BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Home | Indian Country Justice Statistics
Indian Country Justice Statistics
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The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA; P.L. 111-211, 124 Stat. 2258 § 251(b)) requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics to establish and implement a tribal data collection system and to support tribal participation in national records and information systems. This page serves as a data repository, ensuring these Indian country justice statistics are easily located and accessible from a central source.

Funding

Through the National Criminal History Improvement Program, BJS provides direct awards and technical assistance to states and localities to improve the quality, timeliness, and immediate accessibility of criminal history records and related information. Complete records require that data are integrated and linked across all components of the criminal justice system, including law enforcement, prosecution and courts, and corrections. NCHIP assists states to establish the integrated infrastructure that meets the needs of all components.

The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 is intended to improve the completeness, automation, and transmittal of records used by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Such records include criminal history records, records of felony convictions, warrants, records of protective orders, convictions for misdemeanors involving domestic violence and stalking, drug arrests and convictions, records of mental health adjudications, and other records that may disqualify an individual from possessing or receiving a firearm under federal law. Helping states and state court systems to automate these records will also reduce delays for law-abiding gun purchasers.

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Data Collections & Surveys

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Publications & Products


Jails in Indian Country, 2017-2018 This report is the 17th in a series that began in 1998. It provides statistics from BJS's Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country on the demographic characteristics, most serious offense, and conviction status of the tribal inmate population, and it describes facility characteristics, including bed space and staffing.
  Full report (PDF 796K) | Data tables (Zip format 34K)
Part of the Jails in Indian Country Series

Tribal Crime Data-Collection Activities, 2020 Describes activities by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, including data-collection programs and activities during 2020.
  Full report (PDF 550K) | Data tables (Zip format)
Part of the Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities Series

Tribal Crime Data-Collection Activities, 2019 Describes activities by the Bureau of Justice Statistics to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, including data-collection programs and activities during 2018 and 2019.
  Full report (PDF 403K) | Data tables (Zip format 12K)
Part of the Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities Series

Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2016-18 Describes activities by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, as required by the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TLOA).
  Full report (PDF 377K)
Part of the Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities Series

Jails in Indian Country, 2016 Describes jails, confinement facilities, detention centers, and other correctional facilities operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
  Summary (PDF 174K) | Full Report (PDF 467K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 30K)
Part of the Jails in Indian Country Series

Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2017 Describes Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) activities to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, as required by the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010.
  Full report (PDF 401K) | ASCII file (30K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Spreadsheet 1K)
Part of the Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities Series

Jails in Indian Country, 2015 Describes jails, confinement facilities, detention centers, and other correctional facilities operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
  Summary (PDF 211K) | Full report (PDF 845K) | ASCII file (17K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 41K)
Part of the Jails in Indian Country Series

Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities, 2016 Describes Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) activities to collect and improve data on crime and justice in Indian country, as required by the Tribal Law and Order Act, 2010.
  Full report (PDF 421K) | ASCII file (23K) | Spreadsheet (2K)
Part of the Tribal Crime Data Collection Activities Series

Jails in Indian Country, 2014 Presents findings from the 2014 Survey of Jails in Indian Country, an enumeration of 79 jails, confinement facilities, detention centers, and other correctional facilities operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
  Press Release | Summary (PDF 210K) | Full report (PDF 874K) | ASCII file (23K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 53K)
Part of the Jails in Indian Country Series

Jails in Indian Country, 2014 THE INDIAN COUNTRY JAIL POPULATION INCREASED 4 PERCENT BETWEEN 2013 AND 2014
  Press Release
Part of the Jails in Indian Country Series

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Terms & Definitions

Criminal jurisdiction in tribal areas Jurisdiction over offenses in Indian country may lie with federal, state, or tribal agencies, depending on the particular offense, offender, victim, and offense location. For more information on tribal jurisdiction, see State Prosecutors' Offices with Jurisdiction in Indian Country, 2007, Tribal Law Enforcement, 2008, Census of Tribal Justice Agencies in Indian Country, 2002, and Jails in Indian Country, 2017-2018.
 
Indian country Statutory term that includes all lands within an Indian reservation, dependent Indian communities, and Indian trust allotments (18 U.S.C. § 1151). Courts interpret section 1151 to include all lands held in trust for tribes or their members. See United States v. Roberts, 185 F.3d 1125 (10th Cir. 1999). Tribal authority to imprison American Indian offenders is limited to one year per offense by statute (25 U.S.C. § 1302), a $5,000 fine, or both.
 
Indian country jails Indian country adult and juvenile detention centers, jails, and other correctional facilities operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.
 
Public Law 83-280 (commonly referred to as Public Law 280 or P.L. 280) Establishes criminal justice responsibilities among American Indian tribes with tribal land, the states in which tribes are located, and the federal government. Public Law 280 is mandatory or optional for 204 tribes, about two-thirds of the total in the lower 48 states. In states where P.L. 280 does not apply, the federal government retains criminal jurisdiction for major crimes committed under the Indian Country Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 1152), the Indian Country Major Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 1153), and the Assimilative Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 13).
 
Public Law 93-638 The Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 affords tribes the opportunity to provide for their own police departments and other institutional services through federal grants and contracts.
 
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Related Links

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Additional Info

Tribal Crime in the United States Extracts

In an ongoing effort to improve the availability of crime data in Indian country, BJS has created data tables containing information reported by tribal law enforcement agencies to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and published in the annual Crime in United States (CIUS) report. The data tables are based on CIUS Table 11: Offenses Known to Law Enforcement. These tables do not include data reported by state and local law enforcement agencies about crimes that occurred on tribal lands. The tables are limited to information reported by individual tribal law enforcement agencies that reported 12 complete months of data for the year and by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior.

From year to year, the number of tribal law enforcement agencies with data in CIUS may vary, depending on whether they met the FBI's standard for reporting. As a result, the data contained in these tables should not be used to characterize trends in reported crime known to tribal law enforcement agencies. These tables contain the summary counts of violent and property crimes reported to tribal law enforcement agencies, by state and year. Users should be aware that these crimes are a subset of all the crimes known to, and handled by, tribal law enforcement agencies. See Methodology for more information about these extracts.

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