Cohort 2025
Data for Indigenous Justice
Improving Data on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit Peoples
Anchorage, AK
Data are critical for understanding crime’s impacts on communities and how the criminal legal system is serving those communities, including survivors. Data are also critical for identifying, advocating for, and tracking potential improvements. American Indian and Alaska Native people experience murder, rape, and violent crime at rates higher than the national average. National databases disagree on the reported number of missing or murdered American Indian and Alaska Native people, in part because of a lack of reporting by survivors of violence. In 2016 (PDF), 5,712 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit (MMIWG2S) peoples were reported, but only 116 were logged in the NamUs database managed by the Department of Justice. Data for Indigenous Justice (DIJ) is a nonprofit led by Alaska Native women that builds sustainable, community-driven databases to address issues affecting Alaska Natives using four interconnected strategies: reclamation and stewardship of data, data systems advocacy, community building, and capacity building. One of these is a database of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and relatives. In 2021, DIJ released the first Alaska-specific report on MMIWG2S, identifying 9 such cases. Since then, DIJ has documented more than 1,000 cases of MMIWG2S in Alaska.
With Catalyst grant funding, DIJ will hire two fellows to engage directly with communities to hear their stories, improving the accuracy and accessibility of data on MMIWG2S cases. Data collected from the community will supplement existing state and federal databases on MMIWG2S people. By engaging directly with communities to identify undocumented MMIWG2S cases, DIJ will increase its internal capacity and the community’s capacity to reclaim and steward data and advocate for system improvements. It will also increase the Alaska Native community’s familiarity with and access to reporting and tracking tools and improve the availability of information needed for community advocacy. By centering the voices of the Alaska Native community, DIJ will build on its existing work, which increases the visibility of MMIWG2S peoples and gives Alaska Native communities the tools to advocate for systemic change.
