The reason I took Trial Law 3400 is the class seemed interesting because of the description. I used to live in Quemado, New Mexico which is 1 hour and 28 minutes from Pinehill Reservation. We spent a lot of time there and I always wondered why the officers where different than here in Carbon County. From just reading the class title I was expecting the class to be an overview of Tribal Criminal Justice Systems.
My knowledge of Indian/tribal law and justice system was minimal. I know that there sentencing is different from ours. There is less amount of time in jail for crimes committed on the reservation for some crimes.
I have learned a lot this semester in this course. I have learned that what we learned in school about the Native Americans
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Each tribe has its own laws and government. Federal Indian Laws focuses on the relationship between the Tribes, the federal, and the state government. When I spent time of the reservation in New Mexico I hardly ever seen any police presence. By taking this class I understand that reservation land is vast and far between and hard to patrol unlike in a town. The way they do things are complexly different. They have different rules that they must abide by.
This class exceed my expectations. This class was fun, and I learned a lot even though I didn’t say much. I liked how this class was thought provoking for example how we really treated the Indians and why it was made to seem otherwise. Dr. Walton is passionate about this class making it was easy to get into the topics. It felt like we were just talking and not another lecture. I liked how Dr. Walton interacted with the class and asked us questions to see if we were understanding things and what our views are. She always made it feel like if you ever needed anything or any help her door was always open and not to hesitate to ask for help. The movie Te Ata helped to see how things were tied together. I like the guest speaker that we had he helped me understand how jurisdiction is different on and off the reservations. I am excited to see what this class becomes (wish I could retake it in the future to see how it grows). I loved how eye opening taking this class truly was and look forward to learning more on my own time. Summer was a great treat to bring to