Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native Women Surviving Violence (61 page)

Notes

1
  Throughout this chapter the term “woman” will be used as often as possible instead of the word “victim,” for two reasons. First, statistics show that between 85 and 95 percent of domestic violence victims are women. Second, we need to view these women as individual persons and relatives. The objectification and dehumanizing of women who are battered by criminal justice and health care systems is a form of collusion with the batterer. Our goal should be to always put a face and name to these women when dealing with those who choose to use illegal and culturally abhorrent violence against them.

2
  Lawrence A. Greenfeld and Steven K. Smith,
American Indians and Crime
(Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, USDOJ, February 1999, NCJ 173386), available at
http:www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs
.

3
  Greenfeld and Smith,
American Indians and Crime.

4
  Greenfeld and Smith,
American Indians and Crime.

5
  Fay S. Taxman and James M. Byrne, “The Truth about ‘Broken Windows’ Probation: Moving towards a Proactive Community Supervision Model,”
Perspectives
(Journal of the American Probation and Parole Association, spring 2001).

6
  American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) Working Group, “Model Domestic Violence Enhanced Probation Protocols” (Council of State Governments, Lexington, KY 2003), available at
www.appa-net.org
.

7
  Fernando Mederos, Denise Gamache, and Ellen Pence,
Domestic Violence and Probation
(Minneapolis, MN: Battered Women’s Justice Project, under a grant from Violence Against Women Office, Office of Justice Programs, USDOJ, 1998).

8
  Carl Reddick and Don Chapin, “Domestic Violence: A Probation Officer’s View,”
Perspectives
(APPA, spring 1999).

9
  Barbara Hart,
Assessing Whether Batterers Will Kill
(Battered Women’s Justice Project, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1997).

10
  Hart, Assessing
Whether Batterers Will Kill.

11
  Women’s Justice Center, “Domestic Violence Homicide Risk Assessment Checklist” (2004), available at
http://www.justicewomen.com/tips_dv_assessment.html
.

12
  M. A. Straus and R. J. Gelles, “Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence,”
Families
8 (1990): 145, available at
http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_marriage_family/0,6256,473448-,00.html
.

13
  M. A. Straus, “Modified Version of the Conflict Tactics Scales,” from “Measuring Family Conflict and Violence: The Conflict Tactics Scales,”
Journal of Marriage and the Family
41 (1979): 87.

14
  C. M. Murphy, T. M. Morrel, J. D. Elliott, and T. M. Neavins, “A Prognostic Indicator Scale for the Treatment of Partner Abuse Perpetrators,”
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
18 (2003): 1087–1105.

15
  P. R. Kropp, S. D. Hart, C. D. Webster, and D. Eaves,
Manual of the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide,
2nd ed. (British Columbia Institute on Family Violence, 1994).

16
  S. V
Tyagi,
Risk Assessment Measures in Prediction of Domestic/Interpersonal Violence: Brief Overview of Some Measures and Issues User Report
(Professional Education for Community Practitioners: Technical Paper Series, Counterpoint Counseling and Educational Co-operative, 2003), 1.

17
  P. R. Kropp and S. D. Hart, “The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA) Guide: Reliability and Validity in Adult Male Offenders,”
Law and Human Behavior
24, no. I (February 2000): 101–18.

18
  Reddick and Chapin, “Domestic Violence.”

19
  
Caseload Standards: Issue Paper
(American Probation and Parole Association Issues Committee, Council of State Governments, 1990), available at
http://www.appa-net.org
.

20
  Greenfeld and Smith,
American Indians and Crime.

21
  George Twiss,
Status of the Tribal Domestic Violence Response: A Report
to
the Oglala Sioux Tribe Judiciary Committee
(2002); unpublished (on file with author).

22
  Dianna Davis, Blair Rudes, and Laura Williams,
To Protect and Serve: An Overview of Community Policing on Indian Reservations
(Community Policing Consortium Monograph, Development Associates, Inc., 1997).

Questions

1. Why does the author make a distinction between the words “victim” and “woman” in the writing of this chapter?
   
2. When the author refers to the “paper chase,” what does he mean? What information does the probation officer normally require at check-in? Why is this type of check-in ineffective with domestic violence offenders?
   
3. What are some examples of precolonial forms of tribal probation? Although probation or restitution varied by tribal community, what were some important common aspects?
   
4. Why is it important for the probation officer to react to even small infractions of the offender?
   
5. How can tribes work effectively with state and federal courts and law enforcement to monitor offenders to make sure that they do not escape the system and violate probation?
   
6. Why is victim involvement in probation monitoring so essential? Why is this traditionally left out of the Anglo-American system?
   
7. Why is it so important to hold offenders accountable in domestic violence probation cases? How does this play into the cycle of domestic violence?
   
8. Why should tribal community members be involved in the monitoring aspect of probation?
   
9. How should rehabilitation be addressed and who should decide how to deal with an offender’s excuses for his violent behavior, such as alcohol and drug abuse? Who should offer the batterer reeducation programs and how should they be made culturally appropriate?
   
10. How can tribal laws be strengthened to recognize the importance of probation work in domestic violence and sexual assault cases?
    

In Your Community

1. Does your community fall under a federal, state, county, or tribal probation program? If it is nontribal, what suggestions do you have for strengthening the relationship with non-Native agencies to educate them so they can better serve victims in your community? If it is a tribal program, what improvements need to be made?
   
2. What ideas do you have for probation programs to make them more responsive to the particular needs and cultural traditions of your community?
   
3. What arguments can you conceive of to convince tribal employees and council members or federal, state, or county workers of the importance of a probation program for domestic violence offenders in your community?
   

Terms Used in Chapter 19

Banishment:
The forcible expulsion of somebody from the community.

Emulate:
To imitate another.

Infraction:
The failure to obey or fulfill a law or agreement.

Mediation:
The intervention by a third party between two sides in a dispute in an attempt to help them reach an agreement.

Parole:
A period after incarceration during which the offender is required to meet certain conditions, such as good behavior, regular reporting, and so forth.

Pre-arraignment report:
A report provided to the court before the accused comes to court to respond to a criminal charge. Report used by the judge to help in setting bail and conditions of release pending trial.

Precedent:
An action or decision that can be used as an example for a similar decision or to justify a similar action.

Pre-sentence report:
A report provided to the court after a guilty verdict or plea, used by the judge to determine the punishment for the crime.

Probation:
The supervision of a criminal offender by a probation officer.

Recidivism:
The tendency to relapse into a previous undesirable behavior or crime.

Restitution:
Compensation for a loss, damage, or injury.

Shunning:
Avoiding somebody or something intentionally.

Testament

What are words
Pictures of my soul in symbols
Letters from a heart that is so sore
It only wants to write beauty.

Past is past
Healing is today
Moving on is tomorrow
Words could never hold all the pain.

Words were most often
SHOUTED
They were never a soft caress
Nor the sound of praise.

Maybe that is why
My words flow best
When they capture the beauty
Of the life I surround myself with.

Words are my escape
My grasp on the future
My joy at having survived
All the ugly words of the past.

Words are my lifeline
My celebration
Ecstasy of recovery and rebirth
In my ancestral homelands.

I can soar with eagles
Dance in the reflections on the river
Drown in the smell of cedar.
Bask in the warm sun.

All because I survived
All because I can touch Life
Touch Nature with my mind
Sing to Her with my words.

The healing is here
In the letting go of old words, old wounds
As I sing the beauty of life
I need no testament to pain.

Judi Brannan Armbruster (Karuk)

Glossary

Ambiguity:
A situation or expression that can be understood in more than one way, and the meaning may be unclear.

Assimilation:
Refers to the process of becoming a part of or more like another.

Banishment:
The forcible expulsion of somebody from the community.

Beyond a reasonable doubt:
Proof that results in being fully satisfied and entirely convinced of a fact and circumstance.

Biased:
Unable or unwilling to form an objective opinion about something.

Bisexual:
Someone who is physically, sexually, and emotionally attracted to persons of the same and different genders.

Burden of Proof:
In the law of evidence, the necessity to affirmatively prove a fact, facts, or issue.

Clear and convincing:
Proof that results in a reasonable certainty of the truth or fact. Requires more than a preponderance of the evidence and less than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Codified:
Laws that have been collected and arranged systematically, usually by subject matter, have been codified.

Colonization:
The act of establishing colonies, where one dominant culture settles an area generally inhabited by another culture.

Coming out:
Coming out of the “closet,” acknowledging who we are as LGBTTQQ individuals. Coming out is a form of being true to ourselves and is often terrifying because of rejection from those biased and phobic against LGBTTQQs. It can also be exhilarating to accept oneself.

Common law:
Unwritten law of the tribe, developed through custom and tradition.

Complacency:
Self-satisfaction; contentment with the way things are.

Concurrent:
Together, having the same authority; at the same time.

Consent:
To voluntarily agree to an act.

Continuum:
A spectrum; succession.

Covenant:
A binding agreement; a promise.

Cross- or counter petition:
A formal request to a court or other authority asking for some type of action against one who has filed a petition against you; as in a cross-petition for a protection order.

Cross-deputization agreement:
An agreement between governmental units with different jurisdictions (commonly between tribe, state, and/or federal governments) authorizing law enforcement officers from one of the parties to the agreement to have the same power and authority as law enforcement officers from the other party.