There is a crisis of crime and justice on America's Indian reservations, as the residents of South Dakota's eight reservations know all too well.

Minor crimes often go unreported or unacknowledged because of a lack of police officers and law enforcement. Major crimes can go unprosecuted or unpunished thanks to an already overburdened federal system, ill-equipped tribal courts and the maze of complex jurisdictional issues between the two.

The victims of those crimes say increased gang activity and methamphetamine use, in conjunction with longstanding issues of poverty, joblessness and alcohol abuse, are placing an added burden on an already dysfunctional reservation justice system and causing miscarriages of justice in the process.

Sen. John Thune has heard more and more of those crime horror stories. In response, Thune authored an amendment to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which passed the Senate this week, to study, analyze and suggest solutions for improving the tribal justice systems in North and South Dakota.

Violent crime must not become a permanent, entrenched fact of life on South Dakota's reservations, Thune said.

His amendment directs the Government Accountability Office to study how tribal courts currently function and to identify weaknesses in the tribal court system that need to be addressed. One of those weaknesses is the lack of a well-educated, law-trained judiciary that is independent and free from the influence of tribal politics.

The GAO study is not the first look at this issue, of course, nor will such a complicated problem be resolved by one more government study.

Still, we applaud Thune and the Senate for their willingness to explore solutions to a growing problem that threatens the safety and sense of security of everyone who lives on or near a South Dakota reservation.

We hope the GAO study, due to Congress within one year of the law's passage, will open a door for both Native Americans and non-Native people to look at the high incidence of crime on reservations and think about jurisdictional issues in cooperative, not confrontational, ways.

Perhaps it is time for federal officials to relinquish some control over crime and punishment on the reservation.

Perhaps it is time for Native people to look to ancient tribal ways to combat crime and improve community standards.

No doubt, it is time for tribal governments to step up to the plate and assume the responsibility - with the necessary funding assistance from the federal government - for improving their constitutions, their courts and their communities.