INTRODUCTION Several reviews of the contemporary literature on American Indian criminality and criminal justice outcomes during the last decade have lamented the lack of volume, theoretical clarity, and methodological rigor of research in this area of criminology. The present analysis of that literature suggests a somewhat more optimistic view. When these works are placed within the sociological framework of the Native American experience in the United States, several important contextual factors emerge that advance our understanding of crime patterns in this uniquely American racial group. This paper will review selected studies and present additional crime data from the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) that establish the significance of these contexts and discuss their implications for future research.