Understanding the Scope of MMIP Crisis

Violence towards and among American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) people is a complex story with many dimensions and long-standing historical causes.

Violence against AI/ANs has been underreported since Indigenous peoples’ first contact with Europe. When reported, law enforcement investigations are sometimes hindered by jurisdictional complexities.  Another important factor is that more than 80% of AI/AN people live in urban, suburban, and non-reservation rural settings outside of reservations.

AI/ANs are at risk of violence, which is rooted in structural inequities against AI/AN people. Risk factors resulting from historic violence (including the vulnerability for multiple and multilayered traumas resulting from war and loss of land, language, access to traditional ways, and cultural identity) include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. AI/AN people also experience intimate partner violence, child abuse and elder abuse.

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

In 2022, the Department of Justice passed the Help Find the Missing Act, establishing the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). NamUs connects law enforcement with tools and resources to resolve missing person cases. It works to close data gaps related to missing Indigenous persons, and to ensure that every tribal law enforcement agency knows about and can use the NamUs program to help resolve cases. The program also provides a database for unidentified remains and missing persons records, and is a tool for sharing and comparing case information across jurisdictional boundaries. 

In addition, NamUs provides tools that empower family members of missing persons to enter and search case information and connects families with criminal justice professionals to assist in the search for their missing loved ones.