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July 18, 2010: Law and Order Act - before the House

Under the language here, it would allow the feds, the state (and local law enforcement) and the tribe all concurrent jurisdiction to (arrest,) prosecute and punish offenders. This creates confusion in the administration of justice. The problem is that PL280 applies the penal code of the state in Indian country, the same as outside of Indian country, and originally this displaced federal law (1152, 1153). If it is all concurrent, then the state criminal codes would apply, but so would federal criminal codes, some of which incorporate the state crimes to begin with, and others which are specifically provided to cover major crimes, such as murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, assault crimes, etc., in Indian country. So there would be state crimes, federal crimes which are incorporated state crimes, federal crimes which are standalone and federal crimes which, if there is no standalone, uses the state crime. And of course, tribal offenses. As a practical matter, who gets to arrest and proceed with an investigation, using law enforcement powers, and then prosecute, is highly conjectural. The state and locals in California have certain MOUs with the feds on who prosecutes criminals whose crime violates both state and federal crimes.

PDF document icon October 29, 2010 -Law And Order Act.pdf — PDF document, 304 KB (312187 bytes)