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The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is soliciting proposals from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement for a 15-month period to begin no later than August 31, 2013. Work under this cooperative agreement will involve the development and pilot of a training curriculum targeted toward teams of pretrial justice stakeholders who have the primary responsibility of developing and maintaining the pretrial justice system within their jurisdiction. This curriculum is intended to prepare these teams to plan, develop, and implement critical policy and systemwide pretrial decisions in a collaborative structure based on the most current legal and evidence-based pretrial knowledge. These teams must have the participation of the judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, sheriff or jail administrator, and pretrial director, who have primary oversight of pretrial justice in their jurisdiction. The curriculum will help teams explore their independent and collaborative roles in the development and daily operational functions of maintaining pretrial justice within their jurisdiction. This project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC Community Services Division.

Through this Addendum to the 2014 Global Development Alliance (GDA) Annual Program Statement (APS) Number APS-OAA-14-000001, USAID/Rwanda is issuing a call for submission of concept papers focusing on nutrition, youth workforce development, education, and legal capacity development. The addendum is USAID's invitation to the private sector to jointly identify and define key challenges and collaborate with USAID in areas where our goals and interests align. It also defines broad areas in which we see the greatest potential for collaboration in alignment with USAID's strategic interests in Rwanda. The areas of greatest interest to USAID/Rwanda include increasing availability of and access to nutritious foods; increasing employment opportunities for youth, especially in rural areas; providing education and skills training to youth, specifically in the areas of English language and computing; and increasing the clarity and consistency in the interpretation and enforcement of laws and contracts. More details on each of these areas can be found in the addendum attached to this announcement.

The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for projects that address the needs of Syrians survivors of torture and other gross human rights violations (GHRV), including released political prisoners and their families. Projects should focus on the mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), medical, legal, and human rights documentation sectors, with specific attention focused on issues faced by recently released political prisoners and other Syrian survivors of gross human rights violations.

Violence against women continues to affect millions of women and girls each year. Racial and ethnic minority women have a higher documented risk of violence victimization. Recent statistics have identified other priority communities at elevated risk such as the incarcerated, the elderly, and adolescents. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will encourage a focus on preventing and responding to violence against women in these and other priority communities. Harmful social norms, including social constructs around what it means to be a woman or a man, contribute to the risk of perpetrating violence against women. As such, this FOA encourages applications from organizations and coalitions working to prevent violence against women by transforming harmful gender norms through women's empowerment and male engagement efforts. Preliminary evaluation results of OWH's previous work to improve community responses to violence against women highlights the critical need to link women to services from multiple sectors including but not limited to legal assistance; law enforcement; mental health services; substance abuse treatments; and housing. This FOA also encourages applications from organizations and coalitions using multisectoral approaches to provide response services to affected women in their communities.

The Foundation for Improvement of Justice encourages improvement by recognizing and rewarding accomplishment in the following categories: Legal Reform, Crime Prevention, Child Protection, Speeding the Process, Crime Victims' Rights, Alternative Sentencing, Reducing Recidivism, Lowering the Cost, Effecting Restitution, and other significant efforts.

INL is one of the leading international foreign assistance providers in CAR, and has an excellent reputation among the CAR government and the UN mission as a committed partner to building the capacity of CAR's criminal justice institutions. INL has committed more than $40 million to help re-operationalize and re-establish CAR's law enforcement, justice, and corrections institutions during the past four years. This project seeks to provide training and technical assistance to strengthen the ability of CAR civil society organizations, lawyers, police investigators, prosecutors, and judges to ensure justice for SGBV survivors and crime victims in Bangui and CAR's provinces, while also providing urgently needed legal services to SGBV survivors and victims of other serious crimes and human rights violations .

The purpose of this program is to support jurisdictions with an established gang presence to coordinate gang suppression efforts and activities by prosecutorial and law enforcement agencies. OJJDP has a long history of supporting community efforts to combat gang crime. Through OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model, communities can implement a comprehensive approach to gang crime and youth violence reduction. Suppression is a key component of OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model. Focused deterrence and suppression strategies can dissuade individuals and gangs from committing crimes. Such approaches highlight the punishments or legal recourse that will ensue in the commission of a crime and discourage the person or group from committing crimes in the future. These efforts, coupled with the other key components of the Comprehensive Gang Model, offer a holistic approach to support the efforts of law enforcement in combatting gang crime and promote public safety in communities. Eligible applicants will be required to implement OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model by working with the National Gang Center, and may use grant funds to support gang suppression activities.

Nigeria has sought to tackle corruption through traditional legal, law enforcement, and governance-focused interventions. The United States seeks to support the Government of Nigeria (GON) to institutionalize a culture of accountability at the federal, state, and local levels of government through support for prevention and enforcement activities. The purpose of this program is to develop strategic national, state, and local level anti-corruption programming to complement traditional anti-corruption efforts led by the GON and donors. The project will work at the national, state, and local level, in each geopolitical zone, and in coordination with relevant civil society stakeholders thereby creating networks of change and collective action throughout Nigeria. Particular attention should be paid to anti-corruption efforts related to security and justice sectors.

Through this solicitation, NIJ will provide small planning grants to develop proposals for new and innovative criminal justice research projects involving federally recognized tribes (or tribally based organizations) and which represent a new tribal-researcher investigator partnership. The following research topics are of particular interest to the U.S. Department of Justice: (1) The impact of concurrent criminal jurisdiction on the administration of justice in Indian country and Alaska; (2) The effectiveness of the criminal justice response to the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs [e.g., methamphetamine, heroin and other opioids including fentanyl, diverted pharmaceuticals, synthetic drugs, and analogues); (3) Crime prevention and intervention efforts; (4) Criminal offending; (5) Enhancing investigations and prosecutions; (6) Provision, role, and impact of forensic science services (including medico legal death investigation); (7) Murdered, missing, and trafficked women and girls; (8) Violent crime reduction; (9) Responding to and reducing victimization; (10) Strengthening tribal justice systems (e.g., evaluating tribal healing to wellness courts tribal-state collaborations, wellness court collaborations, technology-based court systems to improve court operations and outcomes, tribal-reentry programs); (11) Developing and testing tools and technologies to improve criminal justice policy and practice (e.g., unmanned aircraft systems, body-worn cameras, drug-detecting technology, location-based technology, digital devices or applications, victim technology-based services)

Jail administrators have an important role in ensuring that jail operations are conducted in a safe, secure, humane, and legal manner. The goal of the Jail Administration program is to provide jail administrators with information and tools that can be used to fulfill this role. Jail administrators must have knowledge and skills in a wide variety of areas to oversee operations and manage specific functions. Each module of the current program focuses on specific administrative responsibilities and tools including: action planning; using jail standards; managing risk; developing policy and procedure; determining staffing needs; managing the workforce; managing inmate behavior; developing a fire, safety and sanitation plan and; assessing jail operations.

The purpose of this agreement is to enhance the capacity of Central American institutions responsible for preventing and addressing corruption by strengthening relevant legislative frameworks; building the capacity of judicial institutions and public servants responsible for preventing and fighting corruption; enhancing civil society engagement; and increasing regional information sharing on anti-corruption and anti-impunity efforts. The successful implementer will seek qualified professionals with a strong background and demonstrated success in increasing the capacity of institutions in the areas of legal reform, and investigation and prosecutions of corruption cases. The awardee will work with Central American judicial institutions to develop and implement necessary policies and processes to guarantee transparency in government and the active participation of civil society, and strengthen the ability of institutions and actors to effectively prepare and sentence cases.

This award will support efforts in at least two of four target countries (select among: Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru) to identify priority substantive anti-corruption measures and assist in implementation of reform actions related to them. The substantive measures will be determined in reference to the international and regional standards to which these countries have agreed, and the recommendations of the peer review bodies associated with them. Several anti-corruption mechanisms and fora promote action on these standards by facilitating peer recommendations or encouraging country commitments. Exemplar mechanisms and fora include UNCAC and MESICIC (primary) and the Anti-Bribery Convention, Open Government Partnership, Summit of the Americas and related policy (secondary). Each of the target countries has engaged in at least one of these entities and has received recommendations or made commitments to address corruption in various ways. INL intends for this project to initiate a multi-stakeholder process in each country selected for this project to prioritize two to three peer review body recommendations addressed to - or political commitments made by -- the country. The project should then support the development of action plans and targeted follow-up action (i.e. technical assistance, advocacy, and coordination) to help governments implement the action plans. Suggested focus areas in which to develop priorities, action plans, and follow-up measures include judicial integrity/independence, criminalizing foreign bribery, public procurement, public sector ethics, and international legal cooperation. Supporting action in these areas would aid the criminal justice sector and civil society in making tangible steps to adopt laws, policies, or procedures that either prevent or combat corruption.

The purpose of the Capital Case Litigation Initiative (CCLI) is to assist states with: (1) enhancing the ability of prosecutors to effectively represent the public in state capital cases; (2) developing and implementing appropriate standards of practice and qualifications for state and local prosecutors who litigate capital cases; (3) minimizing the potential for error in the trial of capital cases; and (4) improving the quality of legal representation provided to indigent defendants in state capital cases. BJA achieves this purpose by funding national training and technical assistance (TTA) providers that work with states, prosecutors, and defense counsel in capital cases.

The most recent survey by the Moroccan High Commission for Planning, published in 2011, found that 62.8 percent of women aged 18 to 65 had experienced physical, psychological, sexual, or economic violence within the prior 12 months. Further, 55 percent of women surveyed reported domestic violence and 13.5 per cent reported family violence. Less than 3 percent of women who had experienced domestic violence had reported it to the authorities. Both national and international civil society reports indicate that of women who do report abuse to authorities, many do not receive the assistance required by existing Moroccan law and procedure. This has been attributed to a lack of a clear legal framework specific to gender-based violence (GBV) - draft law 103-13 on combatting violence against women remains pending - as well as social stigma, and limited awareness and implementation of existing GBV protections and reforms. The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for projects that help combat gender-based violence in Morocco. DRL's objective for this program is to enhance the ability of Moroccan government and civil society stakeholders engaging on GBV to advance survivor-centered protections. All proposals should include efforts that bring together key stakeholders, including justice and security sector actors, to promote effectiveness and accountability in gender-based violence prevention and response. Note this was previously posted under Funding Opportunity Number SFOP0003662 but the original posting has been removed.

It is in this environment that NIC developed, in collaboration with the Legal Decision-Making Lab of Carleton University, a tool - structured decision making framework (SDMF) - to improve decision making for offenders being released into the community from prisons. This tool, SDMF, acts as a road map or guideline for parole board members to help them reach, consistent, transparent and defensible release decisions. The structured approach guides parole board members through the deliberation process of making parole decision by considering the offender's information that has been demonstrated to be closely linked to positive post-release performance.

The purpose of this program is to enhance the quality and quantity of specialized services available to assist victims of human trafficking, as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended. OVC is interested in supporting programs that focus on one or more of these priority areas: 1) housing services, 2) economic and leadership empowerment and/or education services, 3) mental health services, 4) substance abuse services, and 5) legal services. OVC expects to make up to 20 awards of up to $700,000, with an estimated total amount awarded of up to $14 million. OVC expects to make awards for a 36-month period of performance, to begin on October 1, 2018. OVC will conduct one pre-application webinar on May 31, 2018, from 3:00–4:00 p.m. e.t. Register at www.ovc.gov/grants/webinars.html. Apply by June 27, 2018.

Lebanon's current court archiving system is insufficient to meet the demands of the caseload of the justice sector. The goal is to support the Lebanese judicial system to establish and use a legal archival system for paper and electronic cases in order to process cases more efficiently and effectively and to have the ability to retrieve past court proceeding files. As part of this project, the implementer will train file attendants/court clerks (those responsible for this process) on proper filing conventions, document preservation, tracking of files released/returned (including tracking the individual documents contained in each file to ensure files are whole upon return) and other areas related to paper and electronic file maintenance identified as-needed.

This project seeks to strengthen the entire value chain of judicial response to gender-based violence and domestic violence. Specifically, the development of a comprehensive approach to gender-based violence and domestic violence cases including therapy services, legal orientation for victims, improved traceability of at high risk victims, police investigations, prosecutorial duties and convictions aligned to the current laws in Costa Rica. The selected implementer must work closely with Poder Judicial's Gender Unit and Judicial Police Office for International Affairs, as well as with key institutional leaders and unit chiefs, to strengthen the capacity of Costa Rica's judicial response to gender-based violence and domestic violence. Identify needs, plan trainings, coordinate site visits to relevant partners in the United States such as Family Justice Centers and develop standard operating procedures to improve Judicial response to gender-based violence and domestic violence.

ection 101 of the Second Chance Act authorizes the Department of Justice to award grants to counties and states to improve reentry outcomes for incarcerated youth. The Second Chance Act Program supports counties and states in refining and implementing improved collaborative strategies to address the challenges that reentry and recidivism reduction pose. Implementing a cooperative and wide-ranging plan for reducing recidivism is challenging for even the most sophisticated juvenile justice agencies and requires an intensive systemwide realignment to address gaps in programs and services to improve outcomes for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system. This program will provide grants to support counties and states that have developed a recidivism reduction plan to better align juvenile justice policy, practice, and resource allocation with what research shows works to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system. OJJDP expects that a committee, task force, or working group will designate an agency to act as the legal applicant for this grant program. This solicitation will support counties and states that illustrate their readiness to implement a planning strategy developed and coordinated among multiple systems, to track implementation progress, and to show progress toward sustainable changes.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) invites applications for its 2018 Innovation Fellowship on the subject "Resisting Criminalization." UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) are engaged in a joint campaign that aims to "resist the harm created by criminalization" and to "create more safe, just, welcoming, and sustainable communities." The UUSC Human Rights Innovation Fellowship is a one-year $25,000 grant, awarded to an individual or non-governmental organization, designed to bring about systemic change by creating, nurturing, or spreading an innovation in human rights. For this year's theme, UUSC invites applications from individuals or organizations working on projects that seek to combat the systemic criminalization of immigrant communities, communities of color, Muslims, and LGBTQI communities in the United States - and individuals and communities at the intersections. These innovations may be legal strategies, methods of mobilization, methods of community outreach, technological or financial products or apps, path breaking applied research, advances in corporate accountability, or other new approaches. The successful proposal will be rights-based, align with UUSC's values and approach, positively impact and engage at-risk communities, and provide a new, different, and timely solution.