2011 US Code
Title 42 - The Public Health and Welfare
Chapter 46 - JUSTICE SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT (§§ 3701 - 3797ee-1)
Subchapter XII-H - GRANTS TO COMBAT VIOLENT CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN (§§ 3796gg - 3796gg-11)
Section 3796gg-10 - Grants to Indian tribal governments

The Attorney General may make grants to Indian tribal governments or authorized designees of Indian tribal governments to—

(1) develop and enhance effective governmental strategies to curtail violent crimes against and increase the safety of Indian women consistent with tribal law and custom;

(2) increase tribal capacity to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking crimes against Indian women;

(3) strengthen tribal justice interventions including tribal law enforcement, prosecution, courts, probation,¹ correctional facilities;

(4) enhance services to Indian women victimized by domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking;

(5) work in cooperation with the community to develop education and prevention strategies directed toward issues of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking programs and to address the needs of children exposed to domestic violence;

(6) provide programs for supervised visitation and safe visitation exchange of children in situations involving domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking committed by one parent against the other with appropriate security measures, policies, and procedures to protect the safety of victims and their children;

(7) provide transitional housing for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, including rental or utilities payments assistance and assistance with related expenses such as security deposits and other costs incidental to relocation to transitional housing, and support services to enable a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking to locate and secure permanent housing and integrate into a community; and

(8) provide legal assistance necessary to provide effective aid to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual assault who are seeking relief in legal matters arising as a consequence of that abuse or violence, at minimal or no cost to the victims.

All applicants under this section shall demonstrate their proposal was developed in consultation with a nonprofit, nongovernmental Indian victim services program, including sexual assault and domestic violence victim services providers in the tribal or local community, or a nonprofit tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalition to the extent that they exist. In the absence of such a demonstration, the applicant may meet the requirement of this subsection through consultation with women in the community to be served.

(Pub. L. 90–351, title I, §2015, formerly §2007, as added Pub. L. 109–162, title IX, §906(a), Jan. 5, 2006, 119 Stat. 3080; renumbered §2015 and amended Pub. L. 109–271, §7(a)(1)(A), (C), (3), Aug. 12, 2006, 120 Stat. 763.)

2006—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109–271, §7(a)(3)(A), substituted “or authorized designees of Indian tribal governments” for “and tribal organizations” in introductory provisions and added par. (8).

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 109–271, §7(a)(3)(B), struck out subsec. (c). Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The Federal share of a grant made under this section may not exceed 90 percent of the total costs of the project described in the application submitted, except that the Attorney General may grant a waiver of this match requirement on the basis of demonstrated financial hardship. Funds appropriated for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal government or of the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing law enforcement functions on any Indian lands may be used to provide the non-Federal share of the cost of programs or projects funded under this section.”

Section not effective until the beginning of fiscal year 2007, see section 4 of Pub. L. 109–162, set out as an Effective Date of 2006 Amendment note under section 3793 of this title.

Pub. L. 109–162, title IX, §§901, 902, Jan. 5, 2006, 119 Stat. 3077, 3078, provided that:

“Congress finds that—

“(1) 1 out of every 3 Indian (including Alaska Native) women are raped in their lifetimes;

“(2) Indian women experience 7 sexual assaults per 1,000, compared with 4 per 1,000 among Black Americans, 3 per 1,000 among Caucasians, 2 per 1,000 among Hispanic women, and 1 per 1,000 among Asian women;

“(3) Indian women experience the violent crime of battering at a rate of 23.2 per 1,000, compared with 8 per 1,000 among Caucasian women;

“(4) during the period 1979 through 1992, homicide was the third leading cause of death of Indian females aged 15 to 34, and 75 percent were killed by family members or acquaintances;

“(5) Indian tribes require additional criminal justice and victim services resources to respond to violent assaults against women; and

“(6) the unique legal relationship of the United States to Indian tribes creates a Federal trust responsibility to assist tribal governments in safeguarding the lives of Indian women.

“The purposes of this title [enacting this section, sections 3796gg–11 and 14045d of this title, and section 117 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, amending sections 3796gg–1, 3796gg–6, 3796hh, 13971, 13975, and 10420 of this title, section 921 of Title 18, section 2803 of Title 25, Indians, and section 534 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and section 534 of Title 28] are—

“(1) to decrease the incidence of violent crimes against Indian women;

“(2) to strengthen the capacity of Indian tribes to exercise their sovereign authority to respond to violent crimes committed against Indian women; and

“(3) to ensure that perpetrators of violent crimes committed against Indian women are held accountable for their criminal behavior.”

Pub. L. 109–162, title IX, §904(a), Jan. 5, 2006, 119 Stat. 3078, provided that:

“(1) In general.—The National Institute of Justice, in consultation with the Office on Violence Against Women, shall conduct a national baseline study to examine violence against Indian women in Indian country.

“(2) Scope.—

“(A) In general.—The study shall examine violence committed against Indian women, including—

“(i) domestic violence;

“(ii) dating violence;

“(iii) sexual assault;

“(iv) stalking; and

“(v) murder.

“(B) Evaluation.—The study shall evaluate the effectiveness of Federal, State, tribal, and local responses to the violations described in subparagraph (A) committed against Indian women.

“(C) Recommendations.—The study shall propose recommendations to improve the effectiveness of Federal, State, tribal, and local responses to the violation described in subparagraph (A) committed against Indian women.

“(3) Task force.—

“(A) In general.—The Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women, shall establish a task force to assist in the development and implementation of the study under paragraph (1) and guide implementation of the recommendation in paragraph (2)(C).

“(B) Members.—The Director shall appoint to the task force representatives from—

“(i) national tribal domestic violence and sexual assault nonprofit organizations;

“(ii) tribal governments; and

“(iii) the national tribal organizations.

“(4) Report.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act [Jan. 5, 2006], the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report that describes the study.

“(5) Authorization of appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section [probably should be “subsection”] $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 and 2008, to remain available until expended.”

¹ So in original. Probably should be followed by “and”.