American Indians and Alaska Natives

P. Karren Baird-Olson

The history of cultural conflicts and the legacy of internal colonialism must inform any description or analysis of American Indian and Alaska Native crime. This discussion must also address shortcomings in current information, including data sources, about the involvement of Native Peoples in the multi-jurisdictional criminal justice systems. In addition, attention must be given to common myths about Native Peoples and their cultures. American Indians and Alaska Natives are members of 558 federally recognized nations, which constitute nations within a nation, as well as 200 state-recognized or tribal groups awaiting federal recognition. American Indians who identify as American Indian alone or as multiracial total 4,119,301 (1.5 percent of the U.S. population), according to the 2000 U.S. census. This is a major increase since 1900, when American Indians, who had once numbered in the millions, had been reduced to less than 200,000 as the result of genocide and ethnocide. Women make ...

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