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Tribal courts

National Survey of Tribal Court Systems (NSTCS)

​​​​​​The legal institutions in Indian country revolve around four main entities: indigenous or traditional courts, general jurisdiction courts, appellate courts, and the Bureau of Indian Affair’s Code of Federal Regulation courts. The National Survey of Tribal Court Systems (NSTCS) is the first complete enumeration of tribal court systems operating in the United States and gathers administrative and operational information from tribal court systems, prosecutors’...

Tribal Courts

The Indian Reorganization Act in 1934 recognized the right of tribes to enact their own laws and establish their own formal tribal courts. Some tribes have developed hybrid or blended judicial systems, incorporating a more formal focus to ensure due process and the dispute resolution elements of indigenous courts or Courts of Indian Offenses—Code of Federal Regulations, or CFR, courts operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Formal tribal courts, unlike the CFR courts, are under tribal control...

Tribal Crime and Justice

The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA; P.L. 111-211, 124 Stat. 2258 § 251(b)) requires BJS to establish and implement a tribal crime data-collection system, and support tribal participation in national records and information systems. The Act specifies data collection and analysis of crimes committed on federally recognized reservations, in tribal communities, and on identified trust lands which in combination are commonly referred...

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

Closing Date
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...

BJS FY 15 Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country, 2016-2019

Closing Date
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country (SJIC) includes all known Indian country correctional facilities operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Department of the Interior. The survey describes all adult and juvenile jail facilities and detention centers in Indian country. Indian country includes reservations, pueblos, rancherias, and other appropriate areas (18 U.S.C. §...

BJS FY 11 Census of Tribal Court

Closing Date
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking proposals to administer the 2011 National Survey of Tribal Court Systems (NSTCS). The survey will gather administrative and operational information from tribal courts, prosecutors' offices, and indigent defense providers operating in the estimated 200 federally-recognized tribal justice systems in the United States. Applicants are strongly encouraged to review data collection instruments, datasets, and statistical reports from prior...

Jails in Indian Country, 1998 and 1999 

EMBARGOED UNTIL 4:30 P.M. EDT                            BJS
SUNDAY, JULY 9,  2000                           202/307-0784 
         

JAILS AFFILIATED WITH 53 AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES IN 18
STATES HELD 1,621 INMATES ON JUNE 30, 1999
     

     WASHINGTON, D.C.   More than 1,600 American Indians
were incarcerated in Indian country jails at midyear 1999,
the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS),
announced today.  The number was 8 percent higher than the
previous year.
     The...

Census of Tribal Justice Agencies in American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Jurisdictions (CTJA02)

Includes data on the number of law enforcement agencies and officers; characteristics of tribal courts and their caseloads; types of available criminal sanctions; and criminal justice statistics data collection and sharing capacity. The census collected data from nearly 350 tribes in the continental U.S. and is the first comprehensive effort to identify the range of justice agencies operating in tribal jurisdictions, the services those agencies...