Native American Domestic Violence

Domestic violence, a critical issue that has a negative impact on the Native Americans in the United States. Domestic violence, also known as spousal abuse, can take several different forms, including physical, emotional, verbal, as well as sexual abuse. One in every three native women will experience some sort of domestic violence in their lifetime and most will have nowhere to seek help. Furthermore, men are victims of domestic violence and more often than not, get laughed at and ridiculed when they reach out for help. When people think of domestic violence, most think of physical fighting, black eyes, broken nose, and holes punched in the walls of the house. While those things are very scary and absolutely considered abuse, there's much

If a native woman is a victim of abuse by another native, the tribe, and federal government both have jurisdiction over the abuser. However, the abuser being non-native the tribe has no jurisdiction over the crime, and the native woman must rely on the local government for the arrest of the abuser. Tribal courts usually lack the resources needed to prosecute domestic violence cases. 2Us attorneys declined to prosecute nearly 52 percent of violent crimes that had occurred in Indian country, 67 percent of the cases declined were sexual abuse related cases. I recently learned that the law requires native women to obtain protective orders from the tribal court even if the circumstance requires an emergency protective order. I had waited four extra days to obtain my protective order since the judge I needed to see was not available and I wasn’t allowed to obtain a protective order from the county courthouse like non-native

My mother emotionally, verbally, and physically abused my father in front of my brother and I, consequently, we both suffer from severe anxiety and I have found myself in an abusive relationship as well. My father who is not a tiny, helpless man, wasn’t able to defend himself because he chose not to. 3Nearly 8 percent of males who have reported domestic violence have been shot at, stabbed, or hit with a weapon. Men who are victims of domestic violence stay in the relationship because they want to protect their children and fear they will lose custody if they chose to leave, they feel ashamed to have been beaten down by a woman, and the lack of resources that are available. Tribal courts lean in the mother's favor and that can be very intimidating, especially after being verbally abused by the mother of the