Regulations to establish two Courts of Indian Offenses, one to serve the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina and the other for western Oklahoma Indian tribes served by the Anadarko Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, are being published in the Federal Register, Interior Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard announced today.
Recent Federal court decisions have had the effect of withdrawing State law enforcement and judicial services in these areas, leaving the tribes without any existing machinery for law enforcement. The new regulations will temporarily resolve this problem until the tribes have completed the establishment of their own tribal court systems.
The regulations are to be effective upon publication in the Federal Register.
Further information is available from Patrick A. Hayes, Judicial Services Officer, Office of Indian Services, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20240 (202 343-7885).
