The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Native American Crime in the Northwest: 2004- 2005 – BIA Information from Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington Author(s): Gary R. Leonardson, Ph.D. Document No.: 218937 Date Received: June 2007 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Native American Crime in the Northwest: 2004-2005 – BIA Information from Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington By Gary R. Leonardson, Ph.D. MPR 55 Rodeo Trail, Dillon, MT 59725 406-683-6424 [email protected] Prepared for the Montana Board of Crime Control October 2006 This project was supported by a grant awarded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the Office of Justice Programs, at the U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice. 1 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the Board of Crime Control for making this project possible. The staff members of each of these Federal and State agencies have been very helpful in providing direct assistance and background materials. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gary R. Leonardson is the director of Mountain Plains Research in Dillon, Montana. He has been conducting private consulting work for 20 years, along with working at two universities. Dr. Leonardson has contracted with or done major statistical, research, and evaluation work for the Federal government, including the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, the Center for Disease Control, Indian Health Service, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Corrections, and grants from the National Institutes of Health. He has been the project evaluator for nine major Federal projects, conducted numerous local and state research projects, evaluations, and surveys, and has assisted in examining many important issues including: substance use and abuse, disproportionate minority contact, teen pregnancy, mental health issues, prevention programs, pregnancy outcomes, rural issues, social impact assessments, educational programs, systems of care, aftercare programs, parole programs, minor in possession research, sentencing guidelines, drug task force assessments, substance abuse treatment outcomes, and related areas. 2 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Number I. List of Tables 4 II. Executive Summary 5 III. Introduction 6 IV. Overall Results 7 V. Definitions 28 3 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. I. LIST OF TABLES Table Number Page Number 1. Listing of Law Enforcement Agencies and Number of Offenses Reported 7 2. Listing of Crimes Committed/Crimes Cleared by Agency 9 3. Alcohol Involved in Crime Commission 11 4. Alcohol or Drug Involvement in Crime Commission 13 5. Numbers and Percent of Total for Different Type of Offenses 15 6. Types of Offenses – All Agencies Combined 17 7. Percent of Crimes Committed under the Influence of Alcohol 18 8. Percent of Crimes Committed under the Influence of Drugs 19 9. Percent of Crimes Committed under the Influence of Alcohol or Drugs 20 10. Offenses Cleared by Arrest of Exceptional Means 21 11. Comparison of Cleared Rates 22 12. Juveniles Compared with Overall Total 23 13. Percent Offenses Committed by Juveniles 23 14. Three Population Comparisons 24 15. Information for Crime Index Values 25 16. Index Crime Rates 26 4 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • This project is important because very little information on tribal offenses has been reported. • Information was available on 38 of the 47 tribal agencies. • Overall, there was a high percent of reported offenses cleared by arrest or exceptional means with 60.7 percent in 2004 and 87.6 percent cleared in 2005. • In considering the total number of offenses for 2004 and 2005, alcohol was involved in about 40 percent of the offenses. • Alcohol use was most common for the offenses of: Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA) violations (100%), disorderly conduct (73.0%), attempted forcible rape (65.8%), child abuse (63.2%), elderly abuse (58.1%), assault (56.4%), and aggravated assault (55.4%). • The influence of drug use was most common for the offenses of: prostitution/commercialized vice (43.5%), robbery (11.8%), homicide (11.1%), stolen property (10.8%), and fraud (10.2%). • The most common reported offenses were: drunkenness, disorderly conduct, liquor laws, assault, DWI, theft, domestic violence, suspicious person report, and drug violations. • The tribal agencies reported very high offense clearance rates with 60.7 percent cleared by arrest or exceptional means in 2004, and 87.6 percent of the offenses cleared in 2005. The offenses with the highest clearance rates included: liquor laws (96.6%), drunkenness (94.7%), disorderly conduct (93.6%), curfew and loitering (93.0%), homicide (92.6%, Archeological Resources Preservation Act (ARPA) violations (91.7%), and prostitution/commercialized vice (91.3%). • The overall Index crime rates of 1989 (using population method 1) and 1550- using population method 2) for 2004, and 2575(using population method 1), and 2007 (using population method 2) for 2005 were low when compared with the national rates of 3983 for 2004 and 3938 for 2005. 5 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. III. INTRODUCTION According to the 2000 census, American Indians and Alaska Natives account for about 1.5 percent or 4.3 million people in the United States. Most (2.5 million) of these listed “American Indian” or “Alaska Native” as their only racial category, while some (1.8 million) indicated “ American Indian” or “Alaska Native” along with one or more additional race categories. It is estimated that nearly one-half (43.5%) of all American Indians/Alaska Natives resided on Federal reservations or in a tribal statistical area during the 2000 Census.1 The offense information for the report was provided by Office of Law Enforcement and Security within District 5 of the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Billings, Montana. District 5 includes three Regions (Mountain, Northwest, and Juneau) with 47 Tribes, covering the states of Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. 1 2000 Census, U.S. Census Bureau 6 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. IV. OVERALL RESULTS Offenses Reported by Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies Reported offenses for 2004 and 2005 were available for 38 tribal law enforcement agencies located in the six western states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming. Most (21) of the reporting agencies submitted reports for 2004 and 2005, while some (11) only reported for 2005, and a few (6) only reported offense information for 2004. The data were submitted as summary information in either monthly, quarterly, or a yearly format. Table 1 – Listing of Law Enforcement Agencies and Number of Offenses Reported Law State Submitted Format # Off Submitted Format # Off Enforcement 2004 2004: 2004* 2005 2005: 2005** Unit Report: Monthly, Report: Monthly, Yes, No Yearly, Yes, No Yearly, Quarterly Quarterly Blackfeet MT No Report Yes