Statement
by
the Navajo Nation
before
the United States Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs
and the Senate
Judiciary Committee
on
Juvenile Justice Joint Oversight Hearing
Concerning
Increased Gang Activity in Indian Communities

Washington, DC
Wednesday, September 17, 1997

Introduction

The Navajo Nation is the largest Indian Nation in the United States with 250,000 members. The Navajo Nation encompasses 17.5 million acres, spanning the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah - one third of all Indian lands in the lower 48 states. The Navajo Nation is larger than the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined. Given our geographical composition, the Navajo Nation often encounters complex jurisdiction issues in regard to implementation of state and tribal programs, such as natural resource management, environmental protection and economic development.

The Navajo Nation is home to the poorest of America's rural poor. While the average unemployment in America today is 5%, the unemployment rate on the Navajo Nation averages 38% to 50% depending on the season. Over 56% of the Navajo people live in poverty. Per capita income averages $4,106 , less than 1/3 of that in the surrounding states. Although the Navajo Nation is slightly larger than West Virginia, our 2,000 miles of paved roads compares to barely 11% of West Virgnia's 18,000 miles.

Does the Navajo Nation have gang problems?

Yes. They are severe and growing in intensity. A "gang, " according to the Navajo Nation Police, is "an ongoing formal or informal association of persons whose members or associates individually or collectively engage in the commission, attempted commission, facilitation or solicitation of any felony act or who has at least one individual who is a criminal street gang member."

It is difficult to assign numbers to the problem or to attribute cases filed in court with gangs. Criminal activity is classified by statutory offenses and not by those who commit them or whether they are committed by groups of people. In Navajo Nation Fiscal Year 1993 (April 1, 1992 through March 31, 1993), there were an estimated 621 gang-related cases in the Navajo Nation Family Courts. That is 58% of the total number of delinquency cases filed. The numbers are increasing. Court statistics for the period between October 1, 1996 and June 30, 1997 show that for the first time, assaults are the number one category of crime. Twenty-four percent of the court criminal docket was assaults and batteries during that period. Crimes against the family increased to 9% of the criminal docket as the third highest category of offense. That is a significant increase over the past. Civil domestic abuse cases, which are associated with driving children into gangs, will top 3,000 cases by the end of the Navajo Nation fiscal year on September 30th.

The Navajo Nation sees the usual symptoms of gang activity: tagging, drive-by shootings, gang fights, vandalism, and burning buildings in retaliation. There is some evidence of growing vigilante activity as a popular response to government inaction.

The Navajo Nation Police report that there are at least 75 active gang "sets" or groups within the Navajo Nation. It is difficult to assess the numbers of individuals who are active as gang members or as associates. The police also report that 29% of gang members are age 16; 24% are age 17; 20% are 15; 18% are ages 13 or 14; and about 9% are 12 years of age or less. Navajo Nation court statistics show that while the major categories of Navajo Nation offenses for adults are (1) assaults and batteries, (2) driving while intoxicated, (3) crimes against the family, (4) liquor sales or possession, and (5) crimes against the public order (disorderly conduct), juvenile offenses cover a broad spectrum of crime.

In 1996, the Navajo Nation Judicial Branch initiated a gang study with funding from the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Most of the field interviews with gang members and interested stakeholders (i.e. justice agencies, social service programs, and community organizations) are complete, but the field notes are still being analyzed. However, to date the study to has produced some snapshots of the problem:

Gangs began outside the Navajo Nation, and they followed the federal government onto the Reservation. That is, most gang activity is centered in the agency or administrative centers of the Navajo Nation at Shiprock, Crownpoint, Window Rock, Fort Defiance, Chinle, Kayenta, and Tuba City. Gang activities in the Navajo Nation are prompted by proximity to large urban areas (e.g. at Canoncito near Albuquerque) and by movement to and from urban areas such as Phoenix and Los Angeles. Contacts with the Albuquerque Police Department indicate that Navajos are members of Hispanic gangs in that city. The overall intensity of gang activity has increased in the past 6 or 7 years, and there is a spillover effect onto the Navajo Nation.

A development issue associated with agency or administrative centers is cluster housing; particularly projects developed by the Indian Housing Program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Police report that those housing projects are the centers of gang activity. One such project in Fort Defiance is called "Beruit" because of the levels of violence there.

One of the difficulties with gangs in the Navajo Nation is that it is a large area to patrol and police resources are limited. The 1997 resident population of the Navajo Nation was 172,399 persons, who live in a land area of 25,000 square miles (larger than nine U.S. States and several European countries; including Ireland). The Judicial Branch study finds, based on interviews with gang members, that they are not afraid of prosecution and they are not afraid of conviction or parole supervision. Adults are using juveniles to commit crimes, knowing that the liklihood of of prosecution is slim and that the penalties are not severe. Now, only a few gang members get into trouble with the law because the Navajo Nation lacks the capacity to get them into trouble.

While gang activity is present in all the major communities of the Navajo Nation, and it is present to some extent in rural areas as well, the two worst areas are the Window Rock capital (with its residence areas of Fort Defiance, St. Michaels, Tse Bonito and Window Rock itself) and Shiprock. Gangs have been present in Shiprock for several decades. Recently the situation has grown more severe, and we now see drug dealing, violent fights with knives, and even the presence of automatic weapons. One lesson for a successful approach which comes from Shiprock is the fact that police activity there seems to be effective. That is, the Navajo Nation police division in Shiprock "prosecutes hard and fast in federal courts; gets gang members who commit felonies out of the community; and the police do not make a lot of noise about it (according to Daniel S. Wall, a University of Chicago researcher with the Judicial Branch gang study).

While there are some hard core gang members who commit felony-level crimes, there are also many gang members who only get into minor trouble (e.g. tagging) or who do not get into trouble at all.

There are several education policy issues which impact gang activity. States policies on education programs are important. At present, the Navajo Nation devotes a great deal of its post-secondary education resources to remediation. That is teaching college-level students what they did not learn in high school. State education policy does not address the problem of school dropouts, many of whom are gang members.

What are we dealing with?

The study shows that many gang members are from single parent families. Many are from broken homes; families where there is child abuse or family violence; or families without employment or a regular source of income. The 1997 resident population of the Navajo Nation is estimated to be 172,399 persons. At least half of that population is under age 20. The youth cohorts of the Nation are large. For example, the 1997 cohort of Navajo males between the ages of 21 through 29 years (11,643) is 7% of the total Navajo population. That is the age which produces many young adult offenders. There are at least 7,340 male Navajos between the ages of 14 through 17, or 4.4% of the total population. Those are the ages for most gang members. At present, the cohort of Navajo males 9 years of age and under is 20,954 or 12.6% of the total Navajo population. Age cohorts should be associated with recent welfare "reform" effects. That is, if the single parent family heads who currently receive various benefits have no source of income, their children will be pushed into crime sponsored by gangs as an alternative source of income.

The fact that 20,954 children will soon reach their teens is important: that demonstrates the importance of keeping children out of the cycle of violence so they will not enter it as teenagers and continue as adults. U.S. Justice Department studies show that children who are either abused or neglected are equally as likely to enter the cycle of violence as teens. Gangs are a tempting alternative lifestyle for children who want the companionship and support a family does not offer. The Justice Department studies go on to find that early intervention with children is important if they are to be kept out of the cycle of violence. There are a few hard core gang members. We need to identify them as they commit crimes to measure the scope and intensity of gang crime, monitor present strategies, and develop new ones. There should be early intervention in the Navajo Nation judicial system when the offenses are still minor. There should be coordination with federal officials for Major Crimes Act prosecutions. Even before those kinds of intervention, there must be the resources for early and prompt intervention with children before they begin offending.

What should be done?

ACTION ITEMS:

1. The Navajo Nation needs resources and support for immediate, aggressive, prompt and effective intervention in felony offenses, with the cooperation of area United States attorneys.

2. There must be resources for early intervention through delinquency prosecution in the Navajo Nation court system to deal with "minor" offenders effectively and deter them from more serious offenses.

3. There must be resources for intervention where children are in families which neglect or abuse them, which means effective responses by the court system and social service agencies to keep children out of the cycle of violence.

4. Navajo Nation experience shows that the traditional Navajo justice process, Navajo peacemaking, is an effective means of early intervention. For example, there need not be an identified criminal offense to deal with problems at an early stage. A gang member can be brought into peacemaking where he or she only exhibits "gang" traits (I.e. A gang name, clothing or symbols). Peacemaking involves families and does not use punishment, so it is an effective means of early intervention.

5. The gang study shows that because of a lack of resources, there is little coordination among Navajo Nation justice and social service agencies because of a lack of resources. That must be addressed.

6. The Navajo Nation lacks a data base among law enforcement agencies, the courts, and support programs. There must be one which identifies gang activities if suppression and intervention tactics are to be effective.

7. Conflicts with the surrounding states over jurisdiction and the allocation of federal and state resources makes it difficult to frame effective and coordinated responses, and issues of jurisdiction (personal, subject matter and territorial) and funding must be resolved.

8. The Navajo Nation lacks jail space to deal with adult offenders and treatment facilities to address the needs of juvenile offenders. A criminal justice system includes police, prosecution, courts, treatment agencies, and corrective facilities. If any of those elements fail, the others will be ineffective. We need a unified approach to the problem of gangs.

The Judicial Branch study indicates that gangs are present throughout the Navajo Nation. Given the increasing tendency toward more violent crime and drug dealing imported from urban areas, now is the time to act.

John Kelly, the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, says that Indian nations must have the resources to deal with crime problems at an early stage, so that he does not have to intervene using the Major Crimes Act. That is an important point. Not all gang members are hard core or violent. Many are only minor offenders. Many can be reached before they act out. We must focus on children before they are of gang age. In other words, the Justice Department's study on the cycle of violence gives us the important lesson that intervention must be early; it must be thorough; it must be effective; and there must be the means to followthrough.

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