The Tribal Law and Policy Institute is a 100% Native American owned and operated non-profit corporation organized to design and deliver education, research, training, and technical assistance programs which promote the enhancement of justice in Indian country and the health, well-being, and culture of Native peoples. We are guided by a Board of Directors. We utilize an Approach to Training and Technical Assistance which is incorporated into all of our Programs and Services.

We seek to facilitate the sharing of resources so that Indian Nations and tribal justice systems have access to cost effective resources which can be adapted to meet the individual needs of their communities. We strive to establish programs which link tribal justice systems with other academic, legal, and judicial resources such as law schools, Indian law clinics, tribal colleges, Native American Studies programs, Indian legal organizations and consultants, tribal legal departments, other tribal courts, and other judicial/legal institutions. Through these collaborative alliances, we are implementing a synergistic approach to the delivery of services to Indian Country – accessing a wealth of talent and resources. We firmly believe that the coming years will see a dramatic change in the traditional mode of the delivery of tribal justice training and technical assistance services. Our staff and consultants are developing training through a variety of modes such as interactive CD-ROM and Internet based distant learning programs. For a full listing for Tribal Law and Policy Institute Programs and Services, click here.

Vision

Our vision is to empower Native communities to create and control their own institutions for the benefit/welfare of all community members now and for future generations.

Mission

Our mission is to enhance and strengthen Tribal sovereignty and justice while honoring community values, protecting rights, and promoting well-being.

Objectives

• To help create and support institutions and systems that work toward improving the welfare of Native communities, including future generations.
• To support Tribal sovereignty and autonomy.
• To facilitate the empowerment of all Native individuals and communities that have suffered from abuse or abusive historical practices and policies.
• To enhance the development of resources by making more options available, providing resources and tools for developing Tribal sovereignty, and developing model service delivery systems that meet the needs of individual Indian communities in a culturally appropriate manner.
• To assist Tribes in building the capacity to be self-reliant by utilizing Tribal members to meet the internally defined needs of the Tribe.

Philosophies

Philosophy on sovereignty and historical context:

• We acknowledge that Tribal governments have the inherent capacity and responsibility to effectively respond to issues, disputes, crimes, and crises within their communities.
• We seek to empower Tribal communities to build upon inherent strengths as sovereign Nations.
• We believe that Tribal sovereignty and Tribal self-determination are critical for the healthy functioning of Tribal communities.
• We believe that addressing Tribal issues in contemporary times requires a thorough examination of the historical relationship between individual Tribal Nations and the Federal, State, and local governments.

Philosophy on victimization of Native people and tribal communities:

• We acknowledge that colonization happened and understand that it has ongoing impact.
• We believe that past institutionalization of biased policies and practices have created an environment of disparity and despair in parts of Indian country.
• We believe that Tribes and individual Native people have suffered and continue to suffer from ongoing unjust policies and practices that have worked to prevent fully empowering Tribes as sovereigns and Native people as self-reliant citizens of Indian Nations.
• We believe that the response to all violence should include adapting culturally respectful solutions that do not compromise the safety of individuals or communities.

Philosophy on victimization in tribal communities:

• We believe victims of crime have inherent rights that should be honored and upheld by all governments.
• We seek to empower victims of crime rather than pathologize their response to victimization.
• We believe that Tribal communities have a long history of providing support and services to victims of crime, and contemporary responses should enhance these inherent strengths.
• We endorse safety for victims, accountability for offenders, and accountability for governmental entities for prevention of offenses and the rehabilitation of offenders or the segregation of those offenders when that will protect the community.
• We believe that all governments must be accountable for the safety of their citizens.

Philosophy on gender-based crimes:

• We believe there is a disproportionately high rate of violence committed against Native women.
• We acknowledge that prior to colonization, women had revered and respected roles in Tribal communities.
• We believe that colonization has had a disparate impact on women and has promoted violence against Native women.
• We endorse the reclamation of traditional beliefs about the sacredness of women.
• We believe that the response to violence against Native women must be framed within an empowerment model.

Philosophy on how we work with tribal nations:

• We recognize Tribal communities themselves are the source of cultural knowledge and legal authority through leaders, elders, and culture-bearers.
• We believe that Tribal communities should control the design and form of their laws and the enhancement of their governmental institutions.
• We believe that Tribal laws should be developed through a representative and inclusive community-based process.
• We commit to designing “do-it-yourself” tools that can be tailored for the needs of particular Tribal communities rather than a “one size fits all” approach.
• We commit to identifying and working with local consultants and those with expertise in the targeted communities.
• We commit to working with those organizations that are willing to be accountable to Tribal Nations and that support our mission.
• We commit to making resources readily available in a variety of formats at the lowest cost possible.

Philosophy on Alaska Native issues:

• We recognize and respect the right of Alaska Native villages to express and assert their sovereignty on their own terms.
• We recognize Native peoples in Alaska have unique histories and challenges that are distinct from those in Native Nations in the lower 48.
• We recognize that statewide organizations and regional organizations representing Native communities do not often have consensus on how to address social and justice system problems.
• We believe it is essential to collaborate and coordinate with a variety of entities, especially those that share the Institute’s mission and philosophies.
• We believe it is essential to have responses tailored to the local Alaska Native communities.

Philosophy on Native Youth:

• Since time immemorial Indigenous children and youth have been cherished as “sacred beings” that embody the future of their people.
• We stand with and honor every Indigenous Nation, Tribe, Village, and Pueblo striving to protect, teach, and provide guidance and resources for their youth to promote their transition from childhood into healthy adults who will continue to protect the land, resources, and lifeways of their people.
• We commit to continuously work towards a society and a day where Indigenous youth are no longer discriminated against for their identity, imprisoned, hungry, without shelter, or forcibly removed from their communities.
• We commit to protecting the inherent rights of Indigenous youth to their respective Indigenous language, culture, traditional homelands.
• We maintain that Indigenous children and youth hold the key to the future and with our support and love will continue the battle to restore, maintain and strengthen the beautiful way of life for all Indigenous relatives.

Philosophy on terminology:

• We acknowledge that words and labels have tremendous power, especially when referring to the identities of Indigenous Peoples.
• We believe that Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-identify and we respect their choices on how to identify themselves.
• We believe that no single term is acceptable by all Indigenous People.
• We acknowledge the importance of reflecting the sovereign status of Tribal Nations through words such as “Nations” and “governments.”
• We acknowledge the importance of reflecting the political identity of members of Tribal Nations through the use of the word “citizen.”
• We will use the terms “Tribal Nations,” “Native Nations,” “Indian Nations,” “Tribes,” “Alaska Natives,” “Indigenous Nations” and “Indigenous Peoples” interchangeably to refer to Indigenous Peoples in a collective sense.
• We mean to include Alaska Natives when using the term “Tribal.”

Philosophy on Indian Nations’ collaboration with state and federal entities:

• We believe that Indian Nations’ collaboration with state and federal entities should recognize and validate Tribal sovereignty and recognize and respect local cultural differences.
• We believe that trust is earned and built over time.
• We believe that Indian Nations’ collaboration with state and federal entities has potential to greatly enhance program integrity and effectiveness.
• We believe that a successful collaboration commences with mutual respect and continues with shared vision and shared responsibility.
• We believe that not ALL issues can be solved by collaboration, but we also believe that ALL problems can be improved upon by collaboration.
• We believe that collaborations involve two equal and willing partners that strive for the mutual benefit of both parties.
• We believe that successful collaborations need to be built on a foundation of understanding the cultural differences and historical realities in local communities. An educational component has been very successful in many collaborations.
• We believe that locations for collaborative meetings should be alternated and include at least half the meetings in the Native community, whenever possible, to further the bi-lateral exchange and educational component.
• We believe that collaborations are necessary to maximize resources for all involved and ensure cultural integrity.

Philosophy on research in Native communities:

• We recognize that colonialism as a structure and institution is ongoing, not a historical event that is located exclusively in a distant past. Colonial logics and ways of being and knowing run deep into every aspect of our lives, including research practices. In all our work, we strive to be a disrupter of these colonial systems as we rethink how knowledge is constructed, interpreted, and shared.
• We believe that decolonizing research does not simply mean acknowledging the colonial influences that have shaped our understanding and methodologies; rather, it necessitates a profound and ongoing re-evaluation of how knowledge is constructed, interpreted, and shared. It’s about recognizing the enormous plurality of ways of knowing, language systems, knowledge-sharing protocols, and land-based epistemologies and honoring those Indigenous and marginalized perspectives that have been silenced or pushed into the periphery.
• We celebrate that methods of conducting research vary significantly when they center Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Not all “valid” research happens through interviews, focus groups, and surveys. It can also happen through storytelling, creating art, conversation circles, ceremonies, dreaming, critical reflection, cooking, photography, and more.
• We recognize that we (humankind) are not the first researchers; we have much to learn from our more-than-human relatives (animals, plants, natural elements, etc.) that came before us. As we reflect on the location and production of knowledge, we are humbly reminded that we came last; as such, our viewpoint is the most limited.
• We recognize that Eurocentric, colonial research methods are predicated on myth of objectivity and neutrality, pushing us to think in binary and totalizing ways that overlook complexities.
• We oppose colonial models of knowledge production that center the researcher as the “discoverer” of new knowledge. Our approach to research centers the lived experiences and ancestral histories of Indigenous Peoples as the true expertise. These relational practices relocate researchers as knowledge learners, facilitators, and caretakers so that whole communities can move as one, think as one, and be as one.

Philosophy on Restorative Justice/Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts:

• We believe that the incarceration of a relative does damage to Tribal sovereignty by diminishing Indigenous Peoples’ capacity to govern their land, culture, and people, as it removes Indigenous Peoples from our communities and steals their future.
• We believe that colonization and abusive assimilation efforts—such as genocide, forced relocation, the abduction of youth to more than 350 government-funded boarding schools, and the abduction of youth to non-Native families— have caused historical and generational trauma to Tribal communities, families, and individuals. We view incarceration as an extension of this abuse through settler colonialism.
• We believe that as a result of harms caused through ongoing colonization, including intergeneration and historical trauma, Tribal communities and individuals have higher rates of incarceration and alcohol and substance misuse.
• We support the use of decision-making models and programming to direct high-risk persons from justice involvement, including youth at high risk for involvement in the adult system, from prosecution or incarceration.
• We believe in the principle of restorative justice—an approach to justice derived from Indigenous Peoples that attempts to restore harm at its roots, seeking to harmonize the underlying conflict and restore balance to the individuals affected, relationships harmed, and the community at large. We believe that a part of both individual and community healing is reintegration into the community.
• We support the development of innovative community-led solutions and strategies that are culturally grounded, practice-based and evidence-based (when possible) through our work with American Indian and Alaska Native communities, Tribal individuals and their families, and Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts.

The Tribal Law and Policy Institute has developed a series of Comprehensive Publications. We believe that resources – especially resources developed under federal grants – should be freely accessibly on the Internet in order to maximize tribal access to these resources.