Navajo Nation hears public input on criminal code changes in Many Farms

Many Farms became a stop on the Navajo Nation’s criminal-code overhaul as the Law and Order Committee brought its public hearing to the Many Farms Chapter House at 10:00 a.m. on June 8. Community members, chapter officials and public safety leaders gathered to weigh proposed amendments to Title 17, the section of the Navajo Nation Code that governs criminal law and public safety.

The hearing mattered far beyond the chapter house walls. Many Farms sits in Apache County, where tribal governments, local chapter leadership and Navajo public-safety systems overlap every day, and the committee used the session to collect testimony on how the code changes would affect real cases, not just legal language on paper.

Committee materials said the amendments are meant to strengthen public safety, modernize outdated legal terms and improve prosecution and victim support. The package was developed through coordinated work across the Office of the Prosecutor, public defenders, courts, law enforcement, corrections, social services, Kayenta Township and the Navajo Nation Department of Justice. Chief Prosecutor Vernon Jackson said the work reflected a multi-year effort to update Title 17.

The committee also laid out a broader public-hearing tour that ran through Navajo communities in 2026, including Montezuma Creek on May 26, Many Farms on June 8, St. Michaels on June 15, Crownpoint on June 22, Cameron on June 29, Alamo on July 13, Shiprock on July 27 and Chinle on August 24. Earlier, the committee approved regional public hearings in March, and a prior Title 17 hearing was held at Tohatchi Chapter House on April 27.

Law and Order Committee Chair Eugenia Charles-Newton said the proposed changes were intended to better protect Navajo children and families and strengthen systems she described as historically ineffective. The committee said it planned to bring the Title 17 amendments forward during the 2026 Summer Council Session.

For Apache County residents, the stakes are practical. The changes would shape how police, prosecutors and courts handle cases, how victims are supported and how quickly the code can respond to public-safety problems that have long tested remote communities. The Many Farms hearing showed the Council is trying to build that record in public, chapter by chapter, before any final vote.