Tribal Courts

Held on December 18, 2024 in collaboration with our training and technical assistance partners – the UND School of Law – Tribal Judicial Institute (TJI). This webinar presented by BJ Jones, Tribal Judge and Executive Director at TJI and Michelle Rivard Parks, Tribal Judge and Associate Director at TJI and former Tribal prosecutor. This webinar included a discussion on both civil commitments and criminal competency issues in criminal proceedings in Tribal courts.

Held on November 4, 2024 in collaboration with our training and technical assistance partners – the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA). This webinar was presented by the Honorable Carrie Garrow, Chief Judge for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Court. This webinar discussed how judicial interaction with participants is a critical component of participants’ success. Motivational interviewing, created by William Miller and Stephen Rollnick, is a method of communication and designed to help people explore and resolve ambivalence about changing behaviors.

Held on October 16, 2024 The Tribal Law and Policy Institute (TLPI), in collaboration with our training and technical assistance partners – the UND School of Law – Tribal Judicial Institute (TJI) hosted a webinar: Lessons from the Field: Insights from a Tribal Prosecutor, presented by Alfred Urbina, former Attorney General, Tribal Judge, and Tribal Prosecutor for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. This webinar was an engaging and informative session with Mr. Urbina as he shared valuable lessons learned throughout his distinguished career as a Tribal prosecutor.

Held on September 25, 2024 in collaboration with our training and technical assistance partners – the UND School of Law – Tribal Judicial Institute (TJI). This webinar was designed to assist Tribal court and justice system planners to better understand the following: The role of Tribal courts of appeal in protecting and preserving Tribal sovereignty The importance of Tribal courts of appeal in the adjudicatory process Operating and sustain Tribal appellate courts – shared experiences from Fort Peck and Turtle Mountain Court of Appeals. The webinar was done via zoom and recorded.

During this reporting period TLPI finalized and submitted the CTAS Purpose Area 3 Tribal Justice Systems Grantee subpage for www.WalkingOnCommonGround.org (WOCG) to BJA for review and approval. (Task 1.2). The subpage was approved by BJA on 12.20.2024 and disseminated on WOCT at: www.walkingoncommonground.org/tribal-justice-systems-tta.

Substantial migration was done during this reporting period of the entire WalkingOnCommonGround.org site from the ColdFusion platform to the update WordPress platform. WalkingOnCommonGround.org WordPress launch was completed on May 31, 2024. New resources, events, funding opportunities, updated content, and news stories related to tribal courts, tribal justice systems, and intergovernmental collaboration continued to be uploaded to Walking on Common Ground website during this period. We continue to update any broken links identified on WOCG. (Task 5.2)

TLPI disseminated all post-conference materials for the 2024 American Indian Justice Conference held on July 30-31, 2024 in Albuquerque, NM. on WalkingOnCommonGround.org (Task 4.2). The Tribal Law and Policy Institute has archived all available training materials from the 2024 American Indian Justice Conference as part of our Tribal Justice Systems resource library.

the TTA pamphlet provides an introcduction to the Addressing Violent Crimes in Tribal Communities Program TTA resources.

TLPI received the CTAS PA#3 Assignments from BJA on 12/3/2024 and TLPI began reviewing grantee documents and assignments and began creating a grantee contact list. TLPI began drafting an introductory and welcome letter for its assigned FY 23 CTAS PA 3 grantees for Tribal Courts.

NTCRC periodically sends email blasts to our distribution list. These emails include newsletters, Beyond the Field articles, announcements, etc.