Indigenous women institution concerned over U.S. Supreme Court's ruling expanding state jurisdiction

NEW YORK, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. National Indigenous Women's Resource Center (NIWRC) on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the Supreme Court decision in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, which expands state criminal jurisdiction in Indian country.

"The Supreme Court's decision to simply grant the State of Oklahoma criminal jurisdiction over crimes committed against Native victims on tribal lands fails to take into consideration the rights and voices of Native victims," said Lucy Simpson, executive director of the NIWRC, in a statement released shortly after the decision.

"Nothing is more colonial and harmful than telling Native women and children they will not be protected by their own Tribal Nations, but rather, must seek refuge in the courts of the States that have, historically and still to this day, sought to exterminate them," she added.

According to the ruling, the state of Oklahoma has concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country.