FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

SEC. 811. [25 U.S.C. 1305 note] FINDINGS; PURPOSES. (a) Findings.—Congress finds that— (1) according to the report of the Indian Law and Order Commission established by section 15 of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act (25 U.S.C. 2812), Alaska Native women— (A) are overrepresented in the domestic violence victim population by 250 percent; (B) in the State of Alaska, comprise— (i) 19 percent of the population of the State; but (ii) 47 percent of reported rape victims in the State; and (C) as compared to the populations of other Indian Tribes, suffer the highest rates of domestic and sexual violence; (2) most Alaska Native villages are located in remote areas that— (A) are often inaccessible by road; and (B) have no local law enforcement presence; (3) the Commission referred to in paragraph (1)— (A) determined that the Alaska Department of Public Safety— (i) has primary responsibility for law enforcement in rural Alaska; but (ii) provides only 1 to 1.4 field officers per 1,000,000 acres; and (B) recommended that “devolving authority to Alaska Native communities is essential for addressing local crime. Their governments are best positioned to effectively arrest, prosecute, and punish, and they should have the authority to do so-or to work out voluntary agreements with each other, and with local governments and the State on mutually beneficial terms”; and (4) the unique legal relationship of the United States to Indian Tribes creates a Federal trust responsibility to assist Tribal governments in safeguarding the lives of Indian women. (b) Purposes.—The purposes of this subtitle are— (1) to increase coordination and communication among Federal, State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies; and (2) to empower Indian Tribes to effectively respond to cases of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, sex trafficking, sexual violence, and missing or murdered Alaska Natives through the exercise of special Tribal criminal jurisdiction.