The Justice Department is ordering prosecutors in 33 states to step up efforts to combat crime on Indian reservations, particularly offenses against women and children, said an AP report.
Attorney General Eric Holder was announcing the effort after his deputy, David Ogden, sent a memo instructing those federal prosecutors to do more to fight tribal crime. The memo says 47 new prosecutors and FBI personnel will be assigned to this work. On tribal lands, federal officials are usually responsible for prosecuting serious crimes.
While the nationwide crime rate is falling, statistics show American Indians are victims of violent crime at more than twice the national rate and some tribes have murder rates against women ten times greater than the national average.
