the overrepresentation of native americans in the criminal justice system is a nationally underreported story, according to a feb 11 article in nieman reports. the national council on crime and deliquency revealed native americans were admitted to prison at over four times the rate for whites.
a 2014 report by the centers for disease control (cdc) showed police kill native americans at almost the same rate as black folks. researcher christopher josey said, "news media are communicating that native americans are not a vital part of the national conversation on race."
earlier this month, a report by the council of state governments justice center stated native americans make up seven percent of the population in montana. yet, they account for nearly 20% of the state's arrests.
montana's commission on sentencing will reconvene in june and september to analyze successful prison diversion efforts recently undertaken in new mexico and washington. some of their goals include reducing both racial disparities and the overall prison population.
jim taylor, legal director at the aclu of montana, said the state's department of corrections has more than three decades of documented native american oppression.
taylor said, "there's really been no interest in drilling down and seeing what's going on. we think there needs to be more study done by the state and more training throughout the system on cultural differences and the effects of historical trauma."
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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