Native American Women Are Rape Targets Because of a Legislative Loophole
▻https://www.vice.com/read/native-american-women-are-rape-targets-because-of-a-legislative-loophole-511
VICE: What motivated you to write this book?
Amy Casselman: In 2009, I had the honor of meeting a woman named Lavetta Elk who in 2003 was assaulted near her home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation by her Army recruiter Staff Sergeant Joseph Kopf. By strategically choosing to assault her on Indian land, he leveraged his identity as a non-Native person to get away with his crime. This is the reality for many Native women because the jurisdictional law that covers Indian country privileges non-Native people who commit crimes specifically against Native people. In Lavetta’s case, because she was Native and Kopf was non-Native, the tribe couldn’t prosecute him. The federal government then declined to prosecute. The US military investigated and found that Kopf had in fact sexually assaulted her, but they never prosecuted him. They never even discharged him from the military. As the result of the jurisdictional mess in Indian country, Lavetta was told that there was no justice to be found for her.
#viol #lois #etats_unis #justice