Sen. Lisa Murkowski is calling on Attorney General William Barr to work with her to address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and on tribal jurisdictional concerns.
Her request came during an April 10 hearing in Washington D.C. before the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee to examining the fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Justice Department.
Murkowski urged Barr to support the tribal provisions in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act recently passed by the House. Those provisions would expand the Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction enacted by Congress, recognizing tribal rights to prosecute non-Natives for a limited number of domestic violence crimes, and expand the scope of included domestic violence crimes and include crimes against children and crimes against law enforcement officers.
The House bill also included a pilot project for up to five Alaska tribes to assert Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction in Alaska Native villages whose population is 75 percent or more Alaska Native.
