II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 987 

To restore safety to Indian women. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 10, 2005 

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself and Mr. DORGAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

A BILL

To restore safety to Indian women.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring Safety to 

5 Indian Women Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) national studies indicate that Indian women 

9 experience domestic and sexual assaults at a far 

10 greater rate than other groups of women in the na11 tional population; 
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1 (2) there is relatively little data on the rate of 

2 domestic violence perpetrated upon Indian women in 

3 Indian country or the costs associated with respond4 ing to acts of domestic violence in Indian country; 

5 (3) Indian tribes have criminal jurisdiction to 

6 prosecute Indians who commit violations of tribal 

7 law; 

8 (4) the Federal Government has jurisdiction to 

9 prosecute specific enumerated crimes that arise in 

10 Indian country under section 1153 of title 18, 

11 United States Code (commonly known as the Major 

12 Crimes Act); 

13 (5) the Major Crimes Act does not include pro14 visions to provide Federal prosecutors the ability to 

15 prosecute domestic violence assaults unless they rise 

16 to the level of serious bodily injury or death; 

17 (6) national studies conducted by law enforce18 ment organizations show that domestic violence dis19 turbance calls are the most dangerous situations and 

20 pose the highest risk to responding law enforcement 

21 officers; 

22 (7) the limited arrest authority of the Bureau 

23 of Indian Affairs and Indian tribal law enforcement 

24 agencies impacts the ability of law enforcement to 

25 properly respond to acts of domestic violence; and 
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1 (8) Federal and tribal prosecutors and law en2 forcement services are hampered in their efforts to 

3 address domestic violence by the lack of available 

4 criminal history information for tribal ordinance of5 fenders. 

6 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 

8 (1) To obtain data on the rates of domestic vio9 lence perpetrated upon Indian women in Indian 

10 country. 

11 (2) To close existing gaps in Federal criminal 

12 laws to enable Federal, State, and tribal law enforce13 ment, prosecution agencies, and courts to address 

14 incidents of domestic violence. 

15 (3) To address the public safety concerns expe16 rienced by tribal police officers that arise in respond17 ing to incidents of domestic violence. 

18 (4) To prevent the serious injury or death of 

19 Indian women subject to domestic violence. 

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Attorney 

23 General’’ means the Attorney General of the United 

24 States. 
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1 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of the Department of the Interior. 

3 (3) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 

4 has the same meaning as in section 4 of the Indian 

5 Self-determination and Education Assistance Act 

6 (25 U.S.C. 450b). 

7 SEC. 5. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HABITUAL OFFENDER. 

8 Chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

9 by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘§ 117. Domestic assault by a habitual offender 

11 ‘‘(a) Any person who commits a domestic assault 

12 within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of 

13 the United States or Indian country and who has a final 

14 conviction on at least two separate prior occasions in Fed15 eral, State, or Indian tribal court proceedings for offenses 

16 that would be, if subject to Federal jurisdiction— 

17 ‘‘(1) any assault, sexual abuse, or serious vio18 lent felony against a spouse or intimate partner; or 

19 ‘‘(2) an offense under chapter 110A, 

20 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for a term of 

21 not more than 5 years, or both, except that if substantial 

22 bodily injury results from a violation under this section, 

23 the offender shall be imprisoned for a term of not more 

24 than 10 years. 

25 ‘‘(b) For purposes of this section— 
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1 ‘‘(1) the term ‘domestic assault’ means an as2 sault committed by a current or former spouse, par3 ent, child, or guardian of the victim, by a person 

4 with whom the victim shares a child in common, by 

5 a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated 

6 with the victim as a spouse, parent, child, or guard7 ian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, 

8 parent, child, or guardian of the victim; 

9 ‘‘(2) the term ‘final conviction’ means the final 

10 judgment on a verdict of finding of guilty, a plea of 

11 guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere, but does not in12 clude a final judgment which has been expunged by 

13 pardon, reversed, set aside, or otherwise rendered 

14 void; 

15 ‘‘(3) the term ‘order of protection’ has the 

16 meaning given to such term by section 2265(b); 

17 ‘‘(4) the term ‘serious violent felony’ has the 

18 meaning given to such term by section 

19 3559(c)(2)(F); 

20 ‘‘(5) the term ‘State’ has the meaning given to 

21 such term by section 3559(c)(2)G); 

22 ‘‘(6) the term ‘substantial bodily injury’ has the 

23 meaning given to such term by section 113(b)(1); 

24 and 
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1 ‘‘(7) the term ‘sexual abuse’ has the meaning 

2 given to such term by section 2242.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. ENHANCED ARREST AUTHORITY. 

4 Section 4 of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act 

5 (25 U.S.C. 2803) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘, or’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

8 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

9 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘, 

10 or’’ and inserting a semi-colon; 

11 (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding ‘‘or’’ 

12 at the end; and 

13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(C)(i) the offense is a misdemeanor of15 fense of domestic violence (as defined in section 

16 117 of title 18, United States Code); and 

17 ‘‘(ii) the employee has reasonable grounds 

18 to believe that the person to be arrested has 

19 committed, or is committing, the offense;’’. 

20 SEC. 7. CRIMINAL RECORDS DATABASE PILOT PROJECT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall make 

22 grants available pursuant to section 2001(b) of the Omni23 bus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

24 U.S.C. 3796gg(b)) to Indian tribes for the development 

25 of tribal criminal history databases to document final con-
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1 victions of tribal domestic violence court adjudications, or2 ders of protection, stay away orders, and such other do3 mestic violence criminal history. 

4 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—A database developed under 

5 subsection (a) shall include— 

6 (1) final convictions by a tribal court order; 

7 (2) orders of protection that are currently in ef8 fect and meet the requirements of section 2265(b) of 

9 title 18, United States Code; 

10 (3) a means to provide tribal, Federal, and 

11 State law enforcement agencies with access to the 

12 information in the database; and 

13 (4) safeguards to prevent the dissemination of 

14 the information contained therein for other than a 

15 criminal justice or law enforcement purpose. 

16 SEC. 8. STUDY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIAN COUN17 TRY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, in con19 sultation with the Secretary, the Director of the Indian 

20 Health Service, and Indian tribes, shall conduct a study 

21 on the incidents of domestic violence in Indian country. 

22 (b) CONTENTS.—The study conducted under sub23 section (a) shall— 

24 (1) determine the extent of domestic violence in 

25 Indian country and its causes; and 
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1 (2) identify obstacles to— 

2 (A) the prevention of incidents of domestic 

3 violence; 

4 (B) the appropriate response to incidents 

5 of domestic violence; 

6 (C) adequate treatment for victims of do7 mestic violence; and 

8 (D) criminal prosecution of domestic vio9 lence offenders. 

10 (c) REPORT .—Not later than 1 year after the date 

11 of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall trans12 mit to Congress a report regarding the study conducted 

13 under this section. This report shall include recommenda14 tions, including legislative recommendations, to address 

15 domestic violence in Indian country. 

16 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec18 essary to carry out this section. 

19 SEC. 9. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

20 Section 2001(b) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

21 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg(b)) is amend22 ed— 

23 (1) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

24 the semicolon; 
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1 (2) in paragraph (11), by striking the period 

2 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(12) to develop tribal domestic violence crimi5 nal history databases for use by Indian tribal courts 

6 and tribal, State, and Federal law enforcement offi7 cers engaged in a law enforcement function’’.

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