One Size Does Not Fit All: Tailoring Victim Services for the Local Native American Population in Pennington County, South Dakota

CNA

This brief focuses on the Victim Specialists Program within the Pennington County South Dakota Sheriff’s Office (PCSO). Specifically, it highlights the Victim Specialists Program’s work with Native American victims and its incorporation of culturally competent practices. We provide an overview of the PCSO’s Victim Specialists Program, and highlight promising practices and lessons learned for PSN teams to consider when developing or modifying similar strategies within their districts. We also incorporate relevant literature on the topics of victimization, domestic violence, and substance abuse to provide additional context to support the need for victim services within the Native American population. Finally, we supplement the promising practices and lessons learned with best practices from the literature for providing victim services to Native American victims.