Critical Essay: “Domestic Violence / Sexual Abuse in Indian Reservations” – 10 Fresh and Hot Topics

If you are tasked with writing a literary analysis or a critical essay on topic of domestic and sexual abuse, violence and assaults on Indian reservations, it is important that you back up each claim you plan to make with evidence. Evidence can come in the form of facts, such as statistics, quotes from experts, as well as results from official studies or census data. That said, below you will find some interesting facts that you might be able to use for your next piece of critical writing on the subject of Indian abuse in reservations:

1. The rate of domestic abuse/violence and sexual abuse/assault on Indian reservations is significantly higher compared to anywhere else in America for which data has been obtained. The people living on said reservations are at higher risks for all of these types of crimes with very little done to stop it. American Indians as well as Native Alaskans are 2.5 times more likely to have a violent crime committed against them. They are also twice as likely to experience a sexual assault crime compared to every other race. This is true across the whole of the United States.
2. The rates of assault in and of themselves are statistically higher among the women living on Indian reservations compared to women living anywhere else in America as well. 61% of women who are Native Alaskans or American Indians have been assaulted at least once in their life. This rate is comparable to the 52% of African American women, 51% of white women and the 50% of Asian American women to be assaulted at least once in their life.
3. Women who live on these reservations for the duration of their lives are also statically at risk for more severe and violent sexual crimes. In fact, 34% of Native Alaskans or American Indian women will be raped once over the course of their lifetime, compared to the 19% of African American women, 18% of white women and 7% of Asian women facing the same issue.
4. American Indians as well as Native Alaskans are subject to domestic violence from an intimate partner at a rate of 39%. This is significantly higher than the 29% of African American women who are subject to the same risk with 27% of white women and 21% of Hispanic women, and 10% of Asian women.
5. Among American Indians as well as Native Alaskans 17% will report being stalked at least once in their lifetime. This is higher than the 8% of white women, 7% of African American women and 5% of Asian women who report being stalked. This rate is another legal problem handed over to the local Indian reservation jurisdictions and not handled by local federal or state police, which makes it decidedly more difficult to prosecute and stop.
6. Among American Indian and Native Alaskan women who have experienced a sexual assault of any kind, 67% report that the offender was a non-Native. In fact, 64% of American Indian and Native Alaskan women who have been raped say the same across the whole of America, something which is striking when compared to the data for other groups and other races.
7. Among American Indians as well as Native Alaskans, 71% of women who are sexually assaulted or raped know the perpetrator well, with 38% of the time the perpetrator being their intimate partner, 33% of the time the perpetrator being someone else they know well including their acquaintances. In zero cases was the perpetrator a member of their family.
8. Among women in 2010 59% of American Indians as well as Native Alaskans have been in relationships with non-native men, which is high a high percent compared to the 23% of non-Native women who were in an interracial marriage. 55% of women among American Indians as well as Native Alaskans were not in an interracial relationship in 2010, compared to 36% who were unmarried but partnered in one.
9. Out of all the people living in reservations in 2010, 46% were non-Native. That said, out of the assaults that take place against women who are American Indians as well as Native Alaskans, 59% occur at or near their private residence. The rate for victimization in violent assaults is 2.8 times higher in suburban areas among Native people compared to all other races in suburban areas. It is also 2.6 times higher for Natives in rural areas compared to all other races in rural areas. These assaults are also 3.5 times higher for Natives in urban areas compared to all other urban dwellers.
10. Native women are murdered in reservations at a rate ten times higher than the national average. However, the U.S. Attorneys declined to prosecute 52% of the violent crimes which took place inside the reservations in 2010. 67% of these declined cases were related to sexual assault and abuse. This is due to the difficult legal position in which the reservations are positioned. The jurisdiction laws here typically fall into the hands of the chiefs of mentioned reservations. While it is within the rights of the U.S. Attorneys to get involved, the items which do not impact larger numbers of people simultaneously through one case are not typically the cases to be handled by them. Instead they are given to the local authorities to rule out. It is because of this that the local authority figures who are responsible for legal action and safety in reservations of American Indians as well as Native Alaskans must take it upon themselves to implement more protective measures for women who are living on these areas.

This concludes the 10 facts about domestic violence/sexual abuse on Indian Reservations for a critical essay. Please follow these links to see our critical essay guide for this pressing issue as well as 20 additional topics for choice followed by 1 sample essay.

References:
Bachman, R., Zaykowski, H., Kallmyer, R., Poteyeva, M., and Lanier, C. (2008). Violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and the criminal justice response: What is known. Unpublished grant report to the US Department of Justice. Available from: www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/223691.pdf.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (February 8, 2008). Adverse health conditions and health risk behaviors associated with intimate partner violence — United States, 2005. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) 57(05): 113-117. Available from: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5705a1.htm#tab1.
Perry, S. W. (2004). American Indians and crime: A BJS Statistical Profile, 1992-2002 [NCJ 203097]. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Available from: bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/aic02.pdf.
Perrelli, T. (July 14, 2011). Statement of Associate Attorney General Perrelli before the Committee on Indian Affairs on Violence Against Native American Women [citing a National Institute of Justice-funded analysis of death certificates]. Washington, DC. Available from: www.justice.gov/iso/opa/asg/speeches/2011/asg-speech-110714.html.
Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (1998a). Prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the National Violence against Women Survey [Research in Brief (NCJ 172837]. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & the US Department of Health and Human Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available from: www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/172837.pdf.
Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Full report of the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey [NCJ 183781]. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice & the US Department of Health and Human Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available from: www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/183781.txt.
US Government Accountability Office. (2010). US Department of Justice Declinations of Indian Country Criminal Matters [GAO‐11‐167R]. Washington, DC: Author. Available from: www.gao.gov/new.items/d11167r.pdf.