Tribal Juvenile Justice

American Indian and Alaska Native youth are at a much greater risk of being placed in the juvenile justice system than their non-native peers. Tribal youth are over represented in federal and state detention facilities, which are not equipped to address or meet their needs. Due to the complex civil and criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country many times tribal youth are lost in a system that tends to re-traumatize rather than heal them. 

The Attorney General’s National Taskforce on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence used the following phrase to describe the status quo in American Indian and Alaska Native youth support services: “an exceptional degree of unmet need.” Tribal youth are one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States and have an enormous amount of trauma to overcome. Time and again, advocates, researchers, and federal reports have made clear that this is a population that needs support, treatment, and rehabilitation instead of incarceration and punishment.

Tribal youth also draw on community strengths including inter-generational resilience—a resource that we are just now beginning to appropriately recognize and study. American Indians and Alaska Natives draw strength from their traditions, cultures, kinship and other relationships, ceremonies, humor, and collective successes. The use of traditionally grounded, trauma aware programs to foster resilience in could promote the most effective healing and support of vulnerable tribal youth.

Some tribes have focused their efforts to develop culturally appropriate healing methods for their youth. Since tribal youth offenders in the juvenile justice system have demonstrated better outcomes when they receive targeted, culturally-and community-based services. NCAI has highlighted the complex difficulties that American Indian and Alaska Native youth face in the juvenile justice system and emphasized best practices from tribes who work to heal their youth. 

Tribal Juvenile Justice Resources