drama-free affair - a heated political battle.

It would be a narrow start - the accused man would have to live on a reservation or work for a tribe in order to be affected - but it would still be a start.

They proposed expanding the law to give tribes the authority to prosecute non-Native men charged with violent crimes against Native women. Policymakers in Barack Obama’s administration and in Congress wanted to do something about this, and they found an opportunity in 2011, as Congress took up the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA, the landmark 1994 law establishing more protections for victims of domestic or sexual violence, and more funding to investigate those crimes.

This translated into a dangerous - even lethal - state of affairs for Native women, who experience domestic and sexual violence at disproportionate rates compared to other groups in the United States.

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