The Major Crimes Act (U.S. Statutes at Large, 23:385)U.S. Statutes at Large Vol. 23, Chap. 341
(

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

). is a law passed by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in 1885 as the final section of the Indian Appropriations Act of that year. The law places certain crimes under federal jurisdiction if they are committed by a Native American in

Native territory The lands inhabited by indigenous peoples receive different treatments around the world. Many countries have specific legislation, definitions, nomenclature, objectives, etc., for such lands. To protect indigenous land rights, special rules are som ...

. The law follows the 1817 General Crimes Act, which extended federal jurisdiction to crimes committed in Native territory but did not cover crimes committed by Native Americans against Native Americans. The Major Crimes Act therefore broadened federal jurisdiction in Native territory by extending it to some crimes committed by Native Americans against Native Americans. The Major Crimes Act was passed by Congress in response to the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

's ruling in ''

Ex parte Crow Dog ''Ex parte Crow Dog'', 109 U.S. 556 (1883), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that followed the death of one member of a Native American tribe at the hands of another on reservation land. Crow Dog was a member of th ...

'' (109 U.S. 556 (1883)) that overturned the federal court conviction of Brule Lakota sub-chief

Crow Dog Crow Dog (also Kȟaŋǧí Šúŋka, Jerome Crow Dog; 1833 – August 1912) was a Brulé Lakota subchief, born at Horse Stealing Creek, Montana Territory. Family He was the nephew of former principal chief Conquering Bear, who was killed in 1854 in ...

for the murder of principal chief

Spotted Tail Spotted Tail (Siŋté Glešká pronounced ''gleh-shka''; birth name T'at'aŋka Napsíca "Jumping Buffalo"Ingham (2013) uses 'c' to represent 'č'. ); born c. 1823 – died August 5, 1881) was a Brulé Lakota tribal chief. Although a great warr ...

on the

Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as t ...

. The original law placed seven major crimes under federal jurisdiction (exclusive of state jurisdiction) if they were committed by a Native American in Native territory. Those crimes were: * Murder * Manslaughter * Rape * Assault with intent to kill * Arson * Burglary * Larceny The text of the act is as follows: This list of crimes has since been updated to the following (as of Pub. L. 114-38): *Murder *Manslaughter *Kidnapping *Maiming *A felony under chapter 109A (i.e. sexual abuse) *Incest *A felony assault under section 113 (e.g. assault with intent to commit murder or assault with a dangerous weapon) *An assault against an individual who has not attained the age of 16 years *Felony child abuse or neglect, *Arson *Burglary *Robbery, and *A felony under section 661 of this title (i. e. larceny) The constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act was upheld in ''

United States v. Kagama ''United States v. Kagama'', 118 U.S. 375 (1886), was a United States Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885. This Congressional act gave the federal courts jurisdiction in certain Indian-on-Indian ...

'' (118 U.S. 375 (1886)), a case in which two Indians were prosecuted for killing another Indian on a reservation. While the Court agreed that the prosecution of major crimes did not fall within Congress's power to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes, it ruled that the trust relationship between the federal government and the tribes conferred on Congress both the duty and the power to regulate tribal affairs. After the Major Crimes Act was passed, many tribes continued to prosecute Native Americans for major crimes, thus exercising jurisdiction concurrent with the federal courts. This practice was upheld by the

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

in the 1995 case '' Wetsit v. Stafne''. The Major Crimes Act was the focal point of the Supreme Court case ''

McGirt v. Oklahoma ''McGirt v. Oklahoma'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case which ruled that, as pertaining to the Major Crimes Act, much of the eastern portion of the state of Oklahoma remains as Native American lands of the pr ...

'', 591 U.S. ___ (2020), which found that nearly half of the state of Oklahoma had not been disestablished as a Native American reservation by Congress prior to Oklahoma’s statehood and thus remained Indian country, such that crimes committed by enrolled tribal members cannot be tried in state court.

References

{{reflist United States federal Native American legislation 1885 in law United States federal criminal legislation 1885 in the United States

See also

References