Navajo Nation president signs landmark law enforcement legislation

[December 02, 2014]  By Joseph J. Kolb
 
 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - The president of the Navajo Nation signed an amendment to the tribal code on Monday reinstating stiffer jail sentences and fines for some non-violent crimes that have often gone unpunished on the reservation over the past decade.

President Ben Shelly agreed to allow jail and fine provisions again for a number of such lesser offenses, such as shoplifting or theft, that had been on ice since January 2000 because of a lack of jail space.

"This is a good law. It gives the Navajo Nation the opportunity to exercise tribal jurisdiction in a lot of these criminal cases," Shelly said. "We will continue to work with the federal government and the U.S. Attorney's Office when it comes to capital crimes committed on the Navajo Nation."

The construction of new detention facilities in the Arizona towns of Chinle, Kayenta and Dilkon have significantly expanded the limited bed space in older facilities in Arizona and New Mexico.

Violent crimes such as murder, physical and sexual child abuse, drug trafficking, and corruption fall under federal jurisdiction but require a sensitive extradition process from tribal to federal custody.
 

Incarceration in those cases is in federal penitentiaries. In cases where federal prosecution is declined, the cases can be sent back to tribal jurisdiction.

The maximum sentence permitted on the Navajo Nation is 12 months, Navajo Nation spokesman Rick Abasta said. Some lesser crimes on the reservation can go largely unpunished because of the lack of space.

In July 2012, the tribe's Law and Order Committee established a task force to review sentencing provisions for the 132-page Navajo criminal code, which were debated in public hearings.

"Public sentiment was for stronger sentencing provisions," Abasta said.

The Navajo Nation has among the highest per capita crime rates in the United States, according to the FBI Uniformed Crime Report.

Abasta could not provide an exact bed count for the expanded detention facilities but said the amendment would send a message throughout the reservation of more than 180,000 residents that crimes would be prosecuted and punished more aggressively.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Paul Tait)

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