Trends of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit in the United States
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by a student grant from the UI Office of Undergraduate Research.
Presentation Date
7-2022
Abstract
There is an epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2) In the United States, and we know little about this phenomenon. Academics have largely overlooked this issue, leaving it in the hands of the Indigenous population to collect information about MMIWG2 (King & Hodwitz, 2020). This raises issues, including the fact the information tends to be scattered across multiple databases managed by various organizations. This summer, we have been working on creating a single database that is accurate and exhaustive, providing a foundation upon which to look into this important problem. We have identified more than a thousand cases in the United States between 1980 and 2020 and have coded more than 300 of them so far. As we code, we are watching for trends in frequency and location, victim characteristics, and police practices. There is far more work to be done, however, this is a great start.
Trends of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit in the United States
There is an epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2) In the United States, and we know little about this phenomenon. Academics have largely overlooked this issue, leaving it in the hands of the Indigenous population to collect information about MMIWG2 (King & Hodwitz, 2020). This raises issues, including the fact the information tends to be scattered across multiple databases managed by various organizations. This summer, we have been working on creating a single database that is accurate and exhaustive, providing a foundation upon which to look into this important problem. We have identified more than a thousand cases in the United States between 1980 and 2020 and have coded more than 300 of them so far. As we code, we are watching for trends in frequency and location, victim characteristics, and police practices. There is far more work to be done, however, this is a great start.