Question 2
During the Anglo-American era, the Abbots and the Bishops ran the court systems. There were neither professional lawyers nor judges. The courts meeting was open to any individual the lawbreakers who had to be present during the ruling (Lynch, 2014). In the court proceeding, no recording was made. The judgment was made from the proceedings since there was no one preceding them. There was no direct mode of determining who had one the case between the plaintiff and the defendant. The complainant had to provide a more convincing proof and provide a body-witness for the credibility of their case.
The court was also left only for the rogue and more notorious offenders who were of bad character. During the period then most of the offenders could walk away freely with their mistakes. They could do so since they were no right procedures to be followed and in most cases, the Complainant never provided convincing proof to their claims. Because there were no written records, the offenders would twist the law in their favor. In most instances there was no justice accorded to the plaintiff hence the need to find the alternatives to the Anglo-American justice systems.
Culture sensitivity to jail personnel plays a major role in the correction of the individuals. Considering that the prison personnel come from different ethical backgrounds, culture sensitivity will help in team building, in particular among the jail staff. For the case of the prisoners, it will make easy the correctional process owing to the fact they will learn to cope with their colleagues from different ethical backgrounds. One norm may not be acceptable in a given ethnic background and be appropriate in another. Therefore, through cultural sensitizing the prisoners will learn different correctional practices and comply with all the laws from various cultural backgrounds. It will also help in avoiding stigmatization and stereotypical judgment of the prisoners by the officials from the different ethnical background from theirs. It will also enhance corporation between jail staffs and the detainees thus leading to faster correctional process.
Culture sensitivity will also help in the elimination of frustration and stress, which arise, from a misunderstanding of others and hence judging them based on their cultural beliefs or practices. For close and easy collaboration between the prisoners and the staffs, they should be well acquitted with each other ethnicity and thus smooth existence and corporation. It will also help eliminate conflicts and negatives struggles that will always arise due to a misunderstanding between people of the various ethnical backgrounds (Lynch, 2014). Through cultural sensitivity different people will intellectually and emotionally accept each other beliefs and existence thus morally accepting and embracing others culture and hence peaceful existence. It would also enhance cohesion and unity in the detention camps.
Allowing the indigenous religious leaders’ freedom to indigenous prisoners enhanced the correctional process. The religious leaders being that they easily identified with prisoners since they were from the same ethical background fastened the correctional process. The prisoner would listen to them and given the fact that they knew the prisoner’s ethical history and performance, they would use that to help them change into better persons. Indigenous spiritual leaders would identify with their indigenous prisoner. It, therefore, meant that they knew their respective cultural beliefs and practices. In praying with the prisoners, they thus put their beliefs in considerations and guided the prisoner through the correctional process without going against their beliefs and practices.
In case a different, a different religious leader was used. Instead, they may not be well acquitted with the prisoners’ views and hence might going against them during the correctional process leading to conflict. Another reason for using the indigenous leaders was owed to the fact that different ethnical backgrounds handled disputes differently. Using Indigenous religious leaders, therefore, meant that the issue was resolved and that they will help in solving their disputes in their way. Besides, using indigenous religious leaders enhanced preservation of their indigenous culture. They performed the correctional procedure in a manner that will not go against their cultural beliefs hence preserving it. Lastly, the indigenous leaders would use their native language with the prisoner. It translates to easy understanding and quicker and flawless means of dispute solving.
Question 4
Loss of Sovereignty
The United States grew from land, which had been initially owned by the Indians. Over a given period, the Indians have been fighting and trying to regain their independence. In recent years the Indians still fight to get back their land, for instance, they strongly oppose the sale of their Oak Flat (Camiscioli & Quataert, 2016). They strongly oppose to their property losses and still the ethnic groups such as the Kanaka Maoli, residents of Hawaii, are opposed to the idea that their sacred Mountain Mauna should be used for the construction of a telescope. Another Indian group the Great Sioux Nation has refused compensation by the government for the seizure of their land in South Dakota. The Indians have also lost their independence in that their voting rights in America are jeopardized.
Domestic Violence
The Native American Communities especially the women and children from such communities suffer from domestic violence. According to research the women from the native communities are more susceptible to rape and sexual assault compared to their counterparts in other communities. Non-native community members usually commit the assault to them. The children from the native communities are most likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder compared to their counterparts in the non-native communities. Domestic violence to Native communities has been happening given the fact that the Indigenous American feel there are the born owners of the land and should be treated differently from the native communities. The government should form laws that strongly oppose the violence against the native women. For instance, the right to prosecute non-native men who violate the native men should be evoked.
Environmental Issues
The majority of the Native communities live in highly populated areas. The high population results in a bad waste disposal and thus endangering the lives of the inhabitants of such zones. The high population also leads to scarcity in resources leading to conflict and poverty among such communities. The Government should thus fund projects to help decongest such areas and provide a solution to their waste disposal. The high population also leads to congestion in the classroom thus affecting the quality of education. It should also contribute to improving the quality of teaching by deploying more qualified teachers to such areas. The government should also motivate teachers thus encouraging them to teach in such areas.
Government “crimes”
The natives since time immemorial have been suffering under the government. The government has been illegal taking their lands and displacing them. For instance, some of the natives still protest the act of the government of taking away their land illegally. They include The Great Sioux Nation and the Kanaka Maoli. The corrupt government officials usually under deliver some of the government funds, which had been allocated to the native communities. For example, the funds for the housing reservations by the Department of Housing and Urban Development have been periodically underfunded. Many natives are also not recognized by the Federal government. As a result, the Federal Government ignores them during the fund allocation. The solution to the problem should be the formulation of a body which keeps track of all the government expenditure without biases in any given area or department. The National Organizations such as the United Nations should also rescue the Natives in a case of oppression by the Government (Whitsel et. al, 2014). The United States government should do a streamlining procedure to ensure that the Federal government recognizes the affected Native group and that they secure their rights.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2014/09/substance-use-in-american-indian-youth-worse-than-we-thought
References
Lynch, G. E. (2014). Our administrative system of criminal justice. Fordham L. Rev., 83, 1673.
Camiscioli, E., & Quataert, J. H. (2016). Law, Marriage, and Women's Agency: Studies from the Anglo-American and Iranian Worlds. Journal of Women's History, 28(1), 7-12.
Whitesell, N. R., Asdigian, N. L., Kaufman, C. E., Crow, C. B., Shangreau, C., Keane, E. M., & Mitchell, C. M. (2014). Trajectories of substance use among young American Indian adolescents: Patterns and predictors. Journal of youth and adolescence, 43(3), 437- 453.
