Message from Director Carbon: January 2011

Dear Friends, This past month I had the honor of attending and speaking at the 12th National Indian Nations Conference along with United States Attorney General Eric Holder and over 900 participants from the field. This conference brought together Native American victims, victim advocates, tribal leaders, victim service providers, law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, medical providers, social services and mental health personnel, probation/corrections experts, and juvenile justice personnel, as well as federal and state agency representatives. Attendees shared their knowledge, experiences and ideas for developing programs that serve the unique needs of crime victims in Indian Country. Here, I was able to share some of the important work we, as well as our partners across the federal government, are doing to address issues of domestic violence and sexual assault in tribal communities. For example, in 2010 the Office on Violence Against Women made its first 12 awards under the Tribal Sexual Assault Services Grant Program, totaling $3.6 million to help address sexual assault specifically in Indian nations. Also this year, through intra-agency work at the Department of Justice, we helped combine ten different Tribal grant programs into the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, or CTAS. Through the CTAS process, OVW awarded a total of $37.8 million to over 70 Tribal governments and their designees to address issues of violence in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Recently, we provided funding for the establishment of a national clearinghouse on sexual assault for Native women; a one-stop shop where tribes can request on-site training and technical assistance on developing tribal sexual assault codes, establishing Sexual Assault Response Teams, and accessing tools to gain sexual assault forensic evidence collection certifications. Next year, we will fund as many as five tribes to participate in a special prosecution initiative in partnership with their local U.S. Attorney. This project will provide additional resources and authority to tribal prosecutors, who will be cross-designated as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys to bring domestic violence and sexual assault cases in tribal and federal court. These individuals will also help promote higher quality investigations, improve issue-specific trainings in tribal communities, and create better inter-governmental communication. The Conference came on the heels of President Obama’s groundbreaking signing of the Tribal Law and Order Act, which will greatly improve the Federal Government’s ability to better understand, and address, public safety challenges in tribal nations with a specific focus on addressing issues of violence against women. Women in tribal communities are three and a half times more likely to be victims of violent crime. An astounding one in three American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in her lifetime. As President Obama stated in November of 2009, “This is an assault on our national conscience that we can no longer ignore.” We are proud to join with the White House to end these terrible crimes and look forward to the collaborative efforts of our office, the White House and the entire federal government to influence real social and legal change in these communities. This month, we join the nationwide community in celebrating National Stalking Awareness Month. Stalking is a crime that is extremely complex, often misunderstood, and chronically under-reported. It is difficult to recognize, investigate and prosecute. Unlike other crimes, stalking is not an individual instance, but rather a series of acts that together comprise a general pattern of behavior. As President Obama stated in his proclamation of Stalking Awareness Month: A study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows the astonishing prevalence of this crime: during a 12 month period, an estimated 3.4 million persons age 18 or older were victims of stalking. Stalking is a crime that affects every sect of a community: stalking impacts victims at home, at their places of employment, at social gatherings and other events, virtually anywhere a victim may go, including online in the form of cyberstalking. What is most misunderstood is the dangerous correlation between stalking and more violent crimes. Research shows that individuals who stalk their partners are four times more likely to physically assault their partners than non-stalkers and are six times more likely to sexually assault their partners. The overlap of stalking and femicide is shocking: 54% of victims reported stalking to police before they were killed by their stalker. Sadly, only 40% of stalking victims report this crime to police. It is essential that we work together to not only educate the public about the severity of this crime, but that we respond more effectively as a community. As President Obama further discussed in his proclamation of National Stalking Awareness Month: For more information about Stalking Awareness Month, we hope you will visit http://www.stalkingawarenessmonth.org/. Here, you will find resources for those impacted by this pervasive crime and actions that you can take in your community. Finally, on behalf of Office on Violence Against Women, I would like to wish you and yours a very Happy New Year. Let us endeavor to make every effort possible to bring peace and safety to our communities. It is our wish that every person be safe and secure, and live in a community that embraces and cares for everyone’s well-being. May 2011 be a healthy and safe year for all. With deep respect and gratitude, Susan B. Carbon OVW Director U.S. Department of Justice We remind all those in need of assistance, or other concerned friends and individuals, to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE.