NOTICE: This document is provided as a courtesy. Recent amendments to the Cherokee Nation Code have not been officially codified. To ensure accuracy, anyone using this document should compare it to the official amendments available at: https://cherokee.legistar.com/Legislation.aspx Title 21 Amendments § 1. Title of code This title shall be known and may be cited as the Criminal Code of Cherokee Nation. § 2. Criminal acts are only those prescribed—"This code" defined No act or omission shall be deemed criminal or punishable except as prescribed or authorized by this code. The words "this code" as used in the "penal code" shall be construed to mean "Cherokee Nation Code Annotated." § 3. Crime and public offense defined A crime or public offense is an act or omission forbidden by law, and to which is annexed, upon conviction, any of the following punishments: 1. Imprisonment; 2. Fine; 3. Removal from office; 4. Disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit, under this Nation; 5. Restitution; 6. Community service; or 7. Victim compensation assessment. § 4. Crimes classified All crimes or offenses are divided into: 1. Felonies; 2. Misdemeanors. § 5. Felony defined A felony is a crime which is, or may be, punishable by imprisonment for more than one year. § 6. Misdemeanor defined Every other crime that is not a felony is a misdemeanor. NOTICE: This document is provided as a courtesy. Recent amendments to the Cherokee Nation Code have not been officially codified. To ensure accuracy, anyone using this document should compare it to the official amendments available at: https://cherokee.legistar.com/Legislation.aspx § 7. Objects of criminal code This title specifies the classes of persons who are deemed capable of committing crimes, and who are liable to punishment therefor; and defines the nature of the various crimes and prescribes the kind and measure of punishment to be inflicted for each. The manner of prosecuting and convicting criminals is regulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure, Title 22 of the Cherokee Nation Code Annotated. § 8. Conviction must precede punishment The punishments prescribed by this title can be inflicted only upon a legal conviction in a court having jurisdiction. § 9. Indian defined For the purposes of criminal prosecution and juvenile delinquency under the laws of the Cherokee Nation, the term “Indian” includes: A. Any person who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation; B. Any person who is a citizen or member of any other federally recognized Indian tribe, including Alaska Native entities; C. Any person who is eligible to become a member of any federally recognized Indian tribe; and D. Any person who would be considered an “Indian” for the purposes of federal criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 1152 and/or 18 U.S.C. § 1153. § 10. Punishment of crimes Except in cases where a different punishment is prescribed by this title or by some existing provisions of law, every offense declared to be a crime is punishable by the maximum punishment provided for by the Indian Civil Rights Act, 25 U.S.C. § 1302(a)(7). Provided that, for any conviction of an offense classified as a misdemeanor, the Court may not impose any penalty or punishment greater than imprisonment for a term of one (1) year or a fine of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or both; for felonies and other crimes the Court may subject a defendant to a term of imprisonment greater than one (1) year but not to exceed three (3) years for any one (1) offense, or a fine greater than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) but not to exceed Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000.00), or both, if the defendant is a person accused of a criminal offense who (a) has been previously convicted of the same or a comparable offense by any jurisdiction in the United States; or (b) is being prosecuted for an offense comparable to an offense that would be punishable by more than one (1) year of imprisonment if prosecuted by the United States or any of the states. § 10a. Punishment of crimes concerning public officials, appointed officials or department heads NOTICE: This document is provided as a courtesy. Recent amendments to the Cherokee Nation Code have not been officially codified. To ensure accuracy, anyone using this document should compare it to the official amendments available at: https://cherokee.legistar.com/Legislation.aspx Any elected official, appointed official or department head who is convicted of a crime concerning bribery, embezzlement, fraud, perjury, or forgery or larceny may in addition to the punishments provided under this title, be subject to the punishment of disqualification from employment with Cherokee Nation. § 11. Specific statutes in other titles as governing—Acts punishable in different ways—Acts not otherwise punishable by imprisonment A. If there be in any other titles of the laws of this Nation a provision making any specific act or omission criminal and providing the punishment therefor, and there be in this penal code any provision or section making the same act or omission a criminal offense or prescribing the punishment therefor, that offense and the punishment thereof, shall be governed by the special provisions made in relation thereto, and not by the provisions of this penal code. But an act or omission which is made punishable in different ways by different provisions of this code may be punished under any of such provisions, the punishments therein prescribed are substituted for those prescribed for a first offense, but in no case can it be punished under more than one section of law; and an acquittal or conviction and sentence under any one section of law, bars the prosecution for the same act or omission under any other section of law. B. Provided, however, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any offense, including traffic offenses, in violation of the laws of this Nation which is not otherwise punishable by a term of imprisonment or confinement shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment not to exceed one day in the discretion of the Court, in addition to any fine prescribed by law. § 12. Reserved § 13. Uniform Reporting System For purposes of any crime specified by the criminal code of this title or any provision of the law in the Cherokee Nation, all criminal and juvenile justice information systems shall adopt and use the uniform reporting standard created and published by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation as provided by Section 1517 of Title 22 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The uniform reporting standard shall ensure the accurate reporting of all criminal and juvenile delinquency information relating to arrests, charges, custody records, dispositions, and any other information record purporting to identify a criminal or juvenile delinquency history record or information to be maintained by any criminal or juvenile justice information system within the Cherokee Nation. The courts, any criminal justice department, and juvenile delinquency department of the Cherokee Nation is hereby directed to comply with and use the uniform reporting standard for reporting and maintaining all criminal justice information systems as set forth in this section. § 14. Sentencing Authority A. The Cherokee Nation has authority pursuant to the “Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010”, NOTICE: This document is provided as a courtesy. Recent amendments to the Cherokee Nation Code have not been officially codified. To ensure accuracy, anyone using this document should compare it to the official amendments available at: https://cherokee.legistar.com/Legislation.aspx Pub.L. 111–211, Title II, July 29, 2010, 124 Stat. 2261 and 25 U.S.C. § 1302 to subject a person convicted of a crime punishable by the laws of the Cherokee Nation to a term of imprisonment not to exceed three (3) years for any single offense and a fine not to exceed Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000.00), or both. B. The Cherokee Nation may impose upon a convicted person a total penalty or punishment of imprisonment for not more than nine (9) years in a criminal proceeding. C. For the purposes of this section, the term “offense” means a violation of a criminal law. D. For the purposes of this section, the term “criminal proceeding” means a prosecution for a single offense or a series of offenses that are part of a continuing transaction that may constitute separate offenses, but that are closely related in time. E. If a defendant is convicted in a criminal proceeding for more than one offense where the total punishment upon conviction would be more than nine (9) years, the sentencing judge shall at the time of sentencing order that some or all of the sentences be served concurrently so that a term of imprisonment is not entered where the defendant would be subjected to imprisonment for a term of more than nine (9) years. §§ 15-20. Reserved CHAPTER 2 GENERAL PROVISIONS § 21. Prohibited act a misdemeanor, unless stated otherwise Where the performance of an act is prohibited by any statute, and no penalty for the violation of such statute is imposed in any statute, the doing of such act is a misdemeanor, unless the defendant is a person accused of a criminal offense who (a) has been previously convicted of the same or a comparable offense by any jurisdiction in the United States; or (b) is being prosecuted for an offense comparable to an offense that would be punishable by more than one (1) year of imprisonment if prosecuted by the United States or any of the states. § 22. Gross injuries—Grossly disturbing peace—Openly outraging public decency— Injurious acts not expressly forbidden Every person who willfully and wrongfully commits any act which grossly injures the person or property of another, or which grossly disturbs the public peace or health, or which openly outrages public decency, and is injurious to public morals, although no punishment is expressly prescribed therefor by this code, is guilty of a crime.