Abstract

This essay provides a historical perspective on the development of indigenous criminology to include the policies and practices used by the United States federal government and its military to control and assimilate Native American Indians into White culture. The author argues indigenous criminology has been practiced in the United States for hundreds of years since the founding of this Great Nation. The author urges further inclusion of various cultural attributes intrinsic to Native cultures that were once legislatively prohibited by law, such as the use of Medicine Men and Women (traditional healers and clairvoyants) as part of the criminological paradigm. The author urges future social scientific researchers to place Native cultures and their people as the priority consideration over scientific career aspirations.