Crime Frequency and Police Priority by Group and Jurisdiction
The rankings for crime frequency were answered by 148 Public Law 280 reservation
residents, except for child abuse (N=113) and drug abuse (N=132), while 59 non-Public Law 280
reservation residents provided rankings for all crimes. A comparison of crime rankings for
Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 reservation residents is given in Figure 10.3. Except
for the frequency of drug offenses and arson, reservation residents in Public Law 280 and nonPublic Law 280 reservations agree on the frequency of crimes on their reservations. For both
Figure 10.3
284
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions, reservation residents rank the crime
frequency similarly. Reservation residents in Public Law 280 jurisdictions rank the occurrence of
arson (Wilcoxon W =4992.5, p<.001)
and auto theft (Wilcoxon W = 5336.0, p = .037)
significantly higher than reservation residents in non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions. Reservation
residents say arson and auto thefts occur more frequently on Public Law 280 reservations than on
non-Public Law 280 reservations, while all other crimes are ranked about the same in both
jurisdictions.
Police crime priorities were ranked by 140 Public Law 280 reservation residents, except
for drug offenses (N=123) and child abuse (N=123), while 57 non-Public Law 280 reservation
residents ranked all 12 police crime priorities. The comparison of police crime priorities yields
four significant differences. As presented on Figure 10.4, our sample of non-Public Law
Figure 10.4
280 reservation residents rank police priorities attending to child abuse significantly higher
(Wilcoxon W = 7944.0, p<.03) than Public Law 280 reservation residents. Police give
significantly more attention to child abuse in non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions than police
provide in Public Law 280 jurisdictions. Police in Public Law 280 jurisdictions provide
significantly greater priority for automobile theft (Wilcoxon W = 4597.0, p<.003), arson
(Wilcoxon W = 4756.5 p<.007), and homicide (Wilcoxon W = 4893.0, p<.013) than police
provide in non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions. While Public Law 280 police gave more attention
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Under PL280 – Quantitative Analysis
8/4/06 page 8
Ranking by Reservation Residents of Law Enforcement Priority: PL280 v. Non-PL-280
2.5
5.3
4.1
3.4
1.6
2.9
2.3
6.2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
domestic violence
dui
drug offenses
aggravated assault
larceny, theft
CHILD ABUSE
burglary
AUTO THEFT
robbery
rape
ARSON
HOMICIDE
R
a
n
ks
PL-280 (n = 140)
non-PL-280 (n = 57)
ranks differ significantly (p < .05)
Area:
Bars:
285
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
to automobile theft, arson, and homicide, the latter crimes are among the less frequently
occurring crimes. Public Law 280 police provide more attention to less frequent crimes than
non-Public Law 280 police, according to reservation residents. Non-Public Law 280 police
provide significantly more attention to child-abuse cases than Public Law 280 police
(Wilcoxon
W = 7994.0, p = .03).
Law enforcement personnel in both Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280
jurisdictions provided rankings for crime frequencies in Figure 10.5. In Public Law 280
jurisdictions, 29 law enforcement personnel ranked 10 crimes, while 24 ranked drug offenses,
and 22 ranked child-abuse crimes. Seventeen non-Public Law 280 law enforcement personnel
ranked all 12 crimes. Law enforcement officers in Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280
jurisdictions agree on the ranking and order of 10 crimes, and disagree about larceny/theft,
(Wilcoxon W = 249.5, p = .001) and burglary (Wilcoxon W = 286.0, p = .009). Public Law 280
law enforcement suggest that larceny-theft and burglary are committed more frequently on
Public Law 280 reservations than non-Public Law 280 law enforcement personnel say about
non-Public Law 280 reservations. Public Law 280 law enforcement personnel say that property
crimes, larceny, theft, and burglary should be ranked among the highest cluster of crimes, along
with drug offenses, domestic violence, and driving under influence of alcohol (DUIs).
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Under PL280 –
Quantitative Analysis
8/4/06 page 10
Ranking by Law Enforcement of Crime Frequency: PL280 v. Non-PL-280
6.1
7.1
4.2
4.9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
domestic violence
DUI
DRUG OFFENSES
aggravated assault
larceny, theft
child abuse
burglary
auto theft
robbery
rape
ARSON
homicide
R
a
n
ks
PL-280 (n = 29)
non-PL-280 (n = 17)
ranks differ significantly (p < .05)
Area:
Bars:
Figure 10.5
According to Public Law 280 law enforcement, property crimes maybe associated with a cluster
of crimes where alcohol use and drug offenses are committed together with domestic violence,
286
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
larceny, theft, and burglary. Public Law 280 reservations, according to Public Law 280 law
enforcement personnel, may have a clearer set of relationships from a cluster of high-frequency
crimes. The cluster of high-frequency crimes suggested by Public Law 280 law enforcement
differs from non-Public Law 280 law enforcement rankings and also from reservation-resident
rankings in both Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions. Reservation residents
and non-Public Law 280 law enforcement personnel say burglary, larceny and theft occur less
frequently than reported by Public Law 280 law enforcement personnel.
As represented in Figure 10.5,
Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 law enforcement
personnel self-report police crime priorities. Twenty-seven Public Law 280 law enforcement
personnel ranked 10 crimes, while 23 ranked drug offenses and 21 ranked child abuse. Fifteen
non-Public Law 280 personnel ranked all 12 police crime priorities. None of the comparisons
between Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 law enforcement rankings of police crime
priorities are statistically significant. Public Law 280 law enforcement and non-Public Law 280
law enforcement personnel agree on the rank and patterns of police crime priorities. While law
enforcement personnel agree about police priorities in both jurisdictions, both agree about high
police crime priority rankings for child abuse. Law enforcement personnel in Public Law 280
jurisdictions rank police priority for child abuse at 6.62, and non-Public Law 280 law
enforcement rank police priority for child abuse at 7.47. Law enforcement personnel self report
strong concern about child-abuse crimes, and rank them among the highest cluster of police
crime priorities, including domestic violence, DUIs, drug offenses, and aggravated assault.
Criminal justice personnel ranked frequency of crimes for both Public Law 280 and nonPublic Law 280 jurisdictions. Forty-four Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel ranked 10
crimes while 40 ranked drug offenses and 34 ranked child-abuse crimes. Twenty-one non-Public
Law 280 criminal justice personnel ranked all 12 crimes. Except for auto theft (Wilcoxon W =
486.0, p<.003) and larceny-theft (Wilcoxon W = 550.5, p = .043),
criminal justice personnel in
Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions agree on ranking of crime frequencies.
Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel say that auto theft and larceny theft occur significantly
more often than non-Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel. Except for occurrences of auto
theft and larceny theft, criminal justice personnel see crime frequency patterns similarly in Public
Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions.
Figure 10.6 shows criminal justice rankings of police crime priorities, 38 Public Law 280
criminal justice personnel ranked 10 crimes, 34 ranked drug offenses, and 28 ranked child-abuse
crimes. Twenty-one non-Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel ranked all 12 police crime
priorities. Among the 12 police crime priorities, criminal justice personnel say that police
priorities are significantly different for four crimes. Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel
rank Public Law 280 police crime priorities significantly lower than non-Public Law 280
criminal justice rankings for non-Public Law 280 police crime priorities for domestic violence
(Wilcoxon W = 980.0, p<.011).
Public Law 280 criminal justice workers suggest Public Law
280 police give too little attention to domestic violence when compared to non-Public Law 280
criminal justice rankings of police crime priorities. Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel
287
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
rank Public Law 280 police crime priorities significantly higher than non-Public Law 280
criminal justice personnel rank non-Public Law 280 police crime priorities for robbery
(Wilcoxon W = 505.5, p<.046), rape (Wilcoxon W = 483.5, p<.019), and homicide
Figure 10.6
(Wilcoxon W = 4778.5, p<.008). According to Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel,
Public Law 280 police priorities are too high for low-frequency crimes such as robbery, rape, and
homicide when compared to non-Public Law 280 criminal justice rankings of non-Public Law
280 police crime priorities. Criminal justice personnel believe that Public Law 280 police tend
to underemphasize the more frequent crime of domestic violence, while at the same time
overemphasize attention to violent, but relatively infrequent crimes, such as robbery, rape, and
homicide. Reservation residents, analyzed above,
make similar observations that Public Law
280 police tend to give more attention to less frequent crimes, while underemphasizing the
crimes that tribal community members believe are more frequently occurring in their reservation
communities.
In sum, l
