Why some tribal governments are more likely to partner with state and local law enforcement than others.

In many respects, Indian lands in the US can be considered to be a country within a country. With many tribal governments having their own law enforcement agencies there is a risk of jurisdictional conflict with agencies outside of Indian Country. Thaddieus W. Conner and Stephanie L. Witt take a close look at cross-deputization agreements between law enforcement agencies which allow officers from tribal, state, and local agencies to actively respond to issues regardless of jurisdictional boundaries. They find that the major determinants of such cooperation are the presence of Indian gaming, higher rates of violent crime, as well as organizational resources and capacity

Indian Gaming and Tribal Revenue Allocation Plans: Socio-Economic Determinants of Policy Adoption

As the Indian gaming industry has experienced unprecedented growth over the past two decades, tribes have pursued different paths regarding the utilization of gaming revenues within parameters established by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Since 1993, more than 100 tribes have received approval through the Department of the Interior to distribute revenues directly to tribal members through per capita payments governed by a Tribal Revenue Allocation Plan (RAP). This paper improves our understanding of nations with payment plans by exploring whether socio-economic tribal features are associated with the successful adoption of a RAP. We find that tribes who gained approval of a RAP in the 1990s have higher per capita incomes, while also having smaller populations and lower levels of educational attainment. Population is the strongest predictor of RAP adoptions in both the 1990s and 2000s, with the impact of other tribal features being less meaningful in explaining adoption in the second decade

Assessing the Impact of Indian Gaming on American Indian Nations: Is the House Winning?

Objective. The objective of this article is to examine the impact of Indian gaming on reservation conditions in the contiguous American states following passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988. Methods. Utilizing 1990 and 2000 Census data for 330 Indian nations, a pretest/posttest design permits a comparison of nongaming nations to three different types of gaming nations on eight economic measures, while controlling for multiple tribal characteristics and considering the effects of certain state contextual factors confronting nations due to location. Results. The analysis reveals (1) that the overall impact of gaming, while generally positive, is not as extensive after controlling for certain tribal features, (2) that there are differential effects evident across the three types of gaming nations, and (3) that the state context makes a difference in influencing the relationship between gaming and reservation conditions. The most substantial impacts are for a small subset of nations with Class III gaming and making per capita payments to their members in larger, wealthier states prohibiting non-Indian casinos. Conclusion. These results challenge some of the core assumptions about Indian gaming radically changing the poor economic conditions endemic to Indian country