[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 987 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 987

                   To restore safety to Indian women.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 10, 2005

Mr. McCain (for himself and Mr. Dorgan) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
                   To restore safety to Indian women.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Restoring Safety to Indian Women 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) national studies indicate that Indian women experience 
        domestic and sexual assaults at a far greater rate than other 
        groups of women in the national population;
            (2) there is relatively little data on the rate of domestic 
        violence perpetrated upon Indian women in Indian country or the 
        costs associated with responding to acts of domestic violence 
        in Indian country;
            (3) Indian tribes have criminal jurisdiction to prosecute 
        Indians who commit violations of tribal law;
            (4) the Federal Government has jurisdiction to prosecute 
        specific enumerated crimes that arise in Indian country under 
        section 1153 of title 18, United States Code (commonly known as 
        the Major Crimes Act);
            (5) the Major Crimes Act does not include provisions to 
        provide Federal prosecutors the ability to prosecute domestic 
        violence assaults unless they rise to the level of serious 
        bodily injury or death;
            (6) national studies conducted by law enforcement 
        organizations show that domestic violence disturbance calls are 
        the most dangerous situations and pose the highest risk to 
        responding law enforcement officers;
            (7) the limited arrest authority of the Bureau of Indian 
        Affairs and Indian tribal law enforcement agencies impacts the 
        ability of law enforcement to properly respond to acts of 
        domestic violence; and
            (8) Federal and tribal prosecutors and law enforcement 
        services are hampered in their efforts to address domestic 
        violence by the lack of available criminal history information 
        for tribal ordinance offenders.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To obtain data on the rates of domestic violence 
        perpetrated upon Indian women in Indian country.
            (2) To close existing gaps in Federal criminal laws to 
        enable Federal, State, and tribal law enforcement, prosecution 
        agencies, and courts to address incidents of domestic violence.
            (3) To address the public safety concerns experienced by 
        tribal police officers that arise in responding to incidents of 
        domestic violence.
            (4) To prevent the serious injury or death of Indian women 
        subject to domestic violence.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Attorney general.--The term ``Attorney General'' means 
        the Attorney General of the United States.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Department of the Interior.
            (3) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' has the same 
        meaning as in section 4 of the Indian Self-determination and 
        Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).

SEC. 5. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HABITUAL OFFENDER.

    Chapter 7 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
``Sec. 117. Domestic assault by a habitual offender
    ``(a) Any person who commits a domestic assault within the special 
maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or Indian 
country and who has a final conviction on at least two separate prior 
occasions in Federal, State, or Indian tribal court proceedings for 
offenses that would be, if subject to Federal jurisdiction--
            ``(1) any assault, sexual abuse, or serious violent felony 
        against a spouse or intimate partner; or
            ``(2) an offense under chapter 110A,
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for a term of not more than 
5 years, or both, except that if substantial bodily injury results from 
a violation under this section, the offender shall be imprisoned for a 
term of not more than 10 years.
    ``(b) For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) the term `domestic assault' means an assault 
        committed by a current or former spouse, parent, child, or 
        guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares 
        a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has 
        cohabitated with the victim as a spouse, parent, child, or 
        guardian, or by a person similarly situated to a spouse, 
        parent, child, or guardian of the victim;
            ``(2) the term `final conviction' means the final judgment 
        on a verdict of finding of guilty, a plea of guilty, or a plea 
        of nolo contendere, but does not include a final judgment which 
        has been expunged by pardon, reversed, set aside, or otherwise 
        rendered void;
            ``(3) the term `order of protection' has the meaning given 
        to such term by section 2265(b);
            ``(4) the term `serious violent felony' has the meaning 
        given to such term by section 3559(c)(2)(F);
            ``(5) the term `State' has the meaning given to such term 
        by section 3559(c)(2)G);
            ``(6) the term `substantial bodily injury' has the meaning 
        given to such term by section 113(b)(1); and
            ``(7) the term `sexual abuse' has the meaning given to such 
        term by section 2242.''.

SEC. 6. ENHANCED ARREST AUTHORITY.

    Section 4 of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act (25 U.S.C. 2803) 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ``, or'' and inserting 
        ``; or''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``, or'' and 
                inserting a semi-colon;
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding ``or'' at the 
                end; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C)(i) the offense is a misdemeanor offense of 
                domestic violence (as defined in section 117 of title 
                18, United States Code); and
                    ``(ii) the employee has reasonable grounds to 
                believe that the person to be arrested has committed, 
                or is committing, the offense;''.

SEC. 7. CRIMINAL RECORDS DATABASE PILOT PROJECT.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General shall make grants available 
pursuant to section 2001(b) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg(b)) to Indian tribes for the 
development of tribal criminal history databases to document final 
convictions of tribal domestic violence court adjudications, orders of 
protection, stay away orders, and such other domestic violence criminal 
history.
    (b) Requirements.--A database developed under subsection (a) shall 
include--
            (1) final convictions by a tribal court order;
            (2) orders of protection that are currently in effect and 
        meet the requirements of section 2265(b) of title 18, United 
        States Code;
            (3) a means to provide tribal, Federal, and State law 
        enforcement agencies with access to the information in the 
        database; and
            (4) safeguards to prevent the dissemination of the 
        information contained therein for other than a criminal justice 
        or law enforcement purpose.

SEC. 8. STUDY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN INDIAN COUNTRY.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General, in consultation with the 
Secretary, the Director of the Indian Health Service, and Indian 
tribes, shall conduct a study on the incidents of domestic violence in 
Indian country.
    (b) Contents.--The study conducted under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) determine the extent of domestic violence in Indian 
        country and its causes; and
            (2) identify obstacles to--
                    (A) the prevention of incidents of domestic 
                violence;
                    (B) the appropriate response to incidents of 
                domestic violence;
                    (C) adequate treatment for victims of domestic 
                violence; and
                    (D) criminal prosecution of domestic violence 
                offenders.
    (c) Report .--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Attorney General shall transmit to Congress a report 
regarding the study conducted under this section. This report shall 
include recommendations, including legislative recommendations, to 
address domestic violence in Indian country.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.

SEC. 9. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    Section 2001(b) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (10), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon;
            (2) in paragraph (11), by striking the period and inserting 
        ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(12) to develop tribal domestic violence criminal history 
        databases for use by Indian tribal courts and tribal, State, 
        and Federal law enforcement officers engaged in a law 
        enforcement function''.
                                 <all>