Tagging Native Kids As Criminals

The pitfalls of ‘risk assessment’

Bottom Line: A powerful tool for predicting youthful recidivism is arousing skepticism in Native circles.

A key predictor of the likelihood of youthful offenders committing violent or serious crimes in the near future is biased against Native Americans, a new study has concluded.

The predictor, called “risk assessment,” is conducted after an offender has been detained by law enforcement. A powerful tool, it is a major factor in determining whether a youth goes home or to a jail, treatment center, foster care or a group residential setting.

It can be used to decide whether a teenager enters the criminal justice system or is diverted to a wellness program run by his or her tribe. It can be conducted by psychologists, mental health nurses, corrections officers or social workers.

But researchers at the University of Nebraska (UNL)-Lincoln have found that American Indian experts think the risk assessment instruments used most widely in the U.S. are not serving many of their subjects well.

The study is based on a survey of 35 Native psychologists, therapists, substance abuse counselors, tribal police, high school teachers and tribal court workers. The respondents were queried specifically about what is referred to as the “structured assessment of violence risk in youth” (SAVRY).

While the study focused on just this one instrument, the researchers emphasize that their concerns apply to the vast majority of such assessments.

“Native professionals realize that risk assessment instruments are not necessarily culturally valid and may not be the best indicator of risk in Native youth,” said Cynthia Willis-Esqueda, a UNL associate professor of psychology of Cherokee Oklahoma descent. “The implication for Native youth is that they may be over-identified as being a risk, whereas a culturally appropriate measure may not have produced that outcome.”

Formal risk assessment instruments are intended to take the subjectivity out of predictions about whether a person is likely to be a danger to him or herself or others. When practitioners relied just on their gut feelings, said Stephane Shepherd, a forensic psychologist at Swinburne University’s Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science in Australia, “minorities were being identified as having a higher risk because the professionals making the assessments are generally white.”

So psychologists look at a sample of offenders to identify some of their common behavioral patterns. These patterns include substance use, delinquent peers, family with other offenders, poor anger management, low educational attainment, and unemployment.

The behavioral items the offenders have in common are listed. Then a clinician sits down with an offender and ticks off the items to see if an offender has those particular problems. From that information, the clinician calculates a score that indicates the likelihood the offender will engage in future violence.

Most clinicians dealing with American Indian, Alaska Native, First Nations and Australian Aborigine youth offenders, Shepherd points out, are white. So the results of any assessment are influenced by issues of trust between indigenous youth and white people in authority, as well as any biases the clinician brings to the encounter.

“Another obvious issue is that the risk assessments were developed based on the behavioral norms, the worldviews, the health system beliefs, the behavioral expectations and the typical behaviors of the white population,” Shepherd said.

“The problem arises,” said Willis-Esqueda, “when these instruments have not been validated with minority populations, but they are extended to minority populations as if they are an accurate measure.”

But the issues that Native American experts have with these tools run far deeper.

“Labeling was their number one objection,” said Shepherd. “They thought that this tool criminalizes Native youth because of their family, because of their community, because of poverty.”

A person scores higher on the risk assessment, for example, if he or she has family members who have been in jail, does poorly in school, or lives with a relative other than a biological mother or father—factors that may have nothing to do with the individual. The individual may, for instance, simply live in a community with under-resourced schools.

The second objection was cultural “decontextualization.” The experts thought the assessments too individualistic and look at the offender with no reference to community, said Shepherd. Nor do they take any account of discrimination, historical injustices, broken treaties, boarding school experiences, intergenerational trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder or other factors that could influence a youth’s responses.

“Their third point was it doesn’t take into account cultural expressions of behavior,” said Shepherd. “For example, ADHD is a risk factor in the assessment. There’s a potential for Native youth to score high on this because we are curious and our kids like to explore so we might be seen as not paying attention.”

Nor do the assessments take into account how Indigenous Peoples express stress and what their coping mechanisms are.

“For example,” Shepherd said, “research shows that some minority groups are more likely to be diagnosed as having a lack of empathy in a risk assessment and that’s purely because in a white/non-white clinical interaction they might not use very much facial expression or they might suppress their emotions for whatever reason.”

“The final concern,” she added, “was that the instrument completely ignores cultural norms and practices. It doesn’t consider extended family arrangements and how supportive those can be. It doesn’t consider culturally based child rearing practices. It doesn’t consider things like involvement in ceremony and how that’s a coping mechanism and also acts as sort of therapy.”

Overall, said Shepherd, “People in Indian country saw the risk assessments as being very negative. They would have preferred to see an instrument with a positive outcome—how can we develop a plan and help the youth rather than what we have now, which is clearly intended to justify punitive measures?”

This phase of the research is expected to be published later this year. The next phase will look at how to improve risk assessments so they do not over identify Native American youth as potential criminals.

“One outcome of this might be that more Native professionals are included in developing a measure that would be more accurate for American Indian youth and yield the best outcomes for them, for their communities and for law enforcement all at the same time,” said Willis-Esqueda. http://bit.ly/2brPEYO

Fate Of Dakota Access In Limbo

Judge needs more time to rule on injunction request

Bottom Line: A major tribal faceoff against a $3.8 billion pipeline will likely continue as a federal court wrestles with a legal tiger.

The controversial Dakota Access Pipeline project has galvanized Indian country. Since early August, tribal activists have faced off against lines of police in Hunkpapa Territory near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, as construction crews prepared to break ground for the new pipeline, while Standing Rock Sioux governmental officials resolved to broaden their legal battle to stop the project.

But resolution on certain construction issues will have to wait until September 9, now that a U.S. District Court judge declared at an August 24 hearing in Washington, D.C. that he would need more time to rule on an injunction request filed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST).

On July 26, 2016 the Standing Rock Sioux were stunned to learn that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had given its approval for the pipeline to run within a half-mile of the reservation without proper consultation or consent. Also, the new 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline will cross Lake Oahe (formed by Oahe Dam on the Missouri) and the Missouri River as well, and disturb burial grounds and sacred sites on the tribe’s ancestral Treaty lands, according to SRST officials.

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners will build, own and operate the proposed $3.78 billion Dakota Access Pipeline and plans to transport up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil fracked from the Bakken oil fields across four states to a market hub in Illinois. The pipeline—which is already facing widespread opposition by a coalition of farmers, ranchers and environmental groups—will cross 209 rivers, creeks and tributaries, according to Dakota Access, LLC.

Standing Rock Sioux leaders say the pipeline will threaten the Missouri River, the tribe’s main source of drinking and irrigation water, and forever destroy burial grounds and sacred sites.

“We don’t want this black snake within our Treaty boundaries,” said Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault II. “We need to stop this pipeline that threatens our water. We have said repeatedly we don’t want it here. We want the Army Corps to honor the same rights and protections that were afforded to others, rights we were never afforded when it comes to our territories. We demand the pipeline be stopped and kept off our Treaty boundaries.”

On July 27, SRST filed litigation in federal court in the District of Columbia to challenge the actions of the Corps regarding the Dakota Access pipeline. The suit sought to enforce the tribal nation’s federally protected rights and interests.

By seeking a preliminary injunction, the nation aimed to undo the Corps’ approval of the pipeline at a hearing on August 24. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and several other Native nations have asked to join the lawsuit.

On August 8, Dakota Access called the Standing Rock Sioux to give 48-hour notice that construction would begin on August 10 for an access corridor and staging area where pipes and other equipment will be stored for construction.

Law-enforcement authorities and activists have been facing off near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Courtesy Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline Opposition

As news of the planned construction spread via social media among tribal citizens and activists, a grassroots gathering assembled at what eventually developed over many days into three camps of several thousand people determined to hold the line and stop construction. After Dakota Access workers began clearing an area for preliminary pipeline work, several hundred protestors gradually assembled at the site, prompting law enforcement to intervene and arrest more than a dozen people.

Among those were Chairman Archambault and SRST Councilman Dana Yellow Fat, who quickly posted bond and were released.

“We have a voice, and we are here using it collectively in a respectful and peaceful manner,” Archambault said. “The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is doing everything it can legally, through advocacy and by speaking directly to the powers that be who could have helped us before construction began. This has happened over and over, and we will not continue to be completely ignored and let the Army Corps of Engineers ride roughshod over our rights.”

Archambault said the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires free, prior and informed consent for development impacting Indian land, territories and waters.

“We have a serious obligation, a core responsibility to our people and to our children, to protect our source of water,” he said. “Our people will receive no benefits from this pipeline, yet we are paying the ultimate price for it with our water. We will not stop asking the federal government and Army Corps to end their attacks on our water and our people.”

The proposed construction route is within a half-mile of the tribe’s reservation border, sparking concerns for protection of cultural resources that remain with the land. Hunkpapa religious and cultural sites are situated along the route of the pipeline, including burial sites of ancestors.

“The land between the Cannonball River and the Heart River is sacred,” said Jon Eagle Sr., STST’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer. “It’s a historic place of commerce where enemy tribes camped peacefully within sight of each other because of the reverence they had for this place. In the area are sacred stones where our ancestors went to pray for good direction, strength and protection for the coming year. Those stones are still there, and our people still go there today.”

Eagle worries that the pipeline will harm many tribal nations along the Missouri.

“Wherever the buffalo roamed our ancestors left evidence of their existence and connection to everything in creation,” he said. “The aboriginal lands of the Oceti Sakonwin extend as far west as Wyoming and Montana, as far north as Canada, as far east as the Great Lakes, and as far south as Kansas. Construction along this corridor will disturb burial places and cultural sites.”

Similar positions were expressed during oral arguments at the hearing on August 24 before District Court Judge James E. Boasberg. “Out of 359 miles of pipeline we only had an opportunity of two sites to look at,” said EarthJustice Legal Defense Fund attorney Jan Hasselman on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, referring to the consultation process. “That was not enough, and the scope was too narrow.”

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II (right) was arrested on August 11 for his part in the blockade. YouTube

Further, he said, Dakota Access’s archaeologists did not know enough history to even identify what constituted a sacred site. “The site could be registered right now as a historical site with what they have found,” Hasselman said, quoting the tribe’s archaeologist. “Meanwhile, the Dakota Access archeologist had walked right over it.”

Dakota Access attorneys said the tribes had been given ample opportunity to visit pipeline sites. They also said that because the company wants to have oil running by January of 2017, any halting of the construction would be unfair to people with vested interests. Construction is continuing elsewhere along the route.

Federal law required the Army Corps to review and deny or grant the company’s permit applications to construct the pipeline. The southern route takes the pipeline across the Missouri River and Lake Oahe, implicating lands and water under federal jurisdiction.

According to filings by SRST, in the initial environmental assessment, the maps utilized by Dakota Access and the Army Corps did not indicate that the tribe’s lands were close to the proposed Lake Oahe crossing. The company selected this route because the northern route “would be near and could jeopardize the drinking water of the residents in the city of Bismarck.”

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is not an opponent or a proponent of the project,” said its Commander of the Omaha District in a May 4 story in the DesMoines Register, prior to the hearing. “Our job is to consider impacts to the public and the environment as well as all applicable laws, regulations and policies associated yet with this permission and permit review process.”

“It is important to note that Dakota Access does not cross any reservation land and is compliant with all regulations regarding tribal coordination and cultural resources,” an Energy Transfer spokesperson told ICTMN. “We have communicated with the various tribes that have an interest in the DAPL project as we recognize the traditional range of the Native Americans and their sensitivity to historic ranges for cultural properties.

“We are confident the [Army Corps] has adequately addressed the portion of the project subject to their review and where a NEPA analysis is required. They are the experts in this area, and we believe they have done an excellent job addressing any comments received to date.”

Lawyers for the SRST have maintained that the company’s draft environmental assessment of December 9, 2015 did not mention that the route they chose brings the pipeline near the drinking water of tribal citizens. In fact, it omitted the existence of the tribe on all maps and analysis, in violation of environmental justice policies.

The August 24 hearing hinged on whether the tribe had been adequately consulted during the permitting process, and whether due diligence had been performed. Since they first heard of the proposed project in 2014, SRST leaders have voiced strong opposition to company, state and federal officials, and to Congress. They met with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to discuss the harm imposed by the pipeline.

All three agencies subsequently wrote letters to the Army Corps expressing environmental and cultural resource concerns related to the pipeline.

Judge Boasberg said he needed time to weigh the evidence presented at the hearing before rendering a decision on the injunction.

Despite the postponement, SRST Chairman Archambault said the court hearing was a victory in its own right.

“For our children that are not even here yet, this is something that is very powerful, very special,” he told ICTMN. “Whatever the result is, know that we won, because we’re changing policy on how pipelines are put in. These projects encroach on Indian country, so we’re setting a precedent that’s very powerful. And it’s only done because we’re able to unite and we’re able to do it with prayer.” http://bit.ly/2blhrpw and http://bit.ly/2bH9wpz

Additional reporting by Alex Hamer in Washington, D.C.

Native Gains In Washington

Democrats are racing for the state legislature and Congress

Bottom Line: If they perform as well in the general election as they did in their primaries, Lummi and Colville candidates could further Washington State’s increasingly Native political identity.

Washington voters may soon elect a fourth Native American to their state legislature and a former tribal chairman to the House of Representatives.

Sharlaine LaClair, executive director of the Lummi Ventures economic development program and a Lummi Nation planning commissioner, advanced on August 2 to become the Democratic nominee for the state House of Representatives from the 42nd District. East of the Cascades, former Colville Tribes chairman Joe Pakootas is now the Democratic candidate for the 5th Congressional District.

LaClair and Pakootas finished second to their Republican challengers. If the former wins in November, she will be one of four Native Americans in the Washington Legislature. If the latter triumphs, he will be one of three Native Americans in the House.

Both candidates have hurdles to overcome. To begin with, they substantially trailed their victorious primary opponents. Pakootas finished some 16,000 votes behind Cathy McMorris Rodgers while LaClair ran 3,709 votes behind first-term Republican incumbent Luanne Van Wervent.

And there is another challenge—namely, convincing mainstream voters that experience in tribal government is as important as experience in local, county, state or federal public office.

However, the candidates’ respective portfolios augur well.

As chairman of the Colville, Pakootas was head of an indigenous Nation that has a government-to-government relationship with Washington, D.C. He was tribal chairman when his government led the removal of heavy metals from the Columbia River and Lake Roosevelt, and he is credited with leading Colville’s business enterprises to four profitable years. The Colville Tribes and its enterprises is the largest employer in North Central Washington.

Colville has 9,500 citizens, and its reservation comprises 11 communities across 3,307.5 square miles, an area almost the size of Puerto Rico. Its tribal government has more than 40 departments and public services.

Pakootas, an MBA graduate of the University of Washington and a former CEO of the Nez Perce Tribe’s economic development arm, supports campaign finance reform and believes that “our country can find the right balance between honoring individual rights and ensuring the safety of our communities.” Among the other planks in his platform are criminal justice reform and increased funding for higher education.

And he is hitting hard at his opponent McMorris Rodgers’ endorsement of the GOP presidential nominee.

“We’ve all heard the racist, misogynistic, prejudiced, hateful, uneducated, and fear-mongering comments that Donald Trump has made,” Pakootas said. “My opponent must now navigate within a culture that perpetuates and even promotes this behavior. She says that Donald Trump ‘Owes it to our country to treat everyone respectfully and to build an inclusive coalition.’ How is it possible for my opponent to maintain her stated values while also supporting Mr. Trump’s toxic ideology?”

For her part, LaClair—who holds a master’s degree in public administration from Evergreen State College—currently leads a program that is working to develop economic opportunities, improve access to education, and build healthy families. Tribally speaking, she races war canoes as a member of the Autumn Rose Canoe Club.

As for her legislative priorities, she is stressing “the incredible power of education and economic opportunity to build strong communities.” Moreover, she said, “Our area is blessed with an incredible variety of natural beauty and resources. It is our duty to protect and use [them] responsibly.”

LaClair may be able to exploit her opponent Van Werven’s support of the coal-shipping terminal that was proposed at Cherry Point, an environmentally sensitive area that is sacred to the Lummi people.

In that regard, she said, “My family has prospered along the land and waters of Whatcom County since time immemorial. As stewards of our homeland, my inherent values reflect a deep sense of responsibility to honor all people and to give back.” http://bit.ly/2aWbOlg

How Did I Miss That?

Horses in Taco Bells, Dennis Rodman’s personal issues and the strange fate of ‘B-girls’

KDFW in Dallas-Fort Worth scored a viral video out of Commerce, Texas, of a young man riding a horse into a Taco Bell. The newly famous rider was Lathan Crump, a third-generation cowboy who had just come from a calf roping competition. Police said they had no plans to do anything unless there was a complaint. There was no complaint.

My cousin, Ray Sixkiller, reminded me to state the name of the four-legged star of the video: “Hollywood.”

* * *

In a video interview shot for Viceland, former NBA star turned actor (turned wrestler turned diplomat turned professional celebrity) Dennis Rodman, the man reputed to be Donald Trump’s choice for ambassador to North Korea after diplomatic relations are restored, related how he “broke” his penis three times. Not playing basketball, but in overly athletic sexual encounters. Rodman related each bedroom bungle in great detail. Among the details: “There was blood everywhere.”

“If his pal Kim Jong Un ever turns on him,” Cousin Ray chuckled, “Rodman can delay his execution by playing Scheherazade.”

I thought my cousin was paying tribute to Rodman’s storytelling ability in a weird way. And then I remembered all the times Rodman has appeared in drag.

* * *

The BBC reported that David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes, has banned Muslim women from wearing the “burkini” on its beaches. The burkini has been a way for observant Muslim women to enjoy the beach. But Mayor Lisnard calls it “not respectful of good morals and secularism.” Informally, some authorities expressed fear of concealed bombs, which appears about as practical as hiding a bomb in a diver’s wetsuit.

Cousin Ray had trouble suppressing a chuckle when he reminded me that these are the same beaches that brought us topless bathing suits for women and thongs—both of which fundamentalist Christians think raise moral issues.

* * *

Popular Science reported that SpaceX has delivered the first rocket engine, known as the Raptor, which will be used to power the next generation of rocket, known as Falcon Heavy. The Raptor is meant to power Falcon Heavy to reconnoiter Mars. The next generation after the Raptor will be known as BFR (an acronym unlikely to be expanded in a family publication), to power the Mars Colonial Transporter.

Cousin Ray had an ethical question: Do Indians have an obligation to warn the Martians what’s about to happen?

* * *

Speaking of fighting back, CNN reported that the Navajo Nation has hired John Hueston, known for his litigation of one of the great corporate rip-offs in history, against Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling of Enron. The Navajo have retained Hueston to sue corporate perpetrators and the Environmental Protection Agency for spilling 880,000 pounds of heavy metals into the Animas River near Silverton, Colorado in the Gold King Mine disaster.

Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch spoke to CNN about the significance of clean river water to the Navajo people. The way she spoke reminded me of how Cherokee Nation officials jump all over threats to the Illinois River because of our ceremonial needs.

* * *

Great Big Story reported on Bri McMillen, who has been dubbed “the only B-girl in Alaska.” Cousin Ray and I grew up in the ‘50s when “B-girl” was code for a “Bar Girl,” whose job was to chat up customers and get them to order drinks. The B-girls themselves would get drinks with almost no alcohol, so they could keep going all evening. The customers would get the real deal, and presumably get more generous as they got drunker. Given Alaska’s history of rough mining towns, we found it hard to believe there was only one B-girl left.

Cousin Ray and I were out of date. The “B” stands for “break dancer,” and being the only woman, Bri McMillen is forced to compete against men. Ray observed that she better not quit her day job.

He walked right into it. McMillen’s day job is being a Blackhawk helicopter mechanic.

* * *

CNN recycled a report from Canadian TV about a Great White Hunter who posted a YouTube video of himself throwing a spear into a black bear. He celebrated his manliness and then went home, returning the next day to find the dead bear.

The kill was not illegal, but you have to wonder what he was trying to prove. If the point were courage, he would have chased the bear right then, because he had another spear and most real hunters take pride in quick kills.

Of course, a mortally wounded black bear might fight back. http://bit.ly/2bHVhkV and http://bit.ly/2bdUBjy