As of May 17, 2015 nine people between the ages of 12 and 24 have committed suicide on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation- in southwestern South Dakota. Youth suicides on the reservation are linked to a multi-generational scourge of sexual abuse. Investigators now believe at least two of the nine suicides have been caused by sexual abuse.
Suicides on Native Reservations is a major problem both in the United States as well as in Canada. According to the Aspen Institute, “Suicide rates are more than double, and Native teens experience the highest rate of suicide of any population group in the United States.”