In 1997, Jimcy McGirt was convicted by the State of Oklahoma for sex crimes against a minor. McGirt appealed his conviction, citing that Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction over the case due to his tribal citizenship, since the crime took place on tribal territory. On July 9, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) reversed the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ original decision for the case, citing that Congress had failed to disestablish reservations with regard to the Major Crimes Act, which gave the federal government jurisdiction over major felony crimes perpetrated by Native Americans on reservations.This ruling has already caused sweeping changes in the investigations and prosecutions of child maltreatment in eastern Oklahoma, as such cases may fall under the jurisdiction of federal agencies or tribal law enforcement. This article details the historic significance of the decision and the experiences of 3 child abuse pediatricians working as part of a multidisciplinary team while jurisdictional changes were implemented following the SCOTUS ruling.
Forced Migration and Child Abuse
Mistreatment of Indigenous peoples happened long before the creation of the United States and has continued to the present day. In the 1830s, the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in Worcester v Georgia, which held that states could not impose regulations on Native American lands, was openly defied by then-president Andrew Jackson, making way for the forced migration of tribes—including Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole peoples—to Oklahoma. During these removals, each tribe was promised lands in the West, via treaties.
Knowledge of this history is invaluable for understanding the implications of SCOTUS’ decision in McGirt v Oklahoma—a case involving sex crimes committed against a minor on tribal land—for child maltreatment cases in Oklahoma. This article details the significance of this decision and the experiences of 3 child abuse pediatricians (CAPs) working as part of a multidisciplinary team when jurisdictional changes that followed the McGirt decision first influenced child maltreatment cases’ prosecution.
McGirt Overview
Jimcy McGirt was convicted by the State of Oklahoma for first-degree rape by instrumentation, lewd molestation, and forcible sodomy in Wagoner, Oklahoma, in 1997. McGirt, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole nations, first appealed his conviction to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. After the court declined to review his case, he petitioned SCOTUS, arguing that the state lacked jurisdiction over the case due to his status as a tribal citizen, since the crime took place in what the US federal government calls “Indian Country” (eg, territory belonging to a tribal nation). The State of Oklahoma argued that the Creek Reservation was disestablished by Congress through federal statutes enacted to further strip the Creek government and its people of their rights after they settled in Oklahoma.
On July 9, 2020, SCOTUS reversed the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision, citing that Congress had failed to disestablish Indian reservations with regard to the Major Crimes Act, which gave the federal government—not state courts like the one that convicted McGirt—jurisdiction over major felony crimes perpetrated by Native Americans on reservations. In his majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch cited the 1832 Treaty With the Creeks, Article XIV, which states: “[no] State or Territory [shall] ever have a right to pass laws for the government of such Indians, but they shall be allowed to govern themselves.” He further contended that Congress had never formally disestablished the Creek Reservation (by divesting it of its land and diminishing its boundaries) regardless of the number of promises broken by the federal government to the tribe. This ruling reaffirmed the commitment the United States made to tribes when the parties signed treaties hundreds of years ago, while also opening the door to sweeping changes in the investigation and prosecution of child maltreatment-related crimes in eastern Oklahoma. As of April 2022, the McGirt decision applies to the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Quapaw nations.
The SCOTUS McGirt decision fundamentally changed the way cases falling under the Major Crimes Act are investigated. Previously, maltreatment crimes were prosecuted primarily by the State of Oklahoma regardless of the crime’s location. Now, when a major crime (eg, homicide, rape, maltreatment) occurs, local law enforcement agencies, who remain the immediate response group for crimes, generate a police report looking at the factors outlined in the Figure to determine if the investigation will stay with local law enforcement or should be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Attorney’s Office or to tribal law enforcement. In some cases, in which the jurisdiction is unknown, the investigation will be concurrent with all 3 parties.