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Early report reveals justice disparities
Posted by Ann Bates to South Dakota Prisoners Support Group
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2002/11/15/news/local/news05.txt
By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer
PIERRE - American Indians get a worse deal than white people in South Dakota's criminal-justice system, a state legislative committee was told Thursday.
The Legislature's State-Tribal Relations Committee heard testimony on the racial makeup of South Dakota's prison population, medical care for inmates, and the religious activities and other activities provided for prisoners.
The panel planned today to discuss a preliminary report issued recently in a study that is looking into whether Indians and whites get equal treatment in the court system. University of South Dakota researchers have gathered statistics and reached preliminary conclusions but will conduct a more detailed analysis of individual cases before issuing a final report.
Laurie Feiler of the state Corrections Department said there is no doubt that Indians are over-represented in the prison population. Although Indians made up 8.3 percent of South Dakota's population in 2000, about 22.3 percent of the state's prison inmates were Indian last year, she said.
However, neighboring states have similar disparities, Feiler said.
Indians make up 4.9 percent of North Dakota's population but represent 18.8 percent of North Dakota's inmate population, Feiler said. And although Indians constitute only 1.1 percent of Minnesota's general population, they are 6.6 percent of the prison population, she said.
Indians in South Dakota's prison are over-represented by a factor of 2.7 times the percentage in the state's general population, she said. That ratio is 3.8 in North Dakota and 6 in Minnesota, she said.
The preliminary conclusions of the USD study are that Indians are denied bond at a higher rate than non-Indians; fewer Indians go to trial on felony charges because they accept plea agreements more readily than white defendants do; and white adults are more often charged with drunken driving, assault and drug offenses than Indians are.
The report also concluded that Indians on average serve longer prison sentences for violent crimes than non-Indians, except for assault and vehicular homicide convictions. Non-Indians serve longer sentences for nonviolent crimes.
MaryAnn Bear Heels McCowan said she believes some public defenders are too willing to negotiate plea bargains, rather than going to trial, when they represent poor Indian clients.
Indians also are more likely to accept a plea bargain because they have little trust in the justice system, McCowan said. "In my opinion, it all has to go back to the broken treaties."
Myrna German of Sisseton said Indian juvenile offenders are not rehabilitated in the state boot camp, but instead are locked into a life of crime.
"Youth are being groomed for prison," German said. "Our people are groomed all the way from the time they are adolescents."
Jennifer Ring, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the Dakotas, said no single level of the criminal justice system is overwhelmingly biased, but biases in each level accumulate to present a big problem for Indians accused of crimes.
Law enforcement officers have a lot of discretion on how to handle situations, and state's attorneys also have leeway in prosecuting cases, Ring said. Jury selection appears to be biased because jurors are selected from lists of registered voters and people with drivers' licenses, which means Indians are less likely than white people to be called for jury duty, she said.
Judges probably do not introduce much bias when they sentence convicts, but a lot of data must be collected to determine whether bias exists in the entire justice system, she said.
"The Native American community does not trust the justice system as a whole. They assume it's going to find them guilty," Ring said.
Ring and others who testified said inmates, both Indian and non-Indian, appear to have trouble getting medical attention.
Hazel Bonner of Rapid City, a free-lance investigator and writer, said South Dakota's adult prison population has grown from 745 two decades ago to nearly 3,000 now. "That's outrageous," she said.
Bonner said the main reason for the increase in the prison population is that convicts are getting longer sentences. The state should spend more on education and less on prisons, and people who present no danger to society should not be locked up, she said.
Webster Two Hawk, state commissioner of tribal government relations, said he believes some Indians should be appointed to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles. An Indian board member would better understand what an Indian parolee would face, he said.
The committee also discussed setting up a meeting, possibly early in the 2003 Legislature that starts in January, so legislators and tribal officials could talk about issues with new Gov. Mike Rounds.
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