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ourts on U. reservatio ktealing in 'no frills' justice :!.t'.:8' :-"ogeorg• ' Cerno, the first full:time judge on That's why many of the civil ·s- m ews the reservation of about 7,000 Pueblo putes never make it to him. PUEBLO LAGUNA, N.M. - In Indians. Running parallel to his tribal :Judge Frank Cerno's court, justice "There would be a certain hesi- court is \he traditional court, which eomes quickly and with no frills. tancy on the part of the public in amo~ts to an informal hearing pre- 1be drunks, the brawlers and the general if a non-Indian judge came sided over· by the Indian village's impaired drivers sit at the ready in in." · elected officers. In Canada, natives say they are Only if their decision is appealed a ~m but spartan hea~ng room becoming increasingly reluctant to does such a civil case end up before on this ~rthem New Mexico Indian accept and trust the quality of non- Cerno. ~ation, waiting to have their native justice. India~. defendants_ like Romero day m an ~usual ~- Some complain bitterly about say they r~ happ~ ~~th ~he sys~em Germam. Romero JS o~ of ~m hat they say is the racist attitud and the kmd of Justice 1t provides founcl overnight by the tribal police police and court officials and sa them. passed out in his automobile. the justice dispensed by whites t And many observers say there is He faces charges. under the rmtives is uneven and often unfair. a good quality of justice coming out · 's own criminal code, of disor- 1bey also say there is a glarins of the tribal courts ... conduct and liquor violation. k of communication and . underJ But there are critics. 'fflere are a few quick questions standing between natives ·and th Says Stephen Pevar, a lawyer o ensure he understands the non-natives who usually work as po- with the American Civil Liberties ~es and knows he is waiving his lice officers, court officials and jail- Union which has looked at justic "ght to a lawyer; a brief conv ers. on re~rves : " In certain cases it' tion between ·the defendant and · the U.S. Indians have the right to terrible. On some reservations it's ~e, and then the sentence - a $3Q self-government and tribes have notoriously bad, and no one disputes fine. been running their own limited juris- that." · There are no prosecuting , attor- ·ction courts for more than 100 neys, no defence lawyers, no lengthy reading of a police report, no court exhibits. It takes about 15 minutes from arraignment to sentencing . to clear the docket of six cases. Run by Indians 'lbere are almost , 150 courts like this across the United States - run by Indians to handle the less serious criminal offen~ and a wide range of civil cases on their reserves. And this system of tribal courts bas captured the attention of man~ native leaders in Canada. At Manjtoba's inquiry into na- tives and ,.he justice system and again at OJ\tario's hearings into rac- ism in policing, native leaders and others have suggested that more o justice system should be turned to the people on reserves. Even the Canadian Bar Associa- tion.bas said the idea is worth study. 'lbe two judges conducting the Manitoba inquiry visited tribal courts and talked with U.S. legal aperts about the process. What they saw is a · system alll,nired by natives and many oth-l en, but still facing critics. "'Dlia provides a sense for c:otnRIIDitY that we are dealing wi . " Some are tiny; one rivals the size of the Prince Edward Island court system. 1be 150-member Pojoaque tribe of the mountains of New Mexico hi res an outside judge to conduct for a few hours-once a week. e avajo, tlle rgest Ina1an nation with 200,000 members sprawl- ing across portions of four states, bas an extensive system. There are 13 judges in the trial court, three appeal court justices, and a number of jails. In the middle ·is a court like Cer- no's, which last year handled about 400 criminal and traffic act cases, ther 85 civil disputes and three adoptions. The court doesn't deal with ma- . r crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping, and tries only In- dians who commit offences on a res- ervation. Non-Indians find their way into the court only if they file a civil suit against an Indian. Cerno says the emphasis is on providing justice that recognizes his tribe' ditional va- For example, Pevar says, after one judge in South Dakota ruled against his tribal council and in fa- vor an individual Indian, he was immediately removed from office. A new judge was installed, and the de- cision was reversed the next day. lnju~ices alleged The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has also reported a numbe~ of alleged injustices in tribal courts They include the whipping of a defendant by a tribal official, prior to the man being tried on a charge of disorderly conduct, and the refus- al of one court to allow a lawyer to appear for his client. Supporters say those are isolated incidents, and even ~evar says of the tribal courts : "All of them are getting better, all the time." Toby Grossman, a specialist in Indian law at the University of New 1 exico, says it's unfair to condemn good system because of some roblems. "There are also problems with the American justice system, and I'm sure there are -problems with the canadian justice system," says Grossman, senior attorney with the · dian La