BJS FY 15 National Survey of Tribal Courts Systems (NSTSC-14)

The NSTCS, in combination with other planned and ongoing data collections, will fulfill BJS’s legislative mandate under the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act to “establish and implement such tribal data collection systems as the BJS Director determines to be necessary.” 42 U.S.C. § 3732(d)(2). Though some information about tribal courts is available through the BJS-sponsored Census of Tribal Justice Agencies and State Court Organization series, this information is dated and limited in the areas of tribal court administration and organization, tribal prosecution, tribal criminal defense, the use of traditional methods of dispute resolution, justice system personnel, and whether and to what extent caseload and workload information are recorded in the nation’s tribal courts. OMP No. 1121-0329 Approval Expires 02/28/2013 3 2011-BJS-2947The 2011 NSTCS will gather administrative and operational information about tribal court systems operating in the US, including data from courts, prosecutors, and indigent defense providers. The information to be collected will include, but not be limited to, the number of courts, number of offices, codes and statutes, staffing, budgets, case processing procedures and policies, data entry/ input systems, services offered through the courts, aggregate caseload information (including conviction rates), and other emerging court system issues. The goal of the NSTCS is to provide baseline information upon which to build a tribal court statistics infrastructure that not only will improve the nation’s understanding of the organization and operational characteristics of courts in Indian country, but may provide important information for use by American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages in the development or expansion of their own tribal court systems.