National American Indian Court Judges Association

The National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) is a national voluntary association of tribal court judges. Its membership is primarily judges, justices and peacemakers serving in tribal justice systems. NAICJA is a non-profit corporation established in 1969. The Association is primarily devoted to the support of American Indian and Alaska Native justice systems through education, information sharing and advocacy. The mission of the Association, as a national representative membership organization, is to strengthen and enhance tribal justice systems.

NAICJA's objectives and purposes include the following:

• To foster the continued development, enrichment and funding of tribal justice systems as a visible exercise of tribal sovereignty and self-government.
• To provide continuing education for tribal judges and tribal justice staff members in order to promote and enhance the operation of the tribal judiciary.
• To further the public knowledge and understanding of tribal justice systems.
• To establish and maintain a forum for the dissemination of information concerning issues impacting tribal justice systems throughout the United States.
• To encourage and assist Tribal officials to support educational programs in an effort to serve the purposes and objectives of the Association.
• To conduct generally any and all research and educational activities for the purposes of promoting the affairs and achieving the purposes and objectives of the Association.
• To secure financial assistance and support for the advancement of said purposes and objectives.

Current NAICJA Projects

National Tribal Justice Resource Center

The culmination of years of advocacy and work to fulfill the dream of providing a source of daily support and assistance to tribal justice systems nationwide, the National Tribal Justice Resource Center was established by the National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) under a one-year grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) of the U.S. Department of Justice on September 1, 2000.

The National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) issued a Press Release concerning the establishment of the National Tribal Justice Resource Center.

Tribal justice systems are the most visible manifestations of tribal sovereignty. The Resource Center assists tribes to strengthen their methods of self-government and improve the climate within tribal lands for economic prosperity by offering tools to enhance tribal justice systems. By offering a broad scope of technical assistance services, the Resource Center provides very real and practical benefits to every American Indian and Alaskan Native justice system in the United States.

VAWA Code

Under a grant from the Violence Against Women Office of the U.S. Department of Justice, the National American Indian Court Judges (NAICJA), in conjunction with a broad based Project Advisory Committee, has collected and analyzed resources concerning the development of Violence Against Indian Women tribal codes.

OCSE Grant Writing

NAICJA is currently working with a number of tribes in developing their Child Support Enforcement Grant applications and following through with the implementation of the grant.