Book Review: Crime and social justice in Indian country

• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567719851858
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

because that was how they were always done. It causes readers to expand their thinking and to come

up with a better solution for all parties involved and not just for the ones in a position of power.

Nielsen, M. O., & Jarratt-Snider, K. (Eds.). (2018).

Crime and social justice in Indian country. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 206 pages. $43.16. ISBN-13: 978-0-

8165-3781-5

Reviewed by: Sarah Adu-Poku, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

DOI: 10.1177/1057567719851858

Unlike AfricanAmericans who have been the subject of the criminal justice system,Indian Americans

have been neglected in the criminal justice scholarship. However, they are highly exposed to police

violence and have higher incarceration rates than Whites. Being a minority in a minority, Indian

Americans are underrepresented in the justice literature due to their small numbers. Crime and Social

Justice in Indian Country is a collection of papers that attemptat giving a voice to Indian Americans’

daily struggles for social and criminal justice. Their responses from a politically, economically,

legally, and socially marginalized position inherited through colonization are also discussed.

The first collection in Crime is made up of three chapters that highlight the social and legal

aspects of crimes against Indigenous people. While law hampers Indigenous economic, political,

and other developments, they respond to these conditions by developing programs that heal victims

and offenders of crime. Specifically, Bennett’s chapter on hate crimes shows how colonial motivated

ideology and the law has been used to assert power, control and to perpetuate hate crimes against

Indian Americans in border towns. Bennett argues that, while sexual assault, sex trafficking, pros-

titution, transgender violence, and negative experiences with the police are criminal violence, they

are examples of ethno-violence that should be seen as hate crimes. In the following chapter, Robyn

offers a historical analysis of attempts at controlling minority populations through forced and

coerced sterilization. Robyn employs vivid examples and stories to show how colonial ideological

and theoretical constructions of Indian Americans as racially and culturally inferior are used to

justify the social injustice perpetuated against them. Robyn argued that this, coupled with laws and

government policies on sterilization, violates Indigenous human rights and social justice. Her

analysis raises concerns about issues around Indigenous women’s right to make informed decisions

and consent about what can be done with their bodies. She also brings to bear the physical,

emotional, mental, and spiritual implications of involuntary and coerced sterilization. Both authors

draw attention to the somehow different experiences by gender; such as, women are both targets and

victims of ethno-violence and genocide. The last chapter focuses on Indigenous sovereignty and

crime. Here, Bennett shows how stereotypes and misconceptions shape Indigenous Indians’ attempts

at poverty reduction and economic development through gaming.

The second part is made up of two chapters that revolve around Indigenous identity, resilience,

and resistance. The chapters not only demonstrate the close relationship between Indigenous identity

and resilience but also resistance to ov ert and covert colonial agendas at limiting sovereig nty.

Archambeault’s chapter highlights the line between American Indian and Native American; a term

often misused synonymously by politicians, media, social action groups, and academics. Drawing on

the constitution of the United States, he describes how naming—Indian American as opposed to

Native American—has worked to divide the interests of Indigenous people as to who are recognized

and entitled to legal rights and protections by the Constitution. In Chapter five, Ali-Joseph draws

from the dissertation research on sports “American Indian Collegiate Athletes: Accessing Education

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