Confronting Bias & Ensuring Justice for Survivors from Native Communities of SV, DV, Stalking, & HT

Recorded August 19th, 2024
Co-Hosted by:
AEquitas, Red Wind Consulting, and the Tribal Law Policy Institute
Panelists:
-Leslie A. Hagen, National Indian Training Coordinator, U.S. Department of Justice
-Nicole Matthews, Executive Director, Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition
-Jeri Moomaw, Executive Director, Innovations Human Trafficking Collaborative
-Troy Morley, Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Assistant U.S. Attorney - Great Plains Region, Tribal Liaison - District of South Dakota
-Kelly Stoner, Victim Advocacy Legal Specialist, Tribal Law Policy Institute
Facilitators:
-Jennifer Long, CEO, AEquitas
-Vicki Ybanez, Chief Executive Officer, Red Wind Consulting, Inc.
This web-based panel, Overcoming Barriers to Justice: Prosecuting Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Human Trafficking Involving Victims from American Indian and Alaska Native Communities, explores the ways in which bias against survivors from American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities affects the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and human trafficking.
Panelists address the following topics:
-Effects of inequalities and challenges that survivors from AIAN communities uniquely face as victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, and human trafficking.
-Barriers to reporting crimes, such as bias and stereotypes held by law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and jurors that can translate into disparate outcomes for victims through unfair credibility determinations.
-Impact of bias on case assessments of the likelihood of conviction, and collateral consequences on a victim’s ability to seek healing and justice.
-Strategies for prosecutors’ offices to enhance justice for AIAN victims by engaging in cultural humility, improving training, and ensuring accountability reinforced by data.
As a result of this panel discussion, participants will be better able to:
-Identify and eliminate bias impacting prosecutorial decision-making and practices.
-Refine (and or develop) practices and policies that enhance public trust that the system works fairly for all individuals in the community.
-Promote fairness through cultural humility, improved training, and accountability through data-driven practices.
This project was supported by Grant No. 15JOVW-22-GK-03987-MUMU awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.