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Pending AppointmentAssistant Secretary - Indian AffairsAS-IA
FY 16-17: Agency Priority Goal
Safer and More Resilient Communities in Indian Country
Priority Goal
Goal Overview
Problem or opportunity being addressed
The rate of recidivism nationally among Native Americans, an estimated 33% higher than non-native populations, creates a huge drain on the already overtaxed local Native economies: overcrowding at dilapidated detention centers, court dockets overwhelmed with cases, and, in many instances, loss of family primary bread winners.
This priority goal seeks to reduce recidivism by addressing root causes and by implementing alternatives to incarceration. In terms of addressing underlying causes of re-arrest, BIA focuses resources on drug and alcohol abuse treatment and prevention programs, including addressing pre-disposing factors such as safety in the home and community; emotional, psychological, and physical poverty; and grief from loss of family and culture. BIA coordinates social service needs of the target population, including mental health, education, employment, and family issues with the goal of reducing re-offenses. In terms of alternatives to incarceration, BIA uses, as appropriate, probation, courts specific to substance abuse cases, and traditional cultural courts including healing to wellness courts that apply solutions-focused sentencing options and talking circles for truant juveniles.
This priority goal focuses on reducing repeat incarceration in five tribal communities. Three communities, Duck Valley, Red Lake, and Ute Mountain, carry over from the FY 2014-15 priority goal. For FY 2016-17, two additional communities will be identified and included. Communities are chosen based on existing infrastructure and services, and the potential for enhancing these services/infrastructure, as well as tribal willingness to participate. During the 2014-15 goal period, the first year involved putting into place the services, infrastructure, and activities at the pilot locations. Actual measurement began in FY 2015, during which there were 81 repeat offenders among the 150 habitual offenders initially identified in FY 2013 at the three tribal communities; a reduction of 69 in the number of repeat offenders . Given the length of time required to address the causes of repeat offenses, the FY 2016-17 results, combined with those of FY 2015, will give the Department a more realistic, multi-year picture of these recidivism reduction efforts.
Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives
The recidivism reduction effort ties directly to Mission Area 2, “Strengthening Tribal Nations and Insular Communities,” in the Department of the Interior’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan as well as Administration initiatives to improve the quality of life in tribal and native communities.
Key barriers and challenges
While pursuing the prior FY 2010-2013 Priority Goal on reducing violent crime, BIA realized that reducing the number of repeat offenses could have a significant effect on the crime rate. Techniques used in other cities that direct attention and services to reducing repeat offenses were considered for application in tribal communities. Duck Valley, Red Lake and Ute Mountain, three very geographically dispersed communities, experience high levels of crime, disparate levels of staffing and training, equipment shortages, and significant differences and gaps in technology. Additionally, reducing recidivism requires negotiating commitments with the Justice Department’s Tribal justice program and internal BIA programs. Successful reduction in repeat incarcerations also requires cooperation and support from federal, state and tribal participants.
Other key challenges may include:
- Access to tribal correctional facilities records;
- Availability of funding for components of the program not under Interior’s jurisdiction, e.g. detention facilities;
- Availability of substance abuse treatment programs – social program budgets, staffing, and capacity have not kept pace with the increased law enforcement effort;
- Sentencing resources and alternative program availability; and
- Other environmental, social, and economic factors.
Stakeholder Engagement
This priority goal and the implementation plan included consultation with tribal leaders of the participating reservations to ensure a high level of understanding and commitment for the goal. Developing alternatives to incarceration requires ongoing coordination with, and assistance from, multiple entities within the tribal community to confront issues such as substance abuse, domestic violence, and worker training that can impact recidivism rates. Interior regularly meets with and assists tribal programs to discuss progress and any barriers or issues that may negatively affect meeting the goal.
Strategies
BIA collaborated extensively with the original three participating tribes to put in place the means for implementing the recidivism reduction initiative. BIA will use the data on recidivism reduction from the three participating pilot tribes over the FY 2014-15 period to inform the continuation of this priority goal into the FY 2016-17 period, including expansion to two additional tribes. BIA is in the process of compiling a more detailed report of the FY 2014-15 recidivism reduction initiative data including activities, services, infrastructure development to enhance the ongoing success of the initiative, and lessons learned to identify what services are working, what services are missing and what is needed to expand into a full and complete service continuum intended to reduce recidivism.
Implementation includes identifying and engaging relevant federal partners, tribal leaders, and local service providers in aligning re-offenders with treatment and recovery services as well as alternatives to incarceration. BIA works with tribes on:
- Proper administration of a nationally recognized standardized assessment instrument, Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN), to help address substance abuse and social service needs. GAIN is a set of measures used to assess the breadth and frequency of problems and service utilization related to substance use (including diagnosis and course, treatment motivation, and relapse potential), physical health, risk/protective involvement, mental health, environment and vocational situation.
- Options for how tribes can use this screening and assessment instrument as a standardized protocol for individuals presenting for alcohol and substance concerns as a part of the justice system and/or anywhere within the service community.
- Establishing a follow up protocol for tracking and measuring offender progress, including utilizing automated case management systems to track client/offender progress to allow for a common data platform and more effective communication between services disciplines.
Progress Update
This FY 2016-2017 priority goal, an expansion of the FY 2014-2015 goal, continues to track the 2013 baseline of 150 habitual offenders from the original three tribes, Red Lake Nation, Ute Mountain Ute and Shoshone-Paiute of Duck Valley. Additionally, a baseline of 60 habitual offenders in two new tribal communities, Ft. Belknap and Pascua Yaqui, was established using FY 2015 administrative arrest data. Recidivism of these habitual offenders is being tracked and reported for FY 2016 and FY 2017. Performance is measured by the total number of repeat offenders. Baseline data for each tribe was established by counting the number of bookings of the most frequent offenders and identifying how many of those offenders were “habitual,” defined as three or more bookings for adults and two or more for juveniles. If one of these habitual offenders is booked during the FY 2016-2017 period, the individual is counted as a “repeat offender” in the quarter in which the individual was booked. At the end of the fiscal year, the cumulative count of repeat offenders is used to generate the percentage change in recidivism relative to the baseline.
Initial three tribal communities: Through Q4 of FY 2016, 93 of the 150 habitual offenders were re-arrested.
Two additional tribal communities: Through Q4 of FY 2016, 18 of the 60 habitual offenders were re-arrested.
With these initial reduced rates of rearrests among habitual offenders in these five communities, the Department is on track to meet the goal of a 3% decline in recidivism. However, it will take time to determine how effective this approach for targeting individuals with specific social service and drug and alcohol addiction treatment programs is in reducing the number of repeat offenses. The Department will need to examine the results over several years of measurement to better ensure sustained declines in recidivism by addressing the underlying root causes of re-arrest.
Next Steps
BIA will continue to measure recidivism using administrative arrest data at all five tribal communities. Additionally, BIA will continue to implement the culturally responsive standardized screening/assessment, referral, and follow up protocols that allow tribes to more effectively link arrests to court sentencing options and referrals for necessary services, such as substance abuse treatment. The protocols include a tracking locator tool for use by tribes to follow up on sentencing actions and service referrals to ensure service availability in the community and for referral to an outside service resource when appropriate. The Department’s overarching goal in the recidivism reduction initiative is to understand the long term effectiveness of alternatives to incarceration that can be realized within tribal communities through the development of a consistent service infrastructure that includes standardized screening, identification of need, referral into treatment services, active case management that ensures service engagement and retention, re-entry preparation, probation as recovery support, and follow-up evaluation over time, all of which results in a first-ever common data infrastructure/platform for Indian Country.
Contributing Programs & Other Factors
Contributing Programs within the agency
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) leads the Safe Indian Communities Initiative. The following divisions/programs within the BIA contribute to the goal:
- Division of Law Enforcement
- Division of Courts
- Division of Corrections
- Division of Diversion and Re-entry
- Social Services
The following hyperlinks provide information on BIA’s Office of Justice Services and Office of Indian Services:
Contributing programs or partners outside the agency
Interior works closely with other federal agencies that have complementary programs including:
- Department of Justice including:
- Bureau of Prisons
- Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Tribal law enforcement agencies
- Tribal Courts
- Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service
Strategic Objectives
Strategic Objective:
Statement:
Make communities safer.
Description:
The Administration’s commitment to making Indian communities safer includes collaborative initiatives such as: strengthening law enforcement; construction, renovation, and maintenance of facilities, roads, and bridges; supporting Indian Affairs mission critical functions and facilities and protection of the public, employees, information technologies, and vital records in case of emergency; and ensuring the welfare and safety of Indian children.
Agency Priority Goals
Statement: Safer and More Resilient Communities in Indian Country. By September 30, 2015, reduce rates of repeat incarceration in three target tribal communities by 3% through a comprehensive “alternatives to incarceration” strategy that seeks to address underlying causes of repeat offenses, including substance abuse and social service needs through tribal and federal partnerships.
Description: Problem or opportunity being addressed The rate of recidivism nationally among Native Americans is estimated to be 33% higher than non-native populations, according to one Department of Justice report. Locally recidivism creates a huge drain on already overtaxed economies as well as overcrowded and dilapidated detention facilities.Individuals who repeat offend and are incarcerated, fill court dockets, and in many cases take primary bread winners out of the home. Relationship to agency strategic goals and objectives This goal and associated activities will facilitate the ability of Interior to realize one of the President’s key objectives and a key priority for the Secretary of the Interior. The effort is in direct support of the goal to re-establish the relationship with Indian Tribes and support the Strategic Goal to “Advance Government-to-Government Relationships with Indian Nations and Honor Commitments to Insular Areas.” Key barriers and challenges Conducting a focused program in highly geographically dispersed communities, with high levels of crime, disparate levels of staffing and training, and equipment have proven to be significant challenges. Cooperation and support from Federal, State and tribal participants is a key requirement. Tribal justice program commitment, differences and gaps in technology and program availability and participation is a key issue. Funding increases for these program components has been aligned with the priority goal making this more feasible. Other key challenges may include but not limited to: Stakeholder Engagement The Department conducts consultation with tribal leaders and other stakeholders during the development of the budget and prior to the development and implementation of the Priority Goal on their respective reservations. This ensures a high level of understanding and commitment is received from all parties. The Department has already begun to assist the Tribes in developing alternative to incarceration strategic plans based on the available resources in the community and or resources that stakeholders can provide to assist. The Department assists the tribal programs with developing and coordinating stakeholder and community meetings throughout the initiative to discuss progress and any barriers or issues that may negatively affect meeting the goal.
