Research Purpose: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (Oregon) received federal funding from the Office for Victims of Crime Children’s Justice Act Partnerships to address child abuse and domestic violence on the reservation. The purpose of the grant was to increase and improve the level of services available to Tribal children and youth through increased coordination among Tribal Court, the Warm Springs Police Department, the community, and Tribal, federal and state agencies. The funding allowed the Tribes to hire an additional assistant prosecutor who is specifically trained to handle child and domestic abuse cases. This new position prosecuted adults in criminal and civil cases dealing with specific physical and sexual child abuse, neglect, and endangerment cases where children are victims. The new staff member also undertook training of police officers to ensure that the police are thoroughly investigating these cases and gathering the evidence needed for prosecution.
Evaluation: The evaluation looked at the rates of cases that are prosecuted through Tribal Court, the outcomes of those cases (that is, are perpetrators removed from the community, are children removed from abusive environments?) and the extent to which Tribal Court is coordinating with the Department of Children and Families related to the welfare of the victims. NPC also created tracking spreadsheets and client intake forms to assist the program with successfully gathering and tracking their data.
Funding Source: Office for Victims of Crime Children’s Justice Act Partnerships
Start Date: October 2014
Project Team
Principal Investigator
Research Coordinator
Wendy Nuzzo, M.S.