U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

BJS

TECHNICAL REPORT October 2012, NCJ 239077

Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012

Steven W. Perry, BJS Statistician

Introduction

The Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA), 

enacted July 29, 2010, requires the 

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to 

(1) establish and implement a tribal 

data collection system and (2) support 

tribal participation in national records 

and information systems (P.L. 111-

211, 124 Stat. 2258, § 251(b)). The act 

further requires that the director of BJS 

consult with Indian tribes to establish 

and implement this data collection 

system. The BJS director is required 

to report to Congress within one year 

of enactment, and annually thereafter, 

the data collected and analyzed in 

accordance with the act. 

This report describes activities in 

support of BJS’s tribal crime data 

collection system and summarizes 

findings and program enhancements 

between 2008 and 2012. This analysis 

includes data from the 2010 U.S. 

Census, the Census of State and Local 

Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), 

the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting 

(UCR) Program, the Edward Byrne 

Memorial Justice Assistance Grant 

(JAG) Program, and the Federal Justice 

Statistics Program (FJSP).

The tribal justice system in Indian 

country varies across tribal nations 

and regions of the country. Criminal 

jurisdiction in Indian country—

federally recognized reservations, 

tribal communities, and identified 

trust lands—varies by type of crime 

committed, whether the offender or 

victim is a tribal member, and the state 

in which the offense occurred. Due 

to the sovereign status of federally 

recognized tribes in the United States, 

crimes committed in Indian country are 

often subject to concurrent jurisdiction 

between multiple criminal justice 

agencies. 

Advances in the quality and quantity 

of tribal crime data created additional 

funding opportunities for American 

Indian tribes in 2010. As a result 

of improved reporting and the 

disaggregation of crime data about 

individual tribes, the annual Edward 

Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance 

Grant Allocations to American Indian 

tribal governments more than tripled 

from 2008 to 2011 (figure 1). 

HIGHLIGHTS

 In 2010, the self-identified American Indian and Alaska 

Native (AIAN) population totaled 5.2 million, or 1.7% of the 

estimated 308.7 million people in the United States.

 About 3.5 million (76%) of the 4.6 million people living on 

American Indian reservations or in Alaska Native villages in 

2010 were not AIAN.

 Tribally operated law enforcement agencies in Indian 

country employed 3,043 full-time equivalent (FTE) 

personnel in 2008.

 From 2008 to 2011, about $2 million in Edward Byrne 

Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program awards 

were allocated to tribal governments.

 The FBI’s Crime in the U.S., 2010 included crime data from 

144 tribal law enforcement agencies, up from 12 tribal 

agencies in the 2008 report.

 From 2008 to 2010, tribal law enforcement agencies across 

the U.S. reported about 72,000 violent and property crimes 

to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

 Suspects investigated for violent offenses in Indian country 

totaled 23% of all federal investigations for violent offenses 

in FY 2010.

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

Combined tribal awards (in dollars)

2008 2009 2010 2011

$709,189

$632,281

$559,125

$149,942

FIGURE 1

Total Edward Byrne Memorial 

Justice Assistance Grant Allocations 

to American Indian tribes, 2008–

2011

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics calculations 

based on crime data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime 

Reporting Program.

 
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 2

In 2002, about 188 tribes reported 

they had some form of a tribal justice 

system.1 In September 2008, American 

Indian tribes operated 178 law 

enforcement agencies located in 

28 states and employed about 3,000 fulltime sworn personnel.2 Indian country 

housed 2,239 inmates in about 80 jails 

and detention facilities at midyear 2011. 

Gaps exist in the available information 

on the tribal justice system, such as 

the understanding of existing and 

emerging issues in the administration 

and operations of tribal courts in 

the U.S; their annual caseloads; 

the implementation of TLOA 

enhancements; and selection criteria 

for judges, prosecutors, and public 

defenders. In August 2011, BJS awarded 

a multi-year grant to conduct a National 

Survey of Tribal Court Systems to 

address some of these concerns. In 

addition, BJS initiated the development 

and design of an Indian country justice 

statistics webpage with the goal of 

pulling together all available statistical 

data on the tribal justice system in one 

place. 

2010 Census and race

To adequately understand the nature 

and context of American Indian 

crime and justice, the results of the 

2010 U.S. Census of Population and 

Housing prove useful. These results 

provide information about the number 

and demographic characteristics of 

American Indians and Alaska Natives 

(AIAN) who reside in the U.S., where 

they live, their tribal affiliations, and 

residential patterns within Indian 

country and off reservation lands. 

The 2010 Census asked individuals to 

self-identify their race. Respondents were 

able to select one or more race categories, 

as well as their Hispanic or Latino origin 

(ethnicity). AIAN is the label given 

to persons whose ancestors originate 

from North, Central, or South America 

and who maintain tribal affiliation or 

community attachment. 

In April 2010, the total self-identified 

AIAN population accounted for 5.2 

million, or 1.7%, of the estimated 308.7 

million people in the United States.3

This includes people who identified 

themselves as AIAN only (56%) or AIAN 

in combination with at least one other 

race category (44%) (table 1). Between 

2000 and 2010, the number of people 

who self-reported themselves as AIAN 

(either alone or in combination with at 

least one other race) increased by 26.7%, 

a growth rate almost three times that of 

the overall U.S. population (9.7%) (not 

shown in table). 

Between 2000 and 2010, the number of 

American Indians and Alaska Natives 

who described themselves as being of 

multiracial increased 39.2%, compared 

to an 18.4% increase in those who 

described themselves as being a single 

race. As a result, the percentage of 

American Indians and Alaska Natives 

who described themselves as being of 

more than one race increased from 40% 

in 2000 to 44% in 2010.

In 2010, about 23% of AIAN people 

classified themselves as being of 

Hispanic or Latino origin. This 

proportion was similar whether they 

described themselves as being a single 

race (23%) or multiracial (22%).

AIAN grouping or affiliation 

In the 2010 Census, persons who 

identified themselves as AIAN on the 

questionnaire were asked to report 

their enrolled tribe or principal tribal 

affiliation. Respondents could report 

one or more tribal affiliation. Census 

information on tribal affiliation is 

based on self-identification and 

therefore is not limited to federally or 

state-recognized tribes or actual tribal 

enrollment. 

TABLE 1 

American Indian and Alaska Native population, by Hispanic/Latino origin, 

2010

AIAN*

Total As the only race Two or more races

Race and ethnicity Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 

Total 5,220,579 100% 2,932,248 56.2% 2,288,331 43.8%

Hispanic/Latino 1,190,904 23 685,150 57.5 505,754 42.5

Non-Hispanic/Latino 4,029,675 77 2,247,098 55.8 1,782,577 44.2

*American Indian and Alaska Native.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2012). The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010. Retrieved from http://

www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf.

1Census of Tribal Justice Agencies in Indian 

Country, 2002, NCJ 205332, BJS website, 

December 2005.

2Compendium of Tribal Crime Data, 2011, 

NCJ 234459, BJS website, June 2011.

3U.S. Census Bureau (2011). Overview of Race 

and Hispanic Origin: 2010. Retrieved from 

http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/

c2010br-02.pdf. 
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 3

AIAN persons in the United States 

may belong to a tribe—or a band or 

clan—that has a distinct history, culture, 

and often a separate language. In 

2010, among the total 5.2 million selfdescribed AIAN persons (either of one 

race or multiracial), 3.4 million (65%), 

indicated a tribal affiliation (not shown 

in table).4 AIAN persons of a single 

race were more likely to report a tribal 

grouping, compared to AIAN persons 

identifying as two or more races. In 

2010, 70% (or 2.9 million) of AIAN 

persons who reported a single race 

specified a tribal grouping, compared to 

60% (or 1.4 million) of AIAN persons 

who reported they were two or more 

races. 

In 2010, ten tribes comprised 40% of 

the AIAN population who report 

affiliation with one or more tribes 

(table 2). The Cherokee tribe had the 

largest AIAN population (819,000) 

in the U.S., followed by the Navajo 

(332,000), Choctaw (196,000), Mexican 

American Indian (175,000), Chippewa 

(170,000), Sioux (170,000), Apache 

(112,000), Blackfeet (105,000), Creek 

(88,000), and Iroquois (81,000).

Over half (56%) of AIAN persons in 

2010 classified themselves as being of 

a single race. Among the 10 largest 

tribes in 2010, the proportion of AIAN 

persons that classified themselves as 

a single race varied by tribe (figure 

2). Persons who described themselves 

as Navajo had the highest proportion 

(86%) of individuals who identified 

with a single race in 2010. Among the 

332,000 persons affiliated with the 

Navajo, 286,000 reported being of a 

single race. In comparison, among the 

105,000 persons that reported affiliation 

with the Blackfeet tribe 27,000 (26%) 

indicated they were of a single race.

TABLE 2 

American Indians and Alaska Natives reporting tribal affiliation, by race, 

2010

AIAN*

As the only race Two or more races

Tribal affiliation Total number Number Percent Number Percent

Total AIAN* population 5,220,579 2,932,248 56% 2,288,331 44%

10 largest tribes 2,249,792 1,202,320 53% 1,048,590 47%

Cherokee 819,105 286,687 35% 532,418 65%

Navajo 332,129 285,631 86 46,498 14

Choctaw 195,764 103,755 53 92,009 47

Mexican American Indian 175,494 121,091 69 54,403 31

Chippewa 170,742 112,690 66 58,052 34

Sioux 170,110 112,273 66 57,837 34

Apache 111,810 63,732 57 49,196 44

Blackfeet 105,304 27,379 26 77,925 74

Creek 88,332 48,583 55 39,749 45

Iroquois 81,002 40,501 50 40,501 50

*American Indian and Alaska Native.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2012). The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010. Retrieved from http://

www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf.

0 20 40 60 80

AIAN* the only race AIAN* two or more races

Navajo

Mexican American Indian

Chippewa

Sioux

Apache

Creek

Choctaw

Iroquois

Cherokee

Blackfeet

100

10 largest tribes

26

35

50

53

55

57

66

66

69

86

74

65

50

47

45

44

34

34

31

14

Percent

FIGURE 2

American Indians and Alaska Natives affiliated with the 10 largest tribes, by 

race, 2010

*American Indian and Alaska Native. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2012). The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010. Retrieved from http://

www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf.

4U.S. Census Bureau (2011). The American 

Indian and Alaska Native population: 2010. 

Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/

cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 4

American Indian reservations and 

Alaska Native villages 

A total of 565 tribal entities are 

recognized and eligible for funding 

and services from the Bureau of Indian 

Affairs. There were 334 federally and 

state-recognized American Indian 

reservations in 2010. In the U.S., 

4.8 million people lived on American 

Indian reservations or in Alaska Native 

villages. A quarter (or 1.1 million) of 

these individuals classified themselves 

as AIAN. (See Methodology for more 

information about federally recognized 

tribes, reservations, and Alaska Native 

village statistical areas.)

Most (77% or 3.5 million) of the 

4.6 million people living on American 

Indian reservations in the continental 

U.S. did not identify as AIAN during 

2010 (table 3). A total of 243,000 people 

resided within Alaska Native village 

statistical areas, and about 78,000 (or 

32%) self-identified as AIAN. 

During 2010, a minority (23% or 

1.1 million) of the 5.2 million AIAN 

persons in the U.S. lived on American 

Indian reservations or in Alaska 

Native villages. A greater proportion 

of AIAN persons who lived in tribal 

areas identified themselves as being 

of one race (84%) than multiracial 

(16%). About 67% of the AIAN-only 

population lived outside of tribal 

areas, compared to 92% of the AIAN 

multiracial population. 

TABLE 3 

U.S. population living on and off American Indian reservations and Alaska Native villages, 2010

AIAN*

Non-AIAN* Total

Location

U.S. resident 

population Number

Percent of 

U.S. resident 

population Number

Percent of 

U.S. resident 

population

As the only race Two or more races

Number

Percent 

of AIAN* Number

Percent 

of AIAN* 

Living outside AIAN* areas 303,926,798 299,853,771 99% 4,073,027 1% 1,965,113 48% 2,107,914 52%

Living inside AIAN* areas 4,818,740 3,671,188 76% 1,147,552 24% 963,944 84% 183,608 16%

American Indian reservation areas 4,576,127 3,506,716 77 1,069,411 23 901,280 84 168,131 16

Alaska Native village statistical areas 242,613 164,472 68 78,141 32 65,855 84 12,286 16

*American Indian and Alaska Native.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2012). American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 5

The Census Bureau ranked the 

American Indian reservations 

based on the number of AIAN persons 

(either of one race or multiracial) living 

on the reservation.5 Navajo Nation was 

the largest reservation with more than 

169,000 identifying as AIAN. The next 

largest reservations with more than 

10,000 persons identifying as AIAN 

included Pine Ridge (17,000), Fort 

Apache (13,000), Gila River (11,000), 

Osage (10,000), San Carlos (10,000), 

Rosebud reservation and trust land 

(10,000) (table 4). 

Among reservations, the Navajo Nation 

had the largest total (including AIAN 

and non-AIAN residents) population in 

2010 (174,000). The Osage Reservation 

in Oklahoma had the second largest 

total population (47,000), and it had the 

largest proportion (79%) of residents 

that were not AIAN. 

Alaska Native villages were also ranked 

by AIAN population (either of one race 

or multiracial). The three Alaska Native 

village statistical areas with the largest 

AIAN populations in 2010 were: Knik 

(7,000), Bethel (4,000), and Kenaitze 

(3,000).

Among the Alaska Native villages in 

2010, Knik (66,000) had the largest 

total population, followed by Kenaitze 

(33,000) and Chickaloon (23,000). 

About 90% of the residents of these 

villages were not AIAN. 

TABLE 4 

Resident population of the 20 largest American Indian reservations and Alaska Native villages, by race, 2010

AIAN*

Reservations and villages

Total 

population

Non-AIAN*

Number Percent of total As the only race

Two or more 

Number Percent of total races

American Indian reservation

Navajo Nation Reservation and Off-Reservation 

 Trust Land (AZ, NM, UT, and CO) 173,667 4,346 3% 169,321 97% 166,824 2,497

Pine Ridge Reservation (SD and NE) 18,834 1,928 10 16,906 90 16,580 326

Fort Apache Reservation (AZ) 13,409 395 3 13,014 97 12,870 144

Gila River Indian Reservation (AZ) 11,712 461 4 11,251 96 10,845 406

Osage Reservation (OK) 47,472 37,552 79 9,920 21 6,858 3,062

San Carlos Reservation (AZ) 10,068 167 2 9,901 98 9,835 66

Rosebud Indian Reservation and Off-Reservation

 Trust Land (SD) 10,869 1,060 10 9,809 90 9,617 192

Tohono O’odham Nation Reservation and 

 Off-Reservation Trust Land (AZ) 10,201 923 9 9,278 91 9,139 139

Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Off-Reservation

 Trust Land (MT) 10,405 1,256 12 9,149 88 8,944 205

Flathead Reservation (MT) 28,359 19,221 68 9,138 32 7,042 2,096

Alaska Native village statistical area

Knik 65,768 59,186 90% 6,582 10% 3,529 3,053

Bethel 6,080 1,746 29 4,334 71 3,953 381

Kenaitze 32,902 29,485 90 3,417 10 2,001 1,416

Barrow 4,212 1,323 31 2,889 69 2,577 312

Ketchikan 12,742 10,137 80 2,605 20 1,692 913

Kotzebue 3,201 616 19 2,585 81 2,355 230

Nome 3,681 1,285 35 2,396 65 1,994 402

Chickaloon 23,087 20,714 90 2,373 10 1,369 1,004

Dillingham 2,378 795 33 1,583 67 1,333 250

Sitka 4,480 3,240 72 1,240 28 855 385

*American Indian and Alaska Native.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, (2012). The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf.

5U.S. Census Bureau (2011). The American 

Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010. 

Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/

cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf. 
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 6

Tribal law enforcement

Tribal sworn full-time equivalent 

(FTE) law enforcement staffing 

Tribally operated law enforcement 

agencies provide a broad range of public 

safety services, such as responding to 

calls for service, investigating crimes, 

enforcing traffic laws, executing 

arrest warrants, serving process, 

and conducting search and rescue 

operations within the boundaries of 

tribal lands in the U.S. 

In September 2008, AIAN tribes 

operated 178 law enforcement agencies 

that employed at least one full-time 

sworn officer with general arrest powers 

in the continental U.S.6 About 90% 

of tribally operated law enforcement 

agencies were general purpose police 

departments, and the others were 

special jurisdiction agencies responsible 

for enforcing natural resources laws.

Tribally operated law enforcement 

agencies in 2008 employed 3,043 

sworn full-time equivalent (FTE) 

personnel (table 5). Collectively, tribes 

operated law enforcement agencies 

in 28 states. The largest tribal law 

enforcement agency, the Navajo Police 

Department, employed 393 FTE 

personnel in Arizona, New Mexico, and 

Utah. Washington (24), Arizona (22), 

Oklahoma (19), and New Mexico (17) 

had the largest numbers of tribal law 

enforcement agencies (not shown in 

table). 

In addition to tribally operated law 

enforcement agencies, the Bureau 

of Indian Affairs (BIA), within the 

Department of the Interior (DOI), 

operated 42 agencies that provided law 

enforcement services in Indian country.6

These agencies police Indian tribes and 

reservations that do not have their own 

police force and oversee other tribal 

police organizations. As federal police 

officers, BIA police enforce federal 

laws relating to Indian country and, in 

some instances, are granted authority to 

enforce tribal law by tribal ordinance or 

statute. Nationwide, BIA employed an 

estimated 277 full-time sworn personnel 

in 2008.

Alaska is a Public Law 280 state. (See 

Methodology for more information 

about Public Law 280.) Alaska Native 

tribes generally do not have police 

departments, but many have Village 

Public Safety Officers (VPSO) who 

reside in the community. The VPSO 

Program began as a means of providing 

rural Alaskan communities with needed 

public safety services at the local level. 

For additional information, see http://

www.dps.state.ak.us/ast/vpso/.

Tribal Uniform Crime Reporting 

Program training and technical 

assistance

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting 

(UCR) Program is a national data 

collection system that captures 

information on crimes known to 

law enforcement agencies across the 

country. Among their many uses, the 

UCR data are used to distribute federal 

funds to state and local justice systems. 

In the past, many tribal justice systems 

were ineligible to receive some federal 

funds because they did not contribute 

data to the UCR Program.

Between 2009 and 2010, over 140 

individual law enforcement officials, 

representing almost 70 tribal nations 

across the U.S., received training on 

the UCR Program sponsored by BJS in 

coordination with the FBI. The purpose 

of the two-day training was to expand 

the number of tribal agencies reporting 

to the UCR and to improve the accuracy 

of the reported data. 

These UCR trainings addressed the 

unique needs and problems faced by 

Indian country sworn personnel who 

are responsible for reporting data to 

the UCR. In addition to the standard 

UCR training, 21 tribal law enforcement 

agencies also completed training on the 

FBI’s National Incident Based Reporting 

System (NIBRS) (table 6).

7

TABLE 5 

Full-time equivalent sworn tribal law enforcement officers in the 20 largest 

tribal police departments, 2008 

Police department Full-time equivalent officers

All tribal police departments 3,043

20 largest tribal police departments 1,358

Navajo Nation Tribal Department of Law Enforcement (AZ, NM, UT, and CO) 393

Seminole Tribal Police Department (FL) 144

Salt River Tribal Police Department (AZ) 125

Gila River Tribal Police Department (AZ) 93

Tohono O'Odham Tribal Police (AZ) 66

Choctaw Tribal Police Department (MS) 50

Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety (SD) 49

Cherokee Tribal Police Department (NC) 45

Poarch Creek Tribal Police Dept (AL)* 45

Muscogee Creek Nation Tribal Police (OK) 39

Miccosukee Tribal Police Department (FL) 36

Choctaw Nation Tribal Police Department (OK) 32

Cherokee Nation Tribal Marshal Service (OK) 32

Colville Tribal Police Department (WA) 32

White Mountain Apache Tribal Police Department (AZ) 30

Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police Department (MI) 30

Warm Springs Tribal Police Department (OR) 30

Tulalip Tribal Police (WA) 30

Isleta Tribal Police Department (NM) 29

Yakama Nation Tribal Police (WA) 28

*Poarch Creek Tribal Police Department employed 33 full-time sworn officers and 23 part-time sworn officers.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2008.

6For additional information on the Bureau of 

Indian Affairs police and operations see http://

www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/OJS/DOLE/

index.htm.

7National Incident Based Reporting System 

(NIBRS) is an incident-based reporting system 

that collects more comprehensive and detailed 

data on crime from local, state, and federal law 

enforcement agencies.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 7

State Completed training

Alaska

Aleut Community of St. Paul Island 

Arizona

Cocopah Indian Tribe 

Colorado River Indian Tribes 

Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation 

Fort Mojave Tribe 

Gila River Indian Community 

Hualapai Indian Tribe of the Hualapai Indian Reservation 

Navajo Nation 

Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community 

The Hopi Tribe 

Tohono O'odham Nation 

Yavapai-Prescott Tribe of the Yavapai Reservation 

California

Coyote Valley Tribe 

Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation 

Hopland Band of Pomo Indians of the Hopland Rancheria 

Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians 

Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians 

Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation 

Table Mountain Tribe 

Yurok Tribe 

Connecticut

Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut 

Florida

Seminole Tribe of Florida 

Idaho

Nez Perce Tribe 

Maine

Penobscot Indian Nation 

Masschusetts

Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) 

Michigan

Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians 

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians 

Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians 

Montana

Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy's Reservation 

Nevada

Moapa Band of Paiutes 

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of the Pyramid Lake 

 Reservation 

Reno Sparks Indian Colony 

Walker River Paiute Tribe 

Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California 

Yerington Paiute Tribe 

State Completed training

New Mexico

Pueblo of Acoma 

Pueblo of Santa Ana 

Pueblo of Zuni Tribe 

Ramah Navajo Chapter 

Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation 

New York

Oneida Indian Nation 

Oklahoma

Cherokee Nation 

Chickasaw Nation 

Citizen Potawatomi Nation 

Comanche Nation 

Delaware Nation of Oklahoma for the Delaware Nation 

 Tribal Police System 

Miami Nation 

Wyandotte Nation 

Oregon

Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and 

 Siuslaw Indians 

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation 

 of Oregon 

South Dakota

Oglala Sioux Tribe 

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe 

Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota 

Texas

Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas 

Washington

Colville Confederated Tribes 

Lummi Tribe 

Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe 

Snoqualmie Tribe 

Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation 

Squaxin Island Tribe of the Squaxin Indian Reservation 

The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation 

Wisconsin

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin 

Oneida Nation 

Red Cliff Tribal Police Department 

TABLE 6 

Federally recognized tribes that completed BJS-sponsored training on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) 

Program, 2009–2010

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recovery Act Tribal Crime Data Program: UCR and NIBRS training.

Completed basic UCR training.

 Completed both basic UCR training 

 and specialized NIBRS training.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 8

Tribal Data Exchange Process: 

How do tribal crime statistics get into the UCR?

From 2009 to 2012, BJS funded the Recovery Act: Tribal Crime 

Data Collection, Analysis, and Estimation Project to improve 

tribal crime data reporting. The goal of this project was to 

enhance the utility of tribal crime and justice data by 

increasing the number of tribes reporting crime data to the 

FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, and in doing so 

increasing the number of tribes eligible for the Edward Byrne 

Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program.

In order to accomplish this goal, BJS formed a tribal federal 

coordinating committee composed of representatives from BJS, 

the FBI, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) at the Department 

of Interior. An important activity of the federal coordinating 

committee was to implement the Tribal Data Exchange Process 

(TDEP) developed by BJS. 

TDEP enables the integration of tribal justice data into regional 

and national criminal justice systems, such as the UCR. TDEP 

illustrates to stakeholders the conceptual process of collecting, 

validating, verifying, and disseminating Indian country 

crime and justice information. This model is premised upon 

collaboration between federal and tribal organizations and 

provides a culturally sensitive approach to information-sharing. 

TDEP simplifies the process into four primary steps involving the 

custody of the data (figure 3).

 Step 1: Tribal law enforcement agencies are responsible for 

collecting and classifying incident data. Tribes submit crime 

data monthly to BIA or, in very few cases, directly to the FBI’s 

Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division or state 

UCR Programs. 

 Step 2: BIA, the state UCR Programs, or the tribal direct 

contributors track and verify these monthly submissions. The 

state UCR Programs and direct tribal contributors to the FBI 

provide data on the standard Return A form used by the FBI’s 

Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. The Return A is the 

form local, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement 

agencies complete monthly for the UCR Program on offenses 

known to law enforcement agencies. 

 Step 3: The FBI verifies the data quality and enters only valid 

tribal data into the UCR master file and publishes the data in 

the Crime in the United States series.

 Step 4: BJS uses the UCR master file and published 

data to—

• conduct tribal JAG calculations for the Bureau of Justice 

Assistance.

• analyze crime levels on tribal lands.

• identify needs for training and technical assistance to help 

tribes collect, report, automate, and improve the quality 

of their crime data.

• provide tribal and public access to data.

UCR

master le

FBI publishes

tribe-specic data 

in Crime in the 

United States

BJA

Step 2: BIA or the state UCR Programs

track and submit data to FBI

 Step 3: FBI reviews data quality Step 4: BJS performs analysis and 

calculations for JAG

BJA awards tribal JAG funds BIA

BJS FBI

Step 1: Tribes collect and report data to BIA, 

the state UCR Program or directly to the FBI Tribes

FIGURE 3

Tribal Data Exchange Process (TDEP)
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 9

Offenses known to tribal law 

enforcements agencies between 

2008 and 2010

The FBI asks law enforcement agencies 

to report eight crime types to the 

traditional UCR Program: four violent 

crimes (murder, forcible rape, robbery, 

and aggravated assault) and four 

property crimes (burglary, larcenytheft, motor vehicle theft, and arson). 

These eight crimes are often considered 

the barometer of the overall crime 

problem in a jurisdiction. From 2008 to 

2010, tribal law enforcement agencies 

across the U.S. reported about 72,000 

violent and property crimes to the UCR 

Program (table 7). 

Of the approximately 17,000 violent 

crimes reported by tribal law 

enforcement agencies between 2008 

and 2010, 77% were aggravated 

assaults, 15% were forcible rapes, 5% 

were robberies, and 3% were criminal 

homicides. During the same time, tribal 

law enforcement agencies reported 

approximately 54,000 property crimes 

to the FBI: 55% were larceny-thefts, 26% 

were burglaries, 14% were motor vehicle 

thefts, and 5% were arsons.

Tribe-specific reporting of crime data 

From 2008 to 2010, the overall number 

of tribal law enforcement agencies with 

identifiable crime data in the FBI’s UCR 

Program increased. In 2010, 144 AIAN 

tribal law enforcement agencies had 

disaggregated data published in the 

FBI’s annual Crime in the United States.

report, compared to only 12 tribal law 

enforcement agencies in the 2008 report. 

In 2010, 79% of violent offenses 

reported by tribal law enforcement 

agencies could be traced back to the 

originating tribal reservation, up 

substantially from 1% in 2008 (figure 4). 

Between 2008 and 2010, the proportion 

of property offenses reported by tribal 

law enforcement agencies that were 

traceable to the tribe increased from 

13% to 88%. 

TABLE 7 

Violent and property crime reported by tribal law enforcement agencies to 

the FBI’s UCR Program, 2008–2010

Offense 2008–2010 2008 2009 2010

Total 71,623 24,923 22,637 24,063

Violent 17,394 6,212 5,650 5,532

Murder and non-negligent manslaughter 444 172 139 133

Forcible rape 2,613 879 882 852

Robbery 869 296 293 280

Aggravated assault 13,468 4,865 4,336 4,267

Property 54,229 18,711 16,987 18,531

Burglary 14,286 4,692 4,604 4,990

Larceny-theft 29,744 10,168 9,081 10,495

Motor vehicle theft 7,338 2,664 2,446 2,228

Arson* 2,861 1,187 856 818

*Law enforcement agencies do not submit reports for arson to the FBI’s UCR Program unless they have the full 

12 months of arson data for that year. 

Source: FBI, Crime in the United States, 2008–2010.

0 

20

40

60

80

100

2008 2009 2010

Motor vehicle Arson*

theft

Murder and Forcible rape Robbery Aggravated assault Burglary Larceny-theft

non-negligent

 manslaughter

Percent

86 85 84

 49

 2 4

 13

 1

 67

 7

 67

 90

 7

 68

 84

 1

 62 

 89

 75 73

 54

 78

 18

 73

FIGURE 4

Crimes reported by tribal law enforcement agencies to the UCR that can be linked to the tribe, 2008–2010

*Law enforcement agencies do not submit reports for arson to the FBI’s UCR program unless they have the full 12 months of arson data for that year. 

Source: FBI, Crime in the United States, 2008–2010.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 10

Tribes and Justice Assistance Grant 

(JAG) Program 

A total of $2,050,537 was made 

available to tribal governments through 

the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice 

Assistance Grant (JAG) Program 

between 2008 and 2011 (table 8). The 

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) 

administers the JAG Program. BJS 

calculates the JAG formula-based award 

amounts using specifications outlined 

in the legislation. JAG awards may be 

used for the following seven purposes 

areas: law enforcement; prosecution 

and courts; prevention and education; 

corrections and community corrections; 

drug treatment; planning, evaluation, 

and technology improvement; and 

crime victim and witness programs.

TABLE 8 

American Indian tribes that received Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) awards, 2008–2011

State 2008 2009 2010 2011 Combined total

Total tribal awards $149,942 $559,125 $709,189 $632,281 $2,050,537 

Mean $29,988 $27,956 $32,236 $27,490 

Minimum individual award $10,288 $11,956 $12,699 $11,124 

Maximum individual award $96,083 $73,131 $111,750 $91,922 

Number of eligible tribes 5 20 22 23

Arizona

Fort Apache Tribe ~ ~ $29,761 $22,804 $52,565 

Ft. Apache (White Mtn.) Tribe ~ $22,923 ~ ~ 22,923

Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community $13,119 22,837 35,416 29,378 100,750

Hualapai Tribe ~ 11,956 15,273 13,285 40,514

Navajo Nation 96,083 70,747 90,563 73,720 331,113

San Carlos Apache Tribe ~ 23,267 26,583 22,051 71,901

Tohono O'dham Tribe ~ 14,192 ~ ~ 14,192

Idaho

Coeur D'Alene Tribe ~ $18,028 $32,881 $27,179 $78,088 

Minnesota

Red Lake Dept. of Conservation Tribal ~ ~ ~ $15,684 $15,684 

Mississippi

Choctaw Law Enforcement Services ~ $27,439 $37,373 $35,657 $100,469 

Montana

Blackfeet Tribal Law Enforcement ~ $73,131 $111,750 $91,922 $276,803 

Chippewa-Cree Indians ~ ~ 19,188 15,784 34,972

Crow Tribe ~ ~ 13,066 ~ 13,066

Flathead Tribe ~ 20,500 19,737 16,235 56,472

Northern Cheyenne Tribe ~ ~ 13,523 11,124 24,647

Nebraska

Omaha Tribe of Nebraska ~ $25,699 $23,831 $19,496 $69,026 

Winnebago Tribe ~ 13,513 ~ ~ 13,513

New Mexico

Mescalero Apache Tribe ~ $19,875 $25,754 $24,534 $70,163 

Pueblo of Laguna ~ 17,939 12,699 11,205 41,843 

North Dakota

Fort Berthold Tribe ~ $22,156 ~ ~ $22,156 

Fort Totten Tribe ~ 65,336 $28,371 $14,384 108,091

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe ~ ~ ~ 42,527 42,527

Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation ~ ~ 18,092 11,793 29,885

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians ~ 23,773 28,645 24,480 76,898

Oregon

Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation $11,016 ~ ~ ~ $11,016 

South Dakota

Cheyenne River Tribal Police Department $19,436 $21,024 $20,614 $16,460 $77,534 

Oglala Sioux Tribe ~ 22,108 28,827 26,697 77,632

Rosebud Tribal Police Dept ~ ~ 49,944 39,878 89,822

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe 10,288 ~ ~ ~ 10,288

Wyoming

Wind River ~ $22,682 $27,298 $26,004 $75,984 

~Not applicable because the tribe did not have crime data included in this year’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics calculations based on data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 11

The total 2011 JAG funding allocation 

for tribal nations was approximately 

$632,000, a 322% increase over the 

$150,000 allocation in 2008. In addition, 

the overall number of tribes eligible for 

JAG awards increased from 5 in 2008 to 

23 in 2011. The five largest total tribal 

government JAG allocations in 2011 

were awarded to the Blackfeet ($91,922), 

Navajo Nation ($73,720), Standing 

Rock Sioux Tribe ($42,527), Rosebud 

($39,878), and Choctaw ($35,657). 

Four of the five tribes also received the 

highest awards in 2010 (the Standing 

Rock Sioux Tribe was not included). 

All of the tribes that were eligible for 

direct awards in 2011 were from 11 

states. From 2008 to 2011, about 77% 

of all direct tribal JAG awards went 

to tribal governments in Arizona 

($633,958), Montana ($405,960), North 

Dakota ($279,557), and South Dakota 

($255,276).

Tribal court systems

The tribal justice systems promote 

self-determination, advance and protect 

the rights of self-government, and fight 

crime and violence in Indian country. 

The number of cases handled in tribal 

courts across the U.S. is unknown. Some 

criminal and civil issues are handled 

directly by indigenous forums or tribal 

courts, some are sent through the federal 

court system, and others are handled by 

state courts. The court systems operating 

in Indian country vary by tribe. The 

Indian country judicial system revolves 

around a core of five legal institutions: 

indigenous forums (also known as 

traditional courts), Court of Indian 

Offenses (Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR)), inter-tribal courts, the courts 

of appeal, and tribal courts of general 

jurisdiction. For a definition of the tribal 

justice system, see Methodology.

BJS has actively coordinated and 

collaborated with federal and tribal 

partners to develop and design the 2012 

National Survey of Tribal Court Systems 

(NSTCS-12). The NSTCS-12 is part 

of BJS’s multifaceted effort to expand 

its statistical activities related to tribal 

crime and justice issues. 

2012 National Survey of Tribal Court 

Systems

Through the NSTCS-12, BJS will gather 

information to improve the nation’s 

understanding of the administrative 

and operational characteristics of 

tribal justice systems, including 

budgets, staffing, caseloads and case 

process, indigent defense services, 

implementation of various enhanced 

sentencing provisions of the Tribal Law 

and Order Act (TLOA), and various 

indigenous or traditional dispute forums 

operating within Indian country. To 

facilitate this effort, BJS has undertaken 

the following steps.

Since December 2011, BJS has 

coordinated regular meetings with the 

various Department of Justice (DOJ) 

components, including the Office of 

Tribal Justice; FBI; Office for Access 

to Justice Initiative; National Institute 

of Justice; BJA; Office for Victims of 

Crime; Office of Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention; Sex Offender 

Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, 

Registering, and Tracking Office; 

and the DOI’s BIA. The various DOJ 

components described the types of 

information about tribal courts relevant 

to their respective programs and roles. 

They also provided guidance to address 

emerging TLOA issues.

In March 2012, the director of BJS 

sent a letter to all federally and staterecognized tribes across the U.S. 

announcing the new survey and 

its significance, as well as inviting 

participation and input from tribal 

nations in the design and development 

of the survey instrument. The 

NSTCS-12 design and development 

process includes, but is not limited 

to 1) conducting outreach to and 

collaborating with tribal justice agencies 

and experts, 2) verifying contact 

information for all tribal courts in the 

U.S., 3) identifying subject matter and 

policy topics, 4) exploring methods to 

ensure high response rates, and 

5) determining the types of follow-up 

required.

Outreach and collaboration with 

tribal justice systems

Since 2011, BJS has actively conducted 

(and will continue to conduct) 

outreach with tribal members and 

justice professionals through its 

participation and attendance at various 

Indian country-related conferences or 

meetings:

 Office of Justice Programs Tribal 

Justice, Safety and Wellness 

Conference, New Mexico, December 

2011

 Indian Law and Order Commission 

Field Hearing, Washington, DC, 

March 2012

 Bureau of Justice Assistance Tribal 

Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance 

Program Planning and Coordination 

Meeting, Washington, DC, June 2012

 Justice Department’s Tribal Nations 

Leadership Council, Washington, 

DC, July 2012

 2012 National Tribal Judicial 

Conference, Minnesota, October 

2012

 Office for Victims of Crime 13th 

National Indian Nations Conference, 

California, December 2012.

The NSTCS-12 is also being developed 

and designed in consultation with tribal 

justice professionals. The following 

organizations serve as partners for the 

NSTCS-12 and met at the Office of 

Justice Programs in May 2012:

 American Indian Development 

Associates, New Mexico

 Hamline University School of Law, 

Minnesota

 Kansas University School of Law’s 

Tribal Law and Government Center

 National Judicial College, the 

National Tribal Judicial Center, 

Nevada

 Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, South 

Dakota

 The Supreme Court of the Navajo 

Nation, Arizona
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 12

 Syracuse University College of Law, 

the Center for Indigenous Law, 

Governance, and Citizenship 

 Tanana Chiefs Conference, Alaska

 Tribal Law and Policy Institute, 

California

 University of Colorado at Boulder, 

American Indian Law Clinic

 University of North Dakota School of 

Law’s Tribal Judicial Institute.

BJS has also assembled a panel of 

tribal judges and court administrators 

to serve as consultants to the project. 

BJS selected tribal court personnel 

in similar positions to those that will 

actually complete the instrument. BJS 

met with the panel in Rapid City, South 

Dakota in August 2012. The following 

tribal courts are formal partners and 

nine will be field testing the NSTCS-12 

questionnaire:

 Organized Village of Kake, Alaska

 Central Council of Tlingit and Haida 

Tribes, Alaska

 Citizen Potowatomi Nation, 

Oklahoma

 Eastern Band of Cherokee Supreme 

Court, North Carolina

 Fort Peck, Montana

 Intertribal Court of Southern 

California, California

 Navajo Nation Supreme Court, 

Arizona

 Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, 

Michigan

 Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico

 Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court, South 

Dakota

 Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Prairie 

Island Indian Community, Turtle 

Mountain, and Mille Lacs Band of 

Ojibwe, North Dakota 

 Tulalip Tribes, Washington.

Following the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) approval for the 

NSTCS-12 form, BJS will submit the 

survey to approximately 300 federally 

recognized tribal justice systems in the 

United States. The anticipated response 

period for the NSTCS-12 is from March 

2013 through July 2013. BJS will prepare 

a report of the data collected in FY2014. 

BJS will also provide public access to the 

NSTCS-12 data file on the BJS website, 

along with topical pages containing text, 

tables and graphics on a wide range of 

tribal justice issues.

NSTCS-12 Methodology:

Tribal courts vary considerably across 

the U.S. and a single survey instrument 

would not suffice for this endeavor. 

Therefore, the proposed survey 

instrument will include a core survey 

and two modules or supplements. 

 The core survey will be administered 

to all tribal courts in the lower 48 

states;

 Alaska module: the 200 plus tribes 

in Alaska will receive an extract 

of the core survey with questions 

specifically targeting the courts 

operating in the natives villages; and 

 Court of Federal Regulations (CFR): 

The 20 plus CFR courts operating 

on behalf of BIA will receive a 

simplified instrument that captures 

the critical items not collected in 

the administrative processes by the 

Department of Interior.

The NSTCS-12 will serve as an 

authoritative source for tribal court 

statistics, foster greater transparency in 

addressing the problems of crime and 

justice in Indian country, and enrich 

tribal eligibility for justice program 

funding resources, prevention programs, 

and justice services. The tribal justice 

professionals have identified substantial 

benefits, both empirical and practical, 

of the NSTCS-12 data collection and 

subsequent analyses for tribal nations, 

including: 

 define the organizational structure of 

tribal courts.

 describe the magnitude of tribal court 

workload and the spectrum of work. 

 identify and define the Alaska Native 

village courts system.

 demonstrate funding and service 

needs for tribal courts.

 demonstrate the integrity of the tribal 

judicial processes.

 provide a voice to educate the federal 

government and other agencies about 

the important work and effectiveness 

of tribal courts and justice systems.

 include tribes in the national dialogue 

on justice systems.

 help the federal government fulfill 

the trust responsibility to Indian 

nations through accurate and reliable 

information.

Tribal jails and detention centers 

in Indian country

BJS initiated the Survey of Jails in Indian 

Country (SJIC) in 1998 as a component 

of the Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ). The 

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 number jails or detention centers 

operating in Indian country rose 16% 

from 69 facilities in 1998 to 80 as of 

2011. The recent survey collected 

data on the number of inmates and 

percent of capacity occupied based 

on the average daily population 

(ADP), midyear population, and peak 

population in facilities in June 2011. 

Also, the survey gathered information 

on staffing, offense types, and conviction 

status, as well as an addendum that 

collected in-depth data on inmates, 

health services and facility programs.

Based on the recent results from Jails in 

Indian Country, 2011 (NCJ 238978, BJS 

website, September 2012) about 78,700 

American Indian or Alaska Natives 

were under correctional supervision—

either at federal, state, local, or tribal 

facilities—in the United States. About 

3% (2,239) of all American Indians 

or Alaska Natives under correctional 

supervision were confined in 80 Indian 

country jails across the U.S. at midyear 

2011. Additional and detailed results 

from the Jails in Indian Country reports 

are available on the BJS website.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 13

AIAN in the federal justice system 

United States attorneys prosecute 

violations of federal laws in Indian 

country. Section 1153 of U.S. Title 18 

grants jurisdiction to federal courts over 

Indians who commit in Indian country 

any of the crimes listed under the 

Major Crimes Act of 1885, regardless 

of whether the victim was an Indian or 

non-Indian. At the federal level, Indian 

country means all land within the 

limits of any Indian reservation under 

the jurisdiction of the United States 

government, including all dependent 

communities and Indian allotments 

as described in 18 USC § 1151. Data 

on suspects investigated and charged 

in U.S. district court come from BJS’s 

Federal Justice Statistics Program 

(FJSP). These data do not identify the 

race of suspects but do identify whether 

the offense occurred in Indian country. 

Investigations 

Criminal referrals, or matters, are 

submitted to the U.S. attorneys by 

federal investigative agencies—Drug 

Enforcement Agency, FBI, and Bureau 

of Indian Affairs—and state and local 

investigative agencies. The U.S. attorney 

decides the appropriateness of bringing 

criminal charges and may initiate 

prosecution. 

In fiscal year 2010, U.S. attorneys 

investigated 195,260 suspects in 

matters from across the United States 

for violation of federal laws. Just over 

1% (2,283) were for alleged offenses 

occurring in Indian country (table 9). 

A total of 6,353 suspects in 2010 were 

investigated by federal prosecutors for 

a violent offense. The 1,479 suspects 

investigated for violent offenses in 

Indian country represented 23% of all 

federal investigations for violent offenses 

in fiscal year 2010. Violent crimes 

were the majority (67%) of offenses 

investigated by U.S. attorneys in Indian 

country in fiscal year 2010. The number 

of Indian country suspects investigated 

by U.S. attorneys for violence declined 

3%, from 1,525 in 2000 to 1,479 in 2010. 

The number of Indian country suspects 

investigated for property, drug, and other 

offenses increased 57%, from 475 in 2000 

to 746 in 2010. Over half (55%) of the 

total 2,283 Indian country investigations 

in 2010 were in the judicial districts of 

Arizona, South Dakota and New Mexico 

(figure 5). 

TABLE 9 

Suspects in matters investigated by U.S. Attorneys, by offense, 2010

 Total Indian country

Lead charge Number Percent Number Percent

All offenses 195,260 100% 2,283 100%

Violent 6,353 3.3% 1,479 66.5%

Property 28,931 15.0 295 13.3

Drugs 37,359 19.3 201 9.0

Public order 24,632 12.7 192 8.6

Weapons 11,484 5.9 52 2.3

Immigration 84,606 43.8 6 0.3

Note: Percentages based on matters with non-missing offense type: 1,895 total matters missing information on 

lead charge; 58 Indian country matters missing information on lead charge.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP); and Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, 

National LIONS data base, fiscal year 2010.

Number of suspects

0

1–49

50–99

100+

FIGURE 5

Number of Indian country suspects in matters referred to U.S. attorneys, 

FY2010

Source: Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, National LIONS database, fiscal year 2010.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 14

Charges filed 

At the conclusion of the investigation 

of a criminal matter, U.S. attorneys 

may decline prosecution, file criminal 

charges in a U.S. district court, or refer 

the matter to a U.S. magistrate or a state 

jurisdiction. In fiscal year 2010, U.S. 

attorneys filed criminal cases against 

100,253 defendants in all federal district 

courts. About 1% (1,192) of these 

involved cases in Indian country 

(table 10). 

In fiscal year 2010, 3,493 defendants 

were charged with a violent offense 

in cases filed in U.S. district court 

during fiscal year 2010. The 727 Indian 

country defendant cases made up 21% 

of the total. Sixty-three percent of all 

defendants charged in U.S. district 

courts for crimes in Indian country were 

charged with violent crimes, compared 

to about 4% nationally. Indian country 

suspects were more likely to be charged 

in U.S. district court for violent crimes 

relative to other offenses because federal 

jurisdiction focuses on major crimes 

committed on tribal lands.

Overall, the number of federal district 

court filings for all violent crime 

increased by 29%, from 78,000 in 2000 

to 100,300 in 2010. The number of all 

filing against Indian country defendants 

for violent crimes increased 7% from 

677 in 2000 to 727 in 2010. 

Improving federal justice statistics in 

Indian country

During FY 2013, BJS will coordinate 

with federal justice agencies that 

contribute data to the Federal Justice 

Statistics Program (FJSP) to determine 

the criteria they use to flag federal 

cases handled in Indian country. BJS 

will produce summary information 

about youth and adults processed by 

the federal justice system for crimes 

occurring in Indian country using 

federal administrative data that spans 

from arrest to imprisonment for fiscal 

years 2009-2011. In the future, the 

Federal Criminal Case Processing 

query tool on the BJS website will allow 

data users to create customized tables 

on Indian country cases as a standard 

feature. 

TABLE 10 

Defendants in criminal cases filed in U.S. district courts, by type of offense, 2010

 Total Indian country

Lead charge Number Percent Number Percent

All offenses 100,253 100% 1,192 100%

Violent 3,493 3.5% 727 63.1%

Property 15,042 15.1 141 12.2

Drugs 31,194 31.3 151 13.1

Public order 10,129 10.2 101 8.8

Weapons 8,971 9.0 33 2.9

Immigration 30,724 30.9 0

Note: Percentages based on cases with non-missing offense type: 700 total cases missing information on lead 

charge; 39 Indian country cases missing information on lead charge. 

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP); and Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, 

National LIONS data base, fiscal year 2010.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 15

Indian country justice statistics 

webpage

To ensure Indian country justice 

statistics are easily located and accessible 

from a central source, BJS is developing 

the Indian country justice statistics 

webpage to serve as a repository link 

for crime and justice information and 

statistical data related to Indian county 

or tribal justice systems (figure 6). 

This webpage will include links to 

American Indian or tribal-specific 

1) publications and products, 

2) statistical data collections, 3) funding 

sources; 4) other relevant non-DOJ 

statistical data, and 5) a questions and 

answers section. Currently available 

on the site are the 2008 through 2010 

published violent and property crime 

data files disaggregated by tribe.

FIGURE 6

Indian country justice statistics webpage
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 16

Methodology

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 

is the principal statistics agency in the 

Department of Justice. BJS collects, 

analyzes, publishes, and disseminates 

information on crime, criminal 

offenders, crime victims, and criminal 

justice operations. BJS also provides 

financial and technical support to 

state, local, and tribal governments to 

improve their statistical capabilities 

and the quality and the utility of their 

criminal history records. BJS provides 

statistical information to the President, 

Congress, other officials, and the public 

with accurate, timely, and objective data 

about crime and the management of 

criminal justice. 

This report is comprised of a 

compilation of analyses from various 

data collected by federal statistical 

agencies and organizations. 

2010 Census of Population and 

Housing

The U.S. Census counts every resident 

in the United States. It is mandated by 

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution 

and takes place every 10 years. The 

data collected by the decennial census 

determine the number of seats each state 

has in the U.S. House of Representatives 

and are also used to distribute billions 

in federal funds to local communities. 

National and state population totals 

from the 2010 Census were released in 

December 2010 (see http://2010.census.

gov/2010census/about/).

 Race and ethnicity: The Census 

Bureau collects information on 

race based on the U.S. Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB) 

1977 Revisions to the Standards for 

the Classification of Federal Data on 

Race and Ethnicity. Federal standards 

require that race and Hispanic or 

Latino origin (ethnicity) are asked 

as separate questions, as race and 

ethnicity represent distinct concepts. 

 Alternate population estimates: 

The estimate of 5.2 million American 

Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) 

people living in the United States in 

2010 is based on self-reports of race. 

This and other estimates published 

throughout the report do not include 

any statistical imputation procedures 

to account for nonrespondents or for 

people who described themselves as 

some other race on the 2010 Census 

questionnaire. The Census Bureau 

reconciles the 2010 Census race 

categories with the race categories 

that appear in administrative data by 

recoding the some other race responses 

in the 2010 Census to one or more of 

the five 1997 Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) race categories: 

White, Black or African American, 

AIAN, Asian, and Native Hawaiian 

and Other Pacific Islander. The first 

estimates for July 2011 indicated there 

are 6.5 million AIAN in the U.S., 

including the statistically imputed some 

other race responses (see http://www.

census.gov/popest/methodology/2011-

stco-char-meth.pdf).

 Federally recognized tribes:

Information on federally recognized 

tribes can be found in the Federal 

Register, Vol. 75, No. 190, October 

1, 2010, entitled Indian Entities 

Recognized and Eligible to Receive 

Service from the United States Bureau 

of Indian Affairs, Department of the 

Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, issued 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget (see http://www.bia.gov/idc/

groups/xofa/documents/document/

idc012038.pdf and http://www.bia.

gov/idc/groups/xofa/documents/

document/idc012039.pdf).

 Designated reservations and Alaska 

Native village statistical areas: Not 

every federally recognized tribe in 

the U.S. has designated tribal lands 

or reservations. American Indian 

reservation areas include federal 

reservations, off-reservation trust 

land, Oklahoma tribal statistical 

areas, state reservations, and federally 

or state-designated American Indian 

statistical areas. Alaska Native villages 

refer to tribal lands or areas located in 

the state of Alaska.

Census of State and Local Law 

Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) 2008 

The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 

(BJS) Census of State and Local Law 

Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) is 

conducted every 4 years to provide a 

complete enumeration of agencies and 

their employees. Employment data are 

reported by agencies for sworn and nonsworn (civilian) personnel and, within 

these categories, by full-time or part-time 

status. The CSLLEA provides national 

data on the number of state and local 

law enforcement agencies and employees 

for local police departments, sheriffs’ 

offices, state law enforcement agencies, 

and special jurisdiction agencies. It also 

serves as the sampling frame for BJS 

surveys of law enforcement agencies. The 

2008 CSLLEA form was mailed to 20,110 

agencies that were determined to be 

potentially operating on the reference date 

of September 30, 2008 (see http://www.bjs.

gov/content/pub/pdf/csllea08.pdf). 

 Public Law 280: Public Law 280 

(Pub.L. 83-280, August 15, 1953, 

codified as 18 U.S.C. § 1162, 28 U.S.C. 

§ 1360, and 25 U.S.C. §§ 1321–1326) 

is a federal law establishing a 

method whereby states may assume 

jurisdiction over reservation Indians. 

Public Law 83-280 (commonly 

referred to as Public Law 280 or 

P.L. 280) conferred jurisdiction 

from the federal government to 

six mandatory state governments: 

California, Minnesota (except the 

Red Lake Reservation), Nebraska, 

Oregon (except the Warm Springs 

Reservation), Wisconsin, and Alaska. 

Public Law 280 also permitted other 

states to acquire jurisdiction at their 

option. The optional P.L. 280 states 

assumed jurisdiction either in whole 

or in part over Indian country within 

their boundaries: Nevada, Idaho, 

Iowa, Washington, South Dakota, 

Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, 

and Utah. Under the Act, states, local 

sheriffs and state law enforcement 

agencies take tribal members to 

state courts for prosecution in cases 

arising from criminal matters within 

reservation boundaries.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report | Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2012 17

Offenses known to law enforcement, 

2008-2010

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting 

(UCR) Program collects offenses 

that come to the attention of law 

enforcement for selected violent 

crimes and property crimes, as well 

as data regarding clearances of these 

offenses. Data are collected on four 

violent crimes: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, 

robbery, and aggravated assault. Data 

are collected on four property crimes: 

burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle 

theft, and arson (see http://www.fbi.

gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-theu.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/

tables/10tbl11.xls/view).

Edward Byrne Memorial Justice 

Assistance Grant (JAG) Program

The JAG Program is administered by the 

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and 

authorized under Public Law 109-162. 

It is the leading source of federal justice 

funding to state and local jurisdictions. 

The JAG Program provides states, 

tribes, and local governments with 

critical funding necessary to support 

a range of program areas, including 

law enforcement; prosecution and 

courts; crime prevention and education; 

corrections and community corrections; 

drug treatment and enforcement; 

planning, evaluation, technology 

improvement; and crime victim and 

witness initiatives. All JAG allocations 

(eligibility information) are calculated 

by BJS based on the statutory JAG 

formula and published in an annual 

technical report, Justice Assistance 

Grant (JAG) program (see https://www.

bja.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?Program_

ID=59). The report includes a detailed 

step-by-step breakdown of the JAG 

award calculation process.

2012 National Survey of Tribal Court 

Systems 

The National Survey of Tribal Court 

Systems (NSTCS-12) is part of a 

multifaceted effort by BJS to expand 

its statistical activities related to 

American Indian and Alaska Native 

crime and justice issues. The goal of 

the NSTCS-12 is to provide baseline 

information upon which to build a tribal 

court statistics infrastructure that will 

improve the nation’s understanding 

of the organization and operational 

characteristics of courts in Indian 

country. Each federally recognized tribe 

in the U.S. will be contacted to verify and 

determine the operation of a recognized 

judicial system. Respondents will 

complete an automated or paper version 

of the NSTCS-12. Tribal courts should 

expect to receive the survey materials in 

early 2013. 

As defined in the Indian Tribal Justice 

Technical and Legal Assistance Act of 

2000 (PL 106-559), the term tribal court, 

tribal court system, or tribal justice 

system means the entire judicial branch, 

and employees thereof, of an Indian 

tribe. This includes, but is not limited 

to, traditional methods and forums 

for dispute resolution, trial courts, 

appellate courts, including inter-tribal 

appellate courts, alternative dispute 

resolution systems, and circuit rider 

systems, established by inherent tribunal 

authority whether or not they constitute 

a court of record.

Federal Justice Statistics Program 

(FJSP)

The Federal Justice Statistics Program 

provides annual data on workload, 

activities, and outcomes associated with 

federal criminal cases. Information is 

acquired on all aspects of processing 

in the federal justice system, including 

arrests, initial prosecution decisions, 

referrals to courts or magistrates, court 

dispositions, sentencing outcomes, 

sentence length, and time served. 

The program collects data from the 

Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys 

(EOUSA), the Pretrial Services Agency 

(PSA), the Administrative Office of the 

U.S. Courts (AO), the U.S. Sentencing 

Commission (USSC), and the Federal 

Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
Office of Justice Programs

Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods

www.ojp.usdoj.gov

NCJ239077

The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the 

U.S. Department of Justice. James P. Lynch is the director.

This report was written by Steven W. Perry. Mark Motivans 

provided statistical review and verification of the report.

Vanessa Curto and Jill Thomas edited the report, and 

Tina Dorsey produced the report, under the supervision of 

Doris J. James.

October 2012, NCJ 239077