Professor Sarah Deer is one of the newest MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellows who were announced earlier this week. She is an incredible legal scholar and community advocate for Native women’s safety and health. Sarah is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma and teaches at William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota.

Native American women living on reservations face one of the highest per capita rates of violent crime in the world, but are often left with horribly insufficient means of justice. Tribal courts are impeded by limited jurisdictional powers and authority, and lack of resources; and as such, it is very difficult to prosecute those who commit these horrible crimes.