American Samoa's Assistant Attorney General says there's a place for the Samoan culture in the criminal justice system.
Aaron Masser says there are certain crimes that traditional authority or the aiga or family can respond to.
He says he thinks part of the Samoan culture is to deal with things internally and those cases can either be peace disturbance or petty theft.
But he says the culture can also stand in the way of reporting crimes that must come to light.
"The sexual assault cases of minors, those are something that people really need to not cover up because, you really need to try and get those people to the criminal justice system and also get some relief for the victims."
American Samoa's Assistant Attorney General, Aaron Masser.
