NCJ Number
199011
Date Published
October 2002
Length
105 pages
Annotation
This is a report on the development and findings of a compendium of research on violence against American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women in the academic literature.
Abstract
The literature search involved the use of Internet Web sites and search engines as well as consultation with multiple experts in the field of domestic violence to assist with identifying information and resources. American Indian community leaders were also interviewed. The literature review found that intimate violence (between adult partners) and family violence (involving any family members) have each accounted for approximately 9 percent of all violent victimizations experienced by American Indian victims, about the same percentage as found among all victims of violence. The most striking distinction among American Indian victims of violence is the racial difference of offenders in intimate violence incidents when contrasted with family violence. Among violence victims of all races, approximately 11 percent of intimate victims and 5 percent of family victims report the offender to have been of a different race; however, among American Indian victims of violence, 75 percent of intimate victimizations and 25 percent of family victimizations involve an offender of a different race. Information and data provided in this report pertain to general health data for AI/AN, national adult urban Indian mortality data, general socio-demographic data, regions with the highest number of American Indians, general crime data, the American Indian justice system, the most common location of crimes that involve American Indians, the gender/ages of American Indian crime victims, socioeconomic levels and crime among American Indians, and intimate and family violence. Overall, the articles and information available on AI/AN show the severity of the problem of gender-based violence; however, there are significant data gaps on this issue; for example, for certain American Indian groups, such as disabled American Indian women, there are no articles in the literature. There is also a paucity of literature on young women and the violence perpetrated against them, such as date rape; little information exists on the victimization of elder American Indian women. Only one article was found on violence against pregnant AI/AN women. Neither is there literature on the AI/AN lesbian population. Some of the challenges facing the AI/AN community include the development of programs that collect accurate community-level data, as well as the development of interdisciplinary systems that address the problems identified in this report. Abstract summaries are provided for the literature reviewed.