The Round House

The Round House (Option 2)

        Joe, a thirteen year old boy who had to experience the rape of his mother and the affects that tragic incident had on his family and himself. Joe lives in a small town called Hoopdance in North Dakota Ojibwe reservation (2). He is a Chippewa Indian of the Algonquian language family. It was on a Sunday night when Joe and his father, Bazil, discovers that his mother, Geraldine, had been assaulted, and then learned that she might have been raped when they took her to the hospital (4). Geraldine was at first reluctant to share any information regarding the offender, but Joe eventually found out who assaulted his mother, which led him into murdering Linden Lark, the man responsible. The reasoning for Joe to take the law into his own hands was due to the special circumstances that were set on reservation life and other legal policies.

        First, the lack of law enforcement effort that was put into the investigation of this crime was very minimal. When Joe’s mother was sent to the hospital for the assault, there should have been a full on investigation going on then and there. However, due to the lack of resource and attention tribal crimes receive, there is a barrier to getting justice for sexual assault survivors. The law enforcement there lacks training and necessary skills to ensure the victims’ right to justice (Maze of Injustice). As a result, there was not protection for the family. Geraldine did not feel safe as long as Lark was still free. Looking at is mother, Joe knew that there will be no peace; no hope of returning to normal, until Linden Lark is dealt with by the hands of the law or by his own hands. Even the FBI was not really able to do any work until when they found out that Linden Lark had also killed and girl.

Then when it comes to prosecuting crimes that relate to sexual violence to indigenous women, jurisdiction is crucial. There is a complex relationship between federal, state, and tribal jurisdiction over such crimes. Jurisdiction can be determined by if the victim is a tribal member, if the accused is a tribal member and if the crime was committed on tribal land. This means that if a white male committed a crime on reservation land, the tribal court cannot have jurisdiction over his case due to the fact that he will not be able to have a fair trial when the people of the jury consists mostly of Native Americans (Maze of Injustice). The courts also do not want to prosecute any non-Native American people for such crimes without hard, “overwhelming” evidence. According to the Government Accountability Office, around 67 percent of sexual abuse cases are denied prosecution by federal prosecutors due to conflicts between jurisdictions (Rape on the Reservation). When Linden Lark was taken into custody, he chose his words carefully so that he would not be charged since it was not clear where the crime was committed; it was too close to lands where on one side, federal law applies and on the other, state law applies. There was no way to prosecute if they could not decide which laws apply (88). There is a significant difference because the penalties between the two differ (Rape on the Reservation). Linden Lark knew what he was doing and deliberately chose where he did it. Due to this confusion, Lark’s attorney was able to file a motion to release (88).

Joe realized he had to put an end to it all when he noticed the intensity in his mother, Geraldine, to seek revenge. Although she did not say that she was going to kill Lark, but Joe felt that that was her intention (87). Joe did not want his mother to be tried for murdering the bastard, so he thought that if he had committed the murder, he would only be tried as a minor. If tried as a minor, the penalties for the Joe’s crime will not be as serious as if Joe’s mother was tried for the same crime.

This tragic event has forced Joe, a thirteen year old boy, to grow up and mature in order to deal with all the aftermath after the incident. Joe’s thoughts were that if no one, not even the law, could protect his mother, then he needed to be the one to do it. The murder was an act of justice. Unjust circumstances in tribal areas had made it hard for Joe’s mother to acquire that justice, so it was forced upon his own hands to obtain it.

Work Cited

Erdrich, Louise. "Rape on the Reservation." The New York Times. The New York Times, 26 Feb.

2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. .

Erdrich, Louise. "The Round House - By Louise Erdrich." BeerReads. Gutenberg, n.d. Web. 11

        Apr. 2014. .

"Maze of Injustice." Amnesty International USA. Amnesty International Publications 2006, n.d.

Web. 10 Apr. 2014. .