Abstract
Unlike African Americans who have been the subject of the criminal justice system, Indian Americans have been neglected in the criminal justice scholarship. However, they are highly exposed to police violence and have higher incarceration rates than Whites. Being a minority in a minority, Indian Americans are underrepresented in the justice literature due to their small numbers. Crime and Social Justice in Indian Country is a collection of papers that attempt at giving a voice to Indian Americans’ daily struggles for social and criminal justice. Their responses from a politically, economically, legally, and socially marginalized position inherited through colonization are also discussed.
The first collection in Crime is made up of three chapters that highlight the social and legal aspects of crimes against Indigenous people. While law hampers Indigenous economic, political, and other developments, they respond to these conditions by developing programs that heal victims and offenders of crime. Specifically, Bennett’s chapter on hate crimes shows how colonial motivated ideology and the law has been used to assert power, control and to perpetuate hate crimes against Indian Americans in border towns. Bennett argues that, while sexual assault, sex trafficking, prostitution, transgender violence, and negative experiences with the police are criminal violence, they are examples of ethno-violence that should be seen as hate crimes. In the following chapter, Robyn offers a historical analysis of attempts at controlling minority populations through forced and coerced sterilization. Robyn employs vivid examples and stories to show how colonial ideological and theoretical constructions of Indian Americans as racially and culturally inferior are used to justify the social injustice perpetuated against them. Robyn argued that this, coupled with laws and government policies on sterilization, violates Indigenous human rights and social justice. Her analysis raises concerns about issues around Indigenous women’s right to make informed decisions and consent about what can be done with their bodies. She also brings to bear the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual implications of involuntary and coerced sterilization. Both authors draw attention to the somehow different experiences by gender; such as, women are both targets and victims of ethno-violence and genocide. The last chapter focuses on Indigenous sovereignty and crime. Here, Bennett shows how stereotypes and misconceptions shape Indigenous Indians’ attempts at poverty reduction and economic development through gaming.
The second part is made up of two chapters that revolve around Indigenous identity, resilience, and resistance. The chapters not only demonstrate the close relationship between Indigenous identity and resilience but also resistance to overt and covert colonial agendas at limiting sovereignty. Archambeault’s chapter highlights the line between American Indian and Native American; a term often misused synonymously by politicians, media, social action groups, and academics. Drawing on the constitution of the United States, he describes how naming—Indian American as opposed to Native American—has worked to divide the interests of Indigenous people as to who are recognized and entitled to legal rights and protections by the Constitution. In Chapter five, Ali-Joseph draws from the dissertation research on sports “American Indian Collegiate Athletes: Accessing Education Through Sports” to show the role of sport in American Indian communities. She argues that sports provide an opportunity for higher education, promote culture, enhance sovereignty, and build positive Indigenous identity through endurance, adaptation, and negotiation. Indian American’s involvement in sports is marked by negative stereotypes and misconceptions about race, ethnicity, and the family structure as affecting their success or failure. Yet, they are resilient and sometimes resist colonial assimilative practices that prevent social justice.
The last collection on Community Responses centers on Indigenous collective initiatives at counteracting crime and social injustice resulting from political, educational, legal, and economic marginalization. The chapters demonstrate how Indian Americans use the law to contest pro-sovereignty and discriminatory laws that limit Indian Americans’ authority on issues about their own communities and lives. Luna-Gordinier’s account on Stalking in Indian Country looks at the historical development in laws and policies. Among other things, her chapter illustrates that, while laws especially the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 and policies invoked by American Indians, historical legislation, and government policies limit their efforts at preventing criminal acts. These coupled with inadequate resources for meeting enforcement prerequisites limit attempts at creating and enforcing culturally desirable laws concerning stalking. Hiraldo’s chapter highlights the legal disparity between state-recognized and federally recognized tribes regarding child welfare. She points out that, while Native nations and states have historically been at odds with one another, state-recognized tribes identify, negotiate, and collaborate with government officials for preferred child placement. The last chapter by Luna-Firebaugh and Luna-Gordinier uses juvenile justice programs in Arizona and Aotearoa, New Zealand, to demonstrate that while laws may limit sovereignty, Indigenous groups assert their authority by involving and incorporating cultural principles into juvenile justice programs.
Most of the chapters are referential rather than original. Some of the chapters are also silent on the methods of data collection. The extensive use of historical laws and policies in some chapters make the book difficult to read and to grasp the details at times. However, the book uses simple and clear language and is divided into parts that help easy transition from one theme to the other. The strength of the book lies in its ability to make Indigenous Indians visible and to show the difference between Indigenous justice and justice in America. The focus on Indigenous Indian American voices does not detract from global comparisons as some of the critical pieces do a global analysis. It also provides a useful account of the structure–agency interaction in the criminal justice institution.
Overall, the book demonstrates that efforts at understanding Indigenous interaction with the criminal justice system require an in-depth understanding of the historical conditions that shape interactions. Academics and readers around the globe would find this piece useful for understanding and assessing concepts such as gender, Indigenous identity, sovereignty, resilience, and resistance to social and criminal justice in colonial settings.