Federal statistics indicate Indian and Alaska Native women are raped at a higher rate than any other race, with one out of every three Indian women raped in their lifetimes.
Special response teams to handle sexual assaults are being established on six Montana reservations in a bid to curb high rates of rape and other abuses against American Indians, U.S. Justice Department officials announced Wednesday.
The first-of-its kind pilot program will set up the joint federal-tribal teams to counsel victims and pursue arrests and courtroom justice for perpetrators of sexual abuse.
Federal statistics indicate Indian and Alaska Native women are raped at a higher rate than any other race, with one out of every three Indian women raped in their lifetimes.
Authorities say such crimes often go unreported on reservations, where victims living in close-knit communities fear reprisal or rejection if the abuse were to be reported.
But Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West said the sexual assault response teams could give victims new confidence in the criminal justice system.
West joined U.S. Attorney for Montana Mike Cotter and tribal leaders from eastern Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation Wednesday in Crow Agency to announce the initiative.
The teams will be made up of federal and tribal prosecutors, victim advocates, health care providers, law enforcement and others.
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