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April 12, 2002
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Violent
Victimization among Native Americans:
Most crimes against Natives are perpetrated by Whites
By Jean Pagano
Statistics presented by two recent Department of Justice
studies reveal some shocking results. The studies Extent, Nature,
and
Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National
Violence
Against Women Survey by Tjaden and Thoennes, and American
Indians and
Crime, by Greenfeld and Smith, offer some interesting and
troubling
glimpses into the demographics of crime among Native peoples.
For Native Americans aged 12 and older, there were 124
violent victimizations per 1000 people. This is by far the highest
number of
violent victimizations among any racial group in America. Since some of
the
victimizations are among intimate partners, the first study makes the
assumption that the violence must be Native on Native. We will see
later on
that this is not the case.
In the Tjaden / Thoennes study, three categories were
examined: rape, physical assault, and stalking. In each of these three
categories, Native Americans were the most victimized of the racial
groups
studied. The racial groups consisted of Whites, African-Americans,
Asian/Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Mixed Race. Under the
crime of
rape, Natives were more likely to be victimized with 15.9 percent
reporting
incidents; mixed races, Whites, and African-Americans experienced
incidents at
8.1, 7.7, and 7.4 percent respectively. Asian/Pacific islanders had a
rate of
3.8 percent. When one pauses to think that statistically more than 1 in
6
Natives will report a rape in their lifetimes, the statistic becomes
even more
disturbing. Physical assault numbers were again high for Native peoples
with
30.7% reporting physical assault as compared to 27% among mixed races,
26.3 percent
among African Americans, and 21.3 percent among Whites. Asian/Pacific
islanders
had a rate of 12.8%. Stalking was also reported higher among Natives
with 10.2%
reported being stalked with mixed races at 6.3%, Whites at 4.7%, and
African
Americans at 4.2%.
The Greenfeld / Smith study paints a similar portrait of
violence perpetrated against Native peoples. Examining the crimes of
murder,
rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault,
only in
the case of murder were the numbers higher for another racial group.
Among
African Americans, murders occurred at a rate of 34 per 1000 for
members aged
12 and older. This number was 7 per 1000 for Natives and 5 per 1000 for
Whites.
Among Natives, a handgun is used in murders only 10% of the time.
In cases of rape and/or sexual assault, the rate per 1000 is
7 among Natives, and 3 per 1000 among blacks and 2 per 1000 for Whites.
In
cases or rape against a Native woman, 82% of the time, the offender is
white.
Aggravated assault numbers are also highest among Indians,
35 per 1000 for Natives, 13 per 1000 for African Americans, 7 per 1000
for
Asians, and 5 per 1000 for Whites.
Simple assault numbers once again were highest for Native
peoples. 70 of 1000 Natives were victimized by simple assault compared
to 32
per 1000 for white, 30 per 1000 for blacks, and 15 per 1000 for Asians.
The violent crime rate among Native males ages 12 and older
was 153 per 1000, much higher than the 60 per 1000 found among all
males.
Violent crime rates for Native females in the same age group were 98
per 1000,
higher than the 40 per 1000 found among Whites, and 56 per 1000 among
blacks.
The five-year period of the study showed that at 1 in 25 American
Indians were
in local jails, or roughly 4% of the Native population is under the
jurisdiction of the criminal justice system. For a population group
that has
just less than 1% of the American population, Natives shoulder an
inordinate
amount of violent crime in America.
Another interesting statistic is that a non-Native person
committed 70% of violent crimes committed against Natives, and that
alcohol was
a factor almost 50% of the time (for the offender). The claim of Indian
on
Indian crime is merely a myth, and in 60% of violent crimes, a white is
the
perpetrator.
Indian crime is not solely an Indian issue. When someone is
victimized in America, everyone suffers. As a group representing less
than 1%
of the population is violently victimized by the predominant racial
group (at
82.6% of the whole), one must begin to wonder why and what can be done.
It is
not a simple issue.
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