$17M Available for Sex Offender Programming

The U.S. Department of Justice is offering $17 million in grant assistance for sex offender programming

2014-10-DOJ.jpg

What Happened?

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is offering more than $17 million in grant assistance to implement, enhance and maintain sex offender registration, intervention and treatment at the local level. The grants are available to states, communities, tribal governments and other organizations.

Goal

DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is providing grant assistance to the above groups so they can better manage and treat sex offenders. Jurisdictions will receive the resources and tools to:

  • Protect citizens
  • Intervene in cases involving deviant sexual behavior
  • Offer valuable information and resources to increase awareness and prevention

The grants are administered by the OJP’s Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART) office, and enable the following activities:

Nearly $13 million of the funding will be used to develop and maintain sex offender registration programs, improve information sharing between law enforcement and justice agencies, and other like-minded initiatives. About $1.3 million will support the creation and implementation of treatment curriculum for those who commit sexual assault on a college campus through the Campus Sexual Assault Perpetrator Treatment Project.

DOJ Supports Youth Mentoring

In addition, the DOJ is awarding more than $62 million in grants to fuel youth mentoring programs. The funding will be awarded to:

  • 4 national mentoring organizations
  • 10 groups that offer group mentoring
  • 11 groups that provide one-on-one or group mentoring

The goal of the grant program is to help build mentoring establishments in communities that connect young people with personal guidance on future educational opportunities or career pursuits.

Furthermore, Congress introduced the FOCUS Act last year that calls for setting aside money collected from corporate fines, penalties and settlements to fund national youth mentoring and STEM education grants.

The National Mentoring Partnership estimates more than 14.6 million youth are in need of a mentor, and those with access to one are more likely to receive a college degree than those who do not.

NIJ Challenge

The DOJ’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) challenges communities and individuals to solve common problems with innovative technology. The latest challenge is to develop an ultra-high speed app to improve criminal justice operations.

A faster network would enable legal agencies to transfer large amounts of data quickly for increased efficiency and accuracy. Access to real-time data with customized information search results would accelerate decision making in emergency situations, as well as provide analytical and management tools to the criminal justice and public safety sectors.

Once all submissions are collected, the top five projects will move on to compete in the final stage. The three finalists will receive prizes of $75,000, $50,000 and $25,000. NIJ collects submissions from municipalities, justice agencies, private companies and individual developers.

Granting Out Justice

Gov1 has kept a close eye on the various grant opportunities provided by DOJ that support local law enforcement and criminal justice systems.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU