Contents

• Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)
• Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
• Research, Evaluation, and Statistics
• State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance
• Juvenile Justice Programs
• Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
• 21^st Century Justice Initiative

Summary

Each year Congress provides funding for a variety of grant programs through the Department of Justice (DOJ). These programs provide funding toare used to fund state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations for a variety of criminal justice-related purposes, such as programsefforts to combat violence against women, reduce backlogs of DNA evidence, support community policing efforts, assist crime victims, promote prisoner reentry efforts, and improve the functioning of the juvenile justice system. Congress funds these programs through five accounts in the annual Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations act: Violence Against Women Programs; Research, Evaluation, and Statistics; State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance; Juvenile Justice Programs; and Community Oriented Policing Services. For FY2017, the Obama Administration requestsrequested a total of $2.361 billion for these five accounts.

The Obama Administration's FY2017 request for DOJ's grant accounts includes several significant proposals. First, the Administration proposesincluded proposals to change the funding levels of several DOJ grant programs. First, the Obama Administration proposed to transfer $326 million from the Crime Victims Fund to the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). It also proposesproposed to eliminate funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (-$210 million), while proposing toand reduce funding for other programs, such as the National Criminal History Improvement program (-$23 million), and DNA backlog reduction initiatives (-$20 million). However, the Administration also proposesObama Administration proposed increases for grants to encourage arrest policiesarrests in domestic violence cases and enforcement of protection orders (+$11 million), grants authorized under the Second Chance Act (+$32 million), and programs for children exposed to violence (+$15 million). In addition, it proposes restoring funding to the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant (+$30 million), a program that was eliminated after FY2013, along withIt also proposed funding a variety of new programs and initiatives, such as the Byrne Incentive Grant program ($10 million), the Byrne Competitive Grant program ($15 million), and the Violence Reduction Network ($5 million).

Each year Congress provides funding for a variety of grant programs through the Department of Justice (DOJ). These programs provide fundingsupport to state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations for a variety of criminal justice-related purposes, such as programs to combatcombatting violence against women, reducereducing backlogs of DNA evidence, supportsupporting community policing efforts, assist, assisting crime victims, promotepromoting prisoner reentry efforts, and improve, and improving the functioning of the juvenile justice system. Congress funds these programs through five accounts in the annual Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations act: Violence Against Women Programs; Research, Evaluation, and Statistics; State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance; Juvenile Justice Programs; and Community Oriented Policing Services. This report provides an overview of congressional actions to fund DOJ's grant programs through these accounts for FY2017. The report also provides information on FY2016 appropriations for DOJ's grant programs.

Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was established to administer programs created under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 and subsequent legislation. These programs provide financial and technical assistance to communities around the country to facilitate the creation of programs, policies, and practices designed to improve criminal justice responses related to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

The Obama Administration's FY2017 request for OVW iswas $489 million, 1.9% more than the FY2016 appropriation of $480 million. Of note, the Administration proposesThe Obama Administration also proposed transferring $326 million from the Crime Victims Fund to the OVW. The Obama Administration's FY2017 request iswas mostly in line with the FY2016 appropriation, but it requestsrequested increases for grants to encourage arrest policiesarrests in domestic violence cases and enforce protection orders (+$11 million), civil legal assistance (+$8 million), grants to combat violence on college campuses (+$6 million), grants to combat abuse against the elderly (+$1 million), and grants to strengthen tribal justice systems so they can exert their jurisdiction over domestic violence cases (+$3 million). The Administration also proposes' response to domestic violence on tribal lands (+$3 million). Additionally, the Obama Administration proposed funding two new initiatives through set-asides from other grant programs: reducing firearm lethality in domestic violence cases and enhancing colleges' and universities' responses to instances of campus sexual assault. TheFinally, the Obama Administration's request proposesproposed reducing funding for the Service-Training-Officers-Prosecutors Formula Grant (STOP) grants by $15 million.

Office of Justice Programs (OJP)

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) manages and coordinates the National Institute of Justice,; Bureau of Justice Statistics,; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,; Office of Victims of Crimes,; Bureau of Justice Assistance,; Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking; and related grant programs.

Research, Evaluation, and Statistics

The Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account (formerly the Justice Assistance account) funds the operations of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Institute of Justice, among other things.

The Obama Administration requestsrequested $154 million for this account for FY2017, a 32.8% increase over the FY2016 appropriation of $116 million. It requestsrequested increases in funding for the Bureau of Justice Statistics (+$17 million) and the National Institute of Justice (+$12 million). The Administration also proposes funding research on domestic radicalization as its own line item instead of a set-aside from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program. It requests $10 million to collect and report nationwide incident-based crime statistics.

The House committee-reported bill includes $93 million for the Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account. The bill includes a recommended increase in funding for both the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Institute of Justice, but the recommended amount is less than the Administration's request. The committee also proposes funding the Regional Information Sharing System under along with a $2 million increase for the forensic sciences improvement program. The Administration requested funding for two new initiatives: a clearinghouse for information on evidence-based programs ($3 million) and an incident-based crime statistics program ($10 million). The Administration also proposed funding for research on domestic radicalization under this account rather than the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account. Congress provided $89 million for the Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account for FY2017. The decrease in funding for FY2017 (-23.3%) is largely the result of Congress moving funding for the Regional Information Sharing System to the Community Oriented Policing Services account.

State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance

The State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account includes funding for a variety of grant programs to improve the functioning of state, local, and tribal criminal justice systems. Some examples of programs that have traditionally been funded under this account include the JAGEdward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, the Drug Courts program, the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), and DNA backlog reduction grants.

The grant programs. The Obama Administration's FY2017 request for the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account iswas $1.098 billion, which would bewas 22.1% less than the FY2016 appropriation of $1.409 billion. The Administration proposesproposed eliminating funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP, -$210 million); the Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Improvement Program (-$14 million); grants to assist trafficking victims (-$45 million); the John R. Justice program, which helps with student loan forgiveness for attorneys in public service (-$2 million); and assistance for Indian tribesthe tribal assistance program (-$30 million). However, it proposesproposed to fund grants to assist trafficking victims with funds fromdeposits to the Crime Victims Fund. The Obama Administration also proposesproposed to use 7% of the funding under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance, Juvenile Justice Programs, and Research, Evaluation, and Statistics accounts to support tribal justice programs. In addition, it proposesproposed reducing funding for the JAG program (-$93 million, though this is largely the result of eliminating the set-aside for security at the Presidential Nominating Conventions), the National Criminal History Improvement program (-$23 million), and DNA backlog reduction initiatives (-$20 million).

While the Obama Administration proposesproposed eliminating or reducing funding for several programs under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account, it has also proposed increasing funding for programs like reentry initiatives authorized under the Second Chance Act (+$32 million), programs for children exposed to violence (+$15 million), grants for residential substance abuse treatment (+$2 million), and programs to assist people with mental illness in the criminal justice system (+$4 million).

In addition, the Obama Administration requestsrequested funding for several new programs under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account, including

• $10 million for the Byrne Incentive Grant program, which would be used to makehave made supplemental grants to JAG program grantees who choose to use a portion of their JAG funding to support programs or initiatives that are evidence-based, or are promising and will be coupled with rigorous evaluation to determine their effectiveness;
• $15 million for the Byrne Competitive Grant program, which would be used to implement evidence-based and data-driven strategies on issues of national significance;
• $20 million for grants and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal courts and juvenile and criminal justice agencies to support efforts to improve the perception of fairness in the juvenile and criminal justice systems and to build community trust;
• $5 million for the Violence Reduction Network, which allowswould allow cities to develop data-driven, evidence-based strategies to reduce violence by consulting directly with and receiving coordinated training and technical assistance from multiple DOJ components; and
• $6 million for grants for efforts to counter violent extremism.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations recommends $1.184 billionCongress reduced funding for the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account. The amount recommended by the committee would be $86 million (+7.8%) more than the Administration's request, but $225 million (-16.0%) less than the FY2016-enacted appropriation.

The House Committee on Appropriations, like the Senate committee, chose not to fund any of the new grant programs proposed by the by 9.1%, or $128 million, for FY2017. Some of the reduction is due to Congress choosing to fund several programs—Project Safe Neighborhoods, the John R. Justice program, grants for capital litigation improvement and wrongful conviction review, and programs under the Prison Rape Elimination Act—as set-asides from the JAG program instead of funding them as individual line items under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account. Congress also reduced top-line funding for JAG by $73 million. After accounting for set-asides, available funding for the JAG program decreased from $347 million for FY2016 to $335 million for FY2017.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act eliminates funding for tribal assistance programs (-$30 million). However, Congress authorized DOJ to use up to 7% of the funding available under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance, Juvenile Justice Programs, and Community Oriented Policing Services account, with a few exceptions, for tribal justice assistance programs.

Congress also provided $103 million under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account for an opioid initiative. However, most of the funding for this initiative is not new. Rather, funding for the initiative comes from the following programs: Drug Courts ($43 million), Veterans Treatment Courts ($7 million), Residential Substance Abuse Treatment ($14 million), Prescription Drug Monitoring ($14 million), and programs to address individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice system ($12 million). All of these programs were funded through the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account in FY2016. In addition, Congress provided $13 million under the opioids initiative for programs authorized by the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-198). The act directs DOJ to use funding for the programs under the opioid initiative to "address opioid abuse reduction consistent with underlying program authorities."

Juvenile Justice Programs

The Juvenile Justice Programs account includes funding for grant programs to reduce juvenile delinquency and help state, local, and tribal governments improve the functioning of their juvenile justice systems.

For FY2017, the Obama Administration requests $334.4requested $334 million for the Juvenile Justice Programs account, a 23.8% increase over the FY2016 appropriation of $270.2 million. The Administration's FY2017 request includesincluded proposals to increase funding for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) Part B formula grants program (+$17 million), Title V grants (+$24.5 million), and the Community-based Violence Prevention Initiative (+$10 million). The Obama Administration is also requestingalso requested that funding be restored to the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants ($30 million), which were eliminated after FY2013in FY2014. In addition, it requeststhe Administration requested $20 million for a Smart on Juvenile Justice Initiative, which would providehave provided supplemental incentive grant awards to foster better outcomes for system-involved youth. The Administration did proposeFinally, the Obama Administration proposed to reduce funding for youth mentoring grants (-$32 million), investigation and prosecution of child abuse programs (-$9 million), and the missing and exploited children program (-$5.2 million).

Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)

The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office awards grants to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies throughout the United States so they can hire and train law enforcement officers to participatenew officers, train them in community policing, purchase and deploy new crime-fighting technologies, and develop and test new and innovative policing strategies.

The Obama Administration's FY2017 request for COPS iswas $74 million (34.9%) more than the FY2016 appropriation of $212 million. The Obama Administration requestsrequested a $42 million increase in funding for the COPS hiring program. It would also establishThe Administration's request would also have established the Tribal Resources Grant program and training and technical assistance on COPS's collaborative reform model as separate line items in the account rather than as set-asides from the funding for the hiring program.

21^st Century Justice Initiative

As a part of its FY2017 budget request for DOJ, the Administration requestsrequested $500 million for the 21^st Century Justice Initiative. This proposed initiative would behave been a new mandatory program that would investhave invested $5 billion—$500 million a year for 10 years—in criminal justice reform efforts. The initiative would usehave used federal funding to promote innovative approaches to reducing both crime and unnecessary incarceration. The program would focushave focused on achieving three objectives: reducing crime, reversing practices that have led to unnecessarily long sentences and unnecessary incarceration, and building community trust. States would behave been able to use this funding to focus on one or more of the following in both theobjectives for their adult and juvenile systems: (1) examining and changing state laws and policies that contribute to unnecessarily long sentences and unnecessary incarceration, without sacrificing public safety; (2) promoting critical advancements in community-oriented policing; and (3) providing comprehensive diversionarydiversion and reentry services. In addition, this initiative would dedicatehave dedicated 10% of the funding for reform efforts in the federal criminal justice system, including improving skills, education, mental health, addiction, and other recidivism-reduction programming in the Bureau of Prisons.

Neither the Senate nor the House committee-reported bills containCongress declined to provide funding for this program.

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Key Policy Staff