Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Over Non-Indians:
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022
Upcoming Events
25th Inter-Tribal Working Group (ITWG) Meeting
December 2-3, 2025
National Advocacy Center | Columbia, SC
Conference has been approved by OVW. Please do not book travel. Please email Chia Halpern Beetso at Chia@TLPI.org with any questions.
POST-PONED: 20th Annual Government-to-Government Violence Against Women Tribal Consultation
New Date: January 21 – 23, 2026
Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and its Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) are postponing the 20th Annual Government-to-Government Violence Against Women Tribal Consultation, originally scheduled for October 28 – 30, 2025. We anticipate rescheduling the Consultation for February 11 – 13, 2026, at the Mystic Lake Center in Prior Lake, Minnesota. A virtual option will be available, too. On Thursday afternoon and Friday (February 12 and 13) we intend to prioritize testimony from Tribal leaders traveling to Consultation from the NCAI Executive Council Winter Session in D.C. earlier in the week.
The Consultation is being postponed due to the federal government shutdown, which has interfered with the government’s ability to ensure sufficient representation from federal agencies at the Consultation, as required by the Violence Against Women Act. Robust federal participation is key to a meaningful Consultation at which the government can listen and respond to Tribal Leaders’ recommendations and testimony—which is necessary to our important, shared work of combatting domestic violence, sexual assault, and related crimes in Indian country and Alaska Native villages. We are postponing the Consultation in the hope that the lapse in appropriations will be resolved, and the Consultation can proceed with full funding and sufficient federal participation as befits these important matters.
We regret any difficulty this postponement causes you, and we will promptly provide details about the rescheduled Consultation by email and posting to the OVW website at www.justice.gov/ovw/tribal-consultation.
Please note: If you booked travel for Consultation using a DOJ grant award, please make every effort to cancel your airfare and related travel arrangements immediately to obtain a refund. If you incur nonrefundable expenses for tickets that could not be canceled or changed, you may charge the expenses to the DOJ grant. If you do so, please retain this notice for your files. Any nonrefundable travel credits must be used for travel related to that DOJ grant.
Please direct questions about the Consultation to OVW’s Acting Deputy Director for Tribal Affairs, Rebekah Jones, (202) 532-3287, and/or me, Ginger Baran Lyons, (202) 598-9445.
Annual Events
The Office on Violence Against Women is a grant-making agency in the U.S. Department of Justice. Under §903 of Title IX of the United States Department of Justice Reauthorization and Violence Against Women Act of 2005 (VAWA 2005), OVW is responsible for conducting annual government-to-government consultations with the leaders of all Federally recognized Indian tribal governments on behalf of the United States Attorney General.
The purpose of each consultation is to solicit recommendations from tribal government leaders on the following topics:
(1) Administering tribal funds and programs;
(2) Enhancing the safety of Indian women from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, homicide, stalking, and sex trafficking;
(3) Strengthening the federal response to such crimes; and,
(4) Improving access to local, regional, state, and federal crime information databases and criminal justice information systems.