missing and murdered indigenous people: an ongoing crisis.

Public sociology on how jurisdiction, media attention, and institutional response shape the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

I was familiar with the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, but it wasn’t something I had seen discussed much in my everyday life, even living in Arizona. Then I passed a billboard near Scottsdale that made me realize how little attention I had actually given the issue.

May 5 is recognized as Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, and May often brings greater visibility to the crisis. But the violence itself is not confined to an awareness campaign or a single month. MMIP refers broadly to missing and murdered Indigenous people, though women and girls have received particular attention because of the high levels of violence they experience.

According to the National Institute of Justice, more than 84 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. That includes 56.1 percent who have experienced sexual violence, 55.5 percent who have experienced physical violence by an intimate partner, and 48.8 percent who have experienced stalking. American Indian and Alaska Native men also experience high rates of violence, with more than four in five reporting some form of violence during their lifetime.

Those disparities also extend to homicide. In 2023, the homicide rate among non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native people was roughly five times higher than among non-Hispanic White people. That places the MMIP crisis within a broader pattern of violence affecting Indigenous communities.

The legal structure surrounding many of these cases makes the problem even more complicated.

The Violence Against Women Act was first passed in 1994 to strengthen responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. For Indigenous communities, questions of jurisdiction have long affected who can prosecute crimes committed on Tribal lands.

A major part of that history comes from the Supreme Court’s 1978 decision in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, which restricted Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Native defendants. When Tribal governments have limited authority over crimes committed within their own communities, accountability can become more fragmented. VAWA began restoring some of that authority decades later.

The 2013 reauthorization allowed participating Tribes to prosecute certain non-Native defendants for domestic violence, dating violence, and violations of qualifying protection orders committed in Indian country. The 2022 reauthorization expanded that authority further. Tribes exercising Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction can now prosecute additional covered crimes, including sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, child violence, obstruction of justice, assault of Tribal justice personnel, domestic and dating violence, and certain protection-order violations.

Even with that expansion, broader jurisdictional problems remain. Tribal, federal, state, and local authorities can still have different responsibilities depending on where a crime occurred, who was involved, and the legal status of the land and people involved. The Bureau of Indian Affairs operates a Missing and Murdered Unit focused on investigating and helping resolve cases involving American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Missing-person cases also receive very different levels of public attention. Gabby Petito’s murder in 2021 became one of the most recognizable missing-person cases in recent memory. Her disappearance unfolded alongside an extensive digital record, including social media posts, police body-camera footage, and documentation of her travels. Those circumstances understandably gave journalists and the public a large amount of material to follow.

But the scale of attention also raised a broader question: why do some missing-person cases become national stories while others struggle to receive sustained coverage at all? For many Indigenous families, gaining public attention for a missing relative is part of the struggle itself. Research cited by the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center found that 95 percent of MMIP cases identified in one major study had not received mainstream media coverage.

Media coverage goes beyond whether Indigenous victims are covered at all. How those stories are told matters too, including whether Indigenous communities are treated as sources rather than background and whether victims are presented as full people instead of another statistic.

In 2024, the Departments of the Interior and Justice developed media guidelines for coverage of missing or murdered Indigenous people, with recommendations aimed at journalists, law enforcement, advocates, and families. The guidance emphasizes accurate reporting, respect for victims and families, and greater awareness of the cultural and legal circumstances surrounding these cases. That kind of reporting can help people understand why cases are difficult to investigate and what Indigenous communities have been asking institutions to change.

Indigenous-led organizations have spent years supporting survivors and families, advocating for policy changes, gathering information, and pushing the MMIP crisis into public view. Some organizations and resources worth learning from include:

• National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC)

• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA (MMIW USA)

• Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women (CSVANW)

• Sovereign Bodies Institute

• Indigenous Women Rising

• StrongHearts Native Helpline

The Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit also maintains profiles of active cases to generate tips from the public.

An awareness month or designated day can bring more people into the conversation, and that has value. But the crisis doesn’t disappear when May ends. Indigenous families continue looking for relatives, advocates continue pushing for better systems, and communities continue dealing with violence that has existed for generations.

MMIP shows what can happen when the attention and response to a crisis fail to match its scale. The question is what happens after the awareness campaign ends, and whether that attention continues.

sources & further reading.

Bureau of Indian Affairs. “Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.”

Cates-Carney, Corin. Montana Public Radio. “Vigils, Panel Discussion Call Attention To Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women.” May 7, 2021.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Tribal Funding.”

Missoula Current. “Murdered and missing Native American women challenge police, courts.” December 13, 2018.

National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center. “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives.”

National Institute of Justice. “Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men.”

U.S. Department of Justice, Tribal Justice and Safety. “2013 and 2022 Reauthorizations of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).”

U.S. Departments of the Interior and Justice. “Guidelines and Best Practices for Journalists, Family Members, and Law Enforcement Regarding Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons and Human Trafficking Cases.”