FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AG
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1995                           (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                 
 ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNOUNCES CREATION OF OFFICE OF TRIBAL JUSTICE
                 WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

     
     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Attorney General Janet Reno announced
today the creation of an Office of Tribal Justice in the Department
of Justice to improve services to American Indians and Alaska
Natives by coordinating Department policies and positions on issues
involving both groups.
     During the National American Indian Listening Conference last
May and in subsequent follow-up meetings, tribal leaders have
expressed a need for greater coordination and communication between
the Department and Indian Country, said Reno.  The Office of Tribal
Justice was created to fulfill this need.    
     "The Office Of Tribal Justice will be critical in ushering in
a new day in federal-tribal relations by ensuring better
communication between the Department and tribes," said Reno.  "This
office will enable existing departmental programs to operate more
effectively and will provide a point of contact for tribes and
organizations with interests in Indian issues.  This is a
substantial step toward our goals of reinventing government and
providing better service to Indian Country."  
     The mission of the Office of Tribal Justice will be threefold:
    to provide a point of contact within the Department to listen
     to the concerns of Indian tribes and other parties interested
     in Indian affairs and to communicate the Department's policies
     to the tribes and the public;

    to promote internal uniformity of Department of Justice
     policies and litigation positions relating to Indian country;
     and

    to coordinate with other federal agencies and with state and
     local governments on their initiatives in Indian country.
     The Office will be established within the Office of the Deputy
     Attorney General.  

     The Office staff will occupy positions drawn from the
Department's components that work on American Indian issues, thus
requiring no additional resources.  Personnel and operational costs
will be borne by these components.  The Office will be staffed by
a director, two deputy directors, an administrative aide and a
part-time special assistant from the Deputy Attorney General's
staff.  
     "The establishment of the Office of Tribal Justice in the
Department of Justice marks a major advance in the administration
of the Federal government's unique legal and moral obligation to
Indian tribes," said Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs.
     President gaiashkibos of the National Congress of American
Indians said that the office represents "a very positive initial
step in enhancing the relationship between the Department and
tribal governments.  Providing a single point of coordination for
the multitude of issues affecting tribes will provide a great
benefit to Indian Country."
     Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Vice-Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs, said that the establishment of the
Office "sends a clear message to Indian Country of the importance
the Attorney General places on our constitutionally-mandated
relationship with the Indian nations and our trust responsibility
for Indian lands and natural resources."  
     The office is expected to be fully operational by the end of
January.
     Suzan Shown Harjo, president of the Morning Star Institute--a
national organization that promotes the traditional culture and
rights of Native Americans -- said the Attorney General's "quick
action to establish the Office of Tribal Justice bodes well for its
future as a problem-solving point of coordination where the Indian
voice, all too often ignored in the justice system, will be
listened to and heard."
     Herbert A. Becker will be the Director of the Office.  Becker,
born and raised on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North
Dakota, has been a lawyer with the federal government for 22 years.
     "Mr. Becker's wide-ranging experience in all aspects of Indian
law will be of tremendous value to the Department," said Deputy
Attorney General Jamie Gorelick.  "As a prosecutor with the United
States Attorney's offices in North Dakota and New Mexico, he has
experienced firsthand the complexity of criminal and civil issues
affecting Indian Country."  
     Becker also has gained familiarity with a wide range of Indian
issues from his work in the Department of Justice's Indian
Resources Section in the Environment and Natural Resources
Division; in the Solicitor's Office at the Department of the
Interior; and as Director of California Indian Legal Services and
Wind River Indian Legal Services in Wyoming.  He taught Indian law
at the University of New Mexico School of Law, the University of
North Dakota and California State University at Hayward,
California.  In these roles, Becker helped shape natural resources
law.  
     "It will be my pleasure to work with Mr. Becker to ensure that
the Department's policies in Indian Country are carefully
considered," said Gorelick.
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