Letter to the Editor: What about here?
BY Edward V. Harris, Hugo
Sunday, January 13, 2013
1/13/13 at 7:34 AM
World attention recently has been focused on the death of a rape victim in India, yet in our own country, little attention is being given to a bill protecting women.
This bill has been held up in Congress and it is evidently the provision in the Senate version allowing Native American tribal authorities to have jurisdiction over non-Indians that Republicans object to, even though 10 House Republicans urged support of that version. These men's crimes currently "are under federal" jurisdiction, subject to the U.S. Attorney's office, far from the reservation, to investigate and charge.
Later, President Obama gave his support for the bill because it would help "bring to justice anyone - Indian or non-Indian who hurts a woman." That goal is far from being realized now. Non-Indian men commit an estimated 80 percent of rapes of Indian women, and according to the 2010 report by the General Accountability Office, U.S. attorneys "declined to prosecute 46 percent of assaults and 67 percent of sexual abuse and related matters."
All people who want rapists charged and prosecuted should support this law, especially people of Native American descent. Justice should be for everyone, no matter the gender or race.
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