2021 Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Reducing Crime by Improving Justice System Performance

Deadline: 28-Jun-21

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking applications for funding to allow jurisdictions to apply the Justice Reinvestment approach to identify and respond to crime and other public safety problems.

Goals

The goal of the site-based awards in Categories 1-4 is for jurisdictions to use the five-step Justice Reinvestment Initiative process to address persistent or emerging crime and public safety problems, or to remove impediments to directly addressing them. The goal of Category 5’s training and technical assistance (TTA) is to work directly with current and future sites in accomplishing their project goals through ongoing support.

Award recipients will receive technical assistance from subject matter experts and are expected to follow the five-step Justice Reinvestment approach, as follows:

Engage stakeholders. The project team includes all agencies and individuals necessary to understand and address the problem.
Analyze data and identify drivers. The project team uses data to determine the causes, symptoms, scope of the problem, and impediments to addressing the problem. The lead and other stakeholder agencies provide relevant data.
Develop innovative or research-based responses. The project team devises strategies and activities to specifically address the root causes of the problem and/or impediment to addressing the root causes. The team documents planned activities, including the parties responsible and timelines, and secures buy-in from stakeholders.
Implement innovative responses. The project team enacts strategies and activities according to the plan and makes course corrections as needed to increase the likelihood of achieving the desired outcomes.
Measure outcomes. The project team assesses the effectiveness of the implemented innovative strategies and activities to address the crime problem. The team documents what works and how it will work to support sustainability, future funding requests, and to inform replication.

Objectives

Category 1: Improving Court Processing and Efficient Docket Management: Identify and address the challenges that prevent efficient, timely, and effective court case processing. Applicants should review their court system data, policies, and procedures to identify opportunities to improve docket management, thus reducing unnecessary costs and delays that negatively impact the justice system and public safety.
Category 2: Improving and Implementing Pretrial Systems: Identify and address the challenges faced by jurisdictions in making pretrial release decisions that are timely, risk-informed, and fair, and assure a defendant’s court appearance while protecting public safety. Applicants should review their pretrial data, policies, and procedures to identify opportunities for planning, implementation, and enhancements to better determine a defendant’s level of risk to public safety and reduce the likelihood of their failure to appear in court if released pending trial, as well as opportunities to create or enhance pretrial release assessment services.
Category 3: Innovations in Information Sharing to Coordinate Crime Reduction: Develop and build data-sharing tools such as arrest alert systems that assist in addressing expensive deficiencies in sites’ criminal justice systems. Projects must seek to break down informationsharing silos and challenge current practices that may impede a community’s crime reduction strategies.
Category 4: Innovative Approaches to Improve the Efficacy of State Justice Systems: Identify innovative approaches to address persistent or emerging crime and public safety problems, or the impediments/barriers to address them. Applicants should review the entire criminal justice system spectrum — from event to reentry — to identify innovative opportunities for improvement that align with holding offenders accountable, addressing the opioid epidemic, supporting law enforcement and correctional institutions, and supporting victims of crime.
Category 5: Training and Technical Assistance for Site-based JRI Projects: The selected provider will work closely with the sites funded by BJA, to include applicants for FY 2021 funding (up to 5) as well as previous year cohorts (approximately 24 grantees), to help them achieve their project goals and deliverables. The provider will provide ongoing, intensive coaching to develop a detailed implementation plan, assist each site in executing it, and develop sustainability plans before the end of the sites’ award period. The provider may also be asked by BJA to provide training to the field, prioritizing jurisdictions engaged in Justice Reinvestment, as well as participate in group interactions at conferences or workshops, peer-to-peer consultations, distance learning, and/or web-based assistance.

Funding Information

Anticipated Total Amount to be Awarded Under Solicitation: $6,000,000.00
Improving Court Processing and Efficient Docket Management: $1,000,000.00
Improving and Implementing Pretrial Systems: $1,000,000.00
Innovations in Information Sharing to Coordinate Crime Reduction: $1,000,000.00
Innovative Approaches to Improve the Efficacy of State Justice Systems: $1,000,000.00
Training and Technical Assistance for Site-based JRI Projects: $1,000,000.00
Period of Performance Start Date: 10/1/21 12:00 AM
Period of Performance Duration (Months): 36

Eligibility Criteria

All recipients and subrecipients (including any for-profit organization) must forgo any profit or management fee.
To advance Executive Order Safe Policing for Safe Communities, the Attorney General determined that all state, local, and university or college law enforcement agencies must be certified by an approved independent credentialing body or have started the certification process to be allocated FY 2021 DOJ discretionary grant funding, as either a recipient or a subrecipient.
Categories 1-4:
- State governments
- For purposes of this solicitation, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Category 5:
- Public and state controlled institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits, other than institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education