National Tribal Justice Resource Center

Unlike the federal and state judiciaries, tribal judiciaries have not had access to a national resource center to assist them with materials and guidance to help to improve the operation of tribal courts. The need for a tribal justice center was documented in the 1978 National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) study entitled Indian Courts and the Future. The unmet need for a resource center was raised again in 1988 during testimony presented at the Òworking conference on court systems in Indian CountryÓ and the U.S. Senate Select committee on Indian Affairs hearings on Indian tribal court systems and the Indian Civil Rights Act. In June of 1998, NAICJAÕs Executive Committee again proposed the development of the resource center in a meeting with Attorney General Janet Reno. With the awarding of the technical assistance grant to NAICJA, the National Tribal Justice Resource Center (Resource Center) finally became a reality after decades of work and advocacy.

On September 1, 2000, the Resource Center opened its doors and became a source of daily support and technical assistance to Native American and Alaska Native tribes for the development and enhancement of tribal justice systems. The Center initially shared office space with the National Indian Law Library (a project of the Native American Rights Fund) in Boulder, Colorado, but has now moved into its own offices. For the first time in history, many of the key organizations that provide training and technical assistance to tribal justice systems will be working together to pool resources and assess the need for new ones.