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Status To Be Determined: Analyzing Indian Status Within The General Crimes Act In A Post-Castro-Huerta Landscape, Joshua Zoeller

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The General Crimes Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1152, is an older statute that pertains to federal criminal jurisdiction over crimes committed in Indian Country. The General Crimes Act is limited in scope as it only applies to cases where the alleged perpetrator of the crime is not a Native American but the victim is determined to be a Native American. But who decides how to label each party as “Indian” or “non-Indian” (to borrow language used in the courts)? And is ‘Indian status’ an element of the statute that the prosecution must prove or is it reserved for …