Native American Youth
Key Studies
Enlarging the Healing Circle: Ensuring Justice for American Indian Children. (2000). Washington, DC: Coalition for Juvenile Justice.
Summary: This report shows that Native American youth are being arrested for crimes, such as larceny-theft and liquor law violations, at double to triple the expected rate. The report identifies substance abuse, depression, gang involvement and faulty legal procedures as major underlying causes of Native American youth delinquency.
Fung C. & Wyrick, P. (2001). OJJDP's Program of Research for Tribal Youth. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Available online: http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/ojjdp/fs200110.txt.
Summary: A fact sheet on OJJDP's tribal youth research activities, which are designed to provide empirical evidence about juvenile justice and delinquency prevention policies and practices and their impact on tribal youth. The research includes longitudinal study of tribal youth risk and resiliency; Indian country youth gang survey, culturally appropriate juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, and other related activities.
Greenfield, L. & Smith, S. (1999). American Indians and Crime. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Available from the BJS Clearinghouse at 800/732-3277.
Summary: This report is the Department's first comprehensive statistical analysis of Native Americans and crime. The findings show that Native Americans are violent crime victims at double the rate of the general population. For instance, the data reflect that for the years 1992 through 1996 the average annual rate of violent victimizations among Native Americans (including Alaska Natives and Aleuts) was 124 per 1,000 residents ages 12 years old and older, compared to 61 violent victimizations per 1,000 blacks, 49 per 1,000 whites and 29 per 1,000 Asians.
Juvenile Justice Journal - Volume VII, Number 2 (American Indian Issue). (2000). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Available online: http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/jjnl_2000_12/index.html.
Summary: This report presents three feature articles on preventing and combating delinquency among Native American youth. The first article explains why character building is crucial to addressing the challenges facing Native American youth. The second article reports on the OJJDP Tribal Youth Program, established by Congress in 1999 to address the rising rate of juvenile crime in tribal communities. The third article describes how cultural identification makes adolescents less vulnerable to risk factors for drug use and better able to benefit from protective factors than children lacking such identification. The report also includes information about OJJDP's ongoing research and demonstration efforts and provides lists of resources and publications related to Native American youth.
McCarthy, R. (1993). The Indian Child Welfare Act: In the Best Interests of the Child and Tribe. Clearinghouse Review: 864-873.
Summary: This article examines the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), citing the minimal resources available to tribes and some of the most common court-made exceptions to the Act that weaken the law's impact. It proposes increased federal funding for Indian child welfare programs and recommends a wider application of ICWA policies.
Minton, T. (2001). Jails in Indian Country, 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Available online: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/jic00.htm.
Summary: A survey of all adult and juvenile jail facilities and detention centers in Indian Country. The data show that at midyear 2000, jails in Indian country held 1,498 adults and 277 juveniles. Juveniles accounted for almost 16% of the total custody population. Three-quarters of the juveniles were male, and a quarter female. On June 30, 2000, 14 juveniles were being held as adults, down from 20 on June 30, 1999.
Promising Practices and Strategies to Reduce Alcohol and Substance Abuse Among American Indians and Alaska Natives. (2000). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
Summary: This publication describes selected programs with promising practices to the problems of alcohol and substance abuse among Native Americans and Alaska Natives. It also provides information on current programs, literature, suggested reading and resources.
Rennison, C. (2001). Violent Victimization and Race, 1993-98. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Summary: This report presents incidence estimates and per capita rates of violent victimization of whites, blacks, Native Americans and Asians in 1998, and includes victimization trends, 1993-98. The findings show that Native Americans experienced overall violence, aggravated assault, simple assault, and serious violent crimes at rates higher than those for whites, blacks, and Asians, 1993-98.
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Building Blocks for Youth
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