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The Support for Adam Walsh Act (AWA) Implementation Grant Program assists jurisdictions with developing and/or enhancing programs designed to implement requirements of SORNA. In summary, SORNA requires: (1) all States, the District of Columbia, the principal U.S. territories, and participating federally recognized Indian tribes to maintain a sex offender registry; and (2) sex offenders to register and maintain a current registration in each jurisdiction where the offender resides, is an employee, or is a student. SORNA also sets forth requirements for sex offender registries, to include: specified required information, duration of registration, and in-person verification of sex offender identity as well as participation in the National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW), and the utilization of the SORNA Exchange Portal. For more specific information about compliance with SORNA and access to the National Guidelines and Supplemental Guidelines on Sex Offender Registration and Notification, please visit www.smart.gov/sorna_tools.htm#sornaguidelines. For information and resources on SORNA, visit www.smart.gov. Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables The SMART Office is interested in proposals that facilitate, enhance and maintain jurisdictional implementation of SORNA. For jurisdictions that have not yet substantially implemented SORNA, applicants must explain how the proposed project will bring the jurisdiction closer to implementation. Discussion of a jurisdiction's planned activities should include information regarding the jurisdiction's SORNA implementation working group. The working group plan should include a list of the working group members and their responsibility regarding SORNA implementation. It is expected that successful grantees will report on their jurisdiction's working group meetings in their quarterly progress reports. This requirement does not apply to jurisdictions that have already been found to be substantially implementing SORNA. For those ju

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor announces the availability of approximately $6,000,000 total costs for up to three cooperative agreements of up to $2,000,000 total costs each to fund technical assistance projects to improve the capacity of civil society to better understand and address child labor and/or forced labor abuses and promote acceptable conditions of work in a sector and/or supply chain. The project should achieve the following outcomes: (1) Improved capacity of civil society to identify and document accurate, independent, and objective information on the nature and scope of child labor and/or forced labor, and violations of acceptable conditions of work in a sector and/or supply chain; (2) Improved capacity of civil society to raise awareness for the protection of workers from child labor and/or forced labor abuses, and violations of acceptable conditions of work; and (3) Improved capacity of civil society to implement initiatives to address child labor and/or forced labor and violations of acceptable conditions of work, including facilitated access to grievance mechanisms and/or remedy for victims of labor exploitation. The duration of the project will be a maximum of 4 years (48 months) from the effective date of the award.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity is released by the Department of State's Office of Global Criminal Justice (J/GCJ) in cooperation with the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Office of Assistance Coordination (NEA/AC). J/GCJ promotes criminal accountability for abuses and violations in Iraq and Syria, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The investigation and prosecution of atrocity crimes is a crucial part of holistic transitional justice strategies in which countries must address legacies of pervasive abuses. Criminal trials - whether they occur in the context of an international or regional tribunal, or domestic systems that have jurisdiction - can build adherence to the rule of law, reinforce the unacceptability of the crimes committed, demonstrate that impunity will not be tolerated, and deter future harm by punishing perpetrators. Trials can also help transitional societies come to terms with their own histories and rebuild stable, democratic institutions. Evidence presented in court can help to establish a historical record of atrocities, give victims an opportunity to be heard, and rebut denials by victimizers and their political allies that such atrocities ever occurred. Finally, criminal trials can also help to restore the dignity of victims and their families by providing a public acknowledgment of the gravity of the wrongs done to them. The Department of State will consider funding programs that include components to develop local investigative and judicial skills; to collect and preserve evidence and maintain the chain of custody of evidence; provide information to national authorities with jurisdiction over crimes, and to conduct other activities that directly support investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of atrocities in Iraq and Syria. Applicants should be able to demonstrate an awareness of existing work in the field.

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor announces the availability of approximately $6,000,000 total costs for up to three cooperative agreements of up to $2,000,000 total costs each to fund technical assistance projects to improve the capacity of labor stakeholders to better understand and address indicators of forced labor and labor trafficking. Each cooperative agreement will fund a project in a country to be proposed by the applicant. Applicants must propose a country covered in the DOL's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in accordance with the Trade and Development Act of 2000 or on the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor as mandated by Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005. Proposals for working in the fisheries sector in the Asia-Pacific region will not be considered. In each country, the project should achieve the following outcomes: * Improved understanding of indicators of forced labor and labor trafficking * Improved monitoring of working conditions by labor stakeholders to identify and address indicators and incidents of forced labor and labor trafficking * Strengthened capacity of the labor inspectorate to address forced labor and labor trafficking. The duration of the project will be a maximum of 4 years (48 months) from the effective date of the award. Applicants may apply separately for cooperative agreements serving one or more of the countries listed above, up to a maximum of three applications, but may not combine proposals for more than one country in a single application. Each application should request no more than $2 million total costs in funding. For this FOA, DOL will make no more than one award per country.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) seeks innovative research proposals to empirically assess pressing issues in institutional corrections. Interested applicants should submit proposals that address any of the three categories below. NIJ anticipates that up to $8 million may become available for awards under this solicitation. 1. Advancing science: Responding to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report, “The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences.” 2. Understanding the use of restrictive housing. a. An examination of the use of restrictive housing in state and/or federal prisons. b. Assessing the use of restrictive housing in jails. c. Understanding the impact of restrictive housing on the mental health of inmates and staff in prison and how working in restrictive housing varies from working in the general population. d. A review of step down programs available in restrictive housing environments in U.S. prisons and jails. 3. An examination of correctional officer safety and wellness: The impact of fatal and non-fatal work-related injuries on the corrections institution.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) seeks innovative research proposals to empirically assess pressing issues in institutional corrections. Interested applicants should submit proposals that address any of the three categories below. NIJ anticipates that up to $8 million may become available for awards under this solicitation. 1. Advancing science: Responding to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report, “The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences.” 2. Understanding the use of restrictive housing. a. An examination of the use of restrictive housing in state and/or federal prisons. b. Assessing the use of restrictive housing in jails. c. Understanding the impact of restrictive housing on the mental health of inmates and staff in prison and how working in restrictive housing varies from working in the general population. d. A review of step down programs available in restrictive housing environments in U.S. prisons and jails. 3. An examination of correctional officer safety and wellness: The impact of fatal and non-fatal work-related injuries on the corrections institution.

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor announces the availability of approximately $1.5 million total costs for one or more cooperative agreements to fund a project to integrate the issues of child labor alleviation and acceptable conditions of work into women's economic empowerment initiatives. The project intends to support service providers and policy makers when working with women entrepreneurs to ensure women-led enterprises can improve livelihoods responsibly without resorting to child labor or harmful labor practices. The project's outcomes include: Outcome 1: Increased understanding of child labor and acceptable conditions of work in the context of women's economic empowerment initiatives. Outcome 2: Increased availability of tools to integrate child labor awareness and acceptable conditions of work into women's economic empowerment initiatives. Outcome 3: Demonstrated effectiveness of tools in mitigating child labor and unacceptable conditions of work in women's economic empowerment initiatives. Outcome 4: Increased awareness and adoption of tools to integrate child labor awareness and acceptable conditions of work into women's economic empowerment initiatives by a broad range of stakeholders.The duration of the project will be a maximum of 4 years (48 months) from the effective date of the award.

The Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA), enacted July 29, 2010, requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to establish and implement a tribal data collection system (P.L. 111- 211, 124 Stat. 2258, § 251(b)). Coverage of Indian country crime and criminal justice statistics is an important priority for BJS and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). BJS maintains more than 40 different data series, some of which provide information on crime and the criminal justice response in Indian country. BJS intends to expand its portfolio on Indian country to provide more useful and current information on crime and criminal justice response in tribal justice systems. Approximately every 4 years, BJS conducts the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA). CSLLEA provides data on over 18,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in the United States. CSLLEA captures data on each agency's number of sworn and civilian personnel and the law enforcement functions each agency performs. The 2008 CSLLEA collected data from 178 tribal law enforcement agencies operating in Indian country and provided a profile of tribal law enforcement by type of agency, the number of full-time sworn employees, population and reservation sizes, operating costs per resident, and functions performed on a regular basis. The information was published in Tribal Law Enforcement, 2008 (NCJ 234217, BJS web, June 2011). The 2014 CSLLEA, which is currently in the field, will collect similar information in addition to data on race and Hispanic origin of full-time sworn personnel, employment and transitional services provided to military veterans, special recruitment efforts, the number of hires and separations by type, the number of civilian deaths by cause of death, types of technology used by the agency, and characteristics of the agency's dispatch center. These data will be collected from all of the more than 18,000 state, local, and tribal agencies nationwide; however

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), U.S. Department of Labor announces the availability of approximately $4 million total costs for up to two cooperative agreements of up to $2 million total costs each to fund technical assistance project(s) in two different countries to improve implementation of social compliance systems that promote acceptable conditions of work and the elimination of child labor and forced labor in coffee supply chains. Each cooperative agreement will fund a project in one of the following countries in the Latin America/Caribbean region, where DOL's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (TVPRA List) documents child labor and/or forced labor concerns: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Nicaragua. Project outcomes include: 1) Adoption of a robust and sustainable social compliance system by private sector stakeholders in coffee supply chains; 2) Strengthened capacity of private sector stakeholders to implement a robust and sustainable social compliance system in coffee supply chains; and 3) New social compliance tools on child labor, forced labor, and acceptable conditions of work piloted in the coffee supply chain. The duration of the project will be a maximum of 4 years (48 months) from the effective date of the award. Applicants may apply for one or two of the cooperative agreements listed above. No more than two applications per applicant will be accepted. If applying for two cooperative agreements, applicants should not combine countries in a single application, but must submit separate applications for each country. Each application should request no more than $2 million total costs in funding.

On September 4, 2003, President George W. Bush signed the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-79). The act requires BJS to carry out, for each calendar year, a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape. The act further instructs BJS to collect survey data: the Bureau shall use surveys and other statistical studies of current and former inmates. The law was passed in part to overcome a shortage of available research on the incidence and prevalence of sexual violence in correctional facilities. To implement the act, BJS developed the National Prison Rape Statistics Program (NPRS), which includes four separate data collection efforts: the Survey on Sexual Victimization (SSV, formerly Survey of Sexual Violence), National Inmate Survey (NIS), National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC), and National Former Prisoner Survey (NFPS). Each of these collections is independent and, while not directly comparable, they provide measures of the prevalence and characteristics of sexual assault in correctional facilities. The SSV collects information about incidents of sexual violence reported to and investigated by adult and juvenile correctional authorities and characteristics of substantiated incidents. The NIS collects allegations of sexual assault self-reported by adult and juvenile inmates in correctional facilities. The NSYC gathers self-reported sexual assault data from youth in juvenile correctional facilities. The NFPS measures allegations of sexual assault experienced during a person s last incarceration, as reported by former inmates under community active supervision

Healthy, vibrant communities are places that provide the opportunities, resources, and an environment that children and adults need to maximize their life outcomes, including high-quality schools and cradle-to-career educational programs; high-quality and affordable housing; thriving commercial establishments; access to quality health care and health services; art and cultural amenities; parks and other recreational spaces; and the safety to take advantage of these opportunities. Unfortunately, millions of Americans live in distressed communities2 where a combination of crime, poverty, unemployment, poor health, struggling schools, inadequate housing, and disinvestment keep many residents from reaching their full potential. Research suggests that crime clustered in small areas, or crime "hot spots," accounts for a disproportionate amount of crime and disorder in many communities. The complexity of these issues has led to the emergence of comprehensive place-based and community-oriented initiatives that involve service providers from multiple sectors, as well as community representatives from all types of organizations, to work together to reduce and prevent crime and to revitalize communities.In many ways, community safety and crime prevention are prerequisites to the transformation of distressed communities, including the revitalization of civic engagement. Addressing community safety is the role of criminal justice agencies, the community, and its partners as a whole. To improve and revitalize communities, all relevant stakeholders should be included: law enforcement and criminal justice, education, housing, health and human services, community and faith-based non-profits, local volunteers, residents, and businesses.Given the significant needs and limited resources of some of these communities, local and tribal leaders need tools and information about crime trends in their jurisdiction and assistance in assessing, planning, and implementing the most effective

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2015 Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity in Adult and Family Treatment Drug Courts. The purpose of this program is to expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in existing adult and family "problem solving" courts, which use the treatment drug court model in order to provide alcohol and drug treatment (including recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination as well as family-focused services in the case of Family Treatment Drug Courts) to defendants/offenders. Grantees will be expected to provide a coordinated, multi-system approach designed to combine the sanctioning power of treatment drug courts with effective treatment services to break the cycle of criminal behavior, child abuse and neglect, alcohol and/or drug use, and incarceration or other penalties. Grants funds must be used to serve people diagnosed with a substance use disorder as their primary condition, particularly high risk/high need populations diagnosed with substance dependence or addiction to alcohol/other drugs and identified as needing immediate treatment. Grant funds must be used to address gaps in the continuum of treatment for those individuals in these drug courts who have substance abuse and/or co-occurring disorders treatment needs. Grant funds may be used to provide services for co-morbid conditions, such as mental health problems, as long as expenditures remain consistent with the drug court model which is designed to serve individuals needing treatment for substance dependence or addiction to alcohol/other drugs. SAMHSA will use discretion in allocating funding for these awards, taking into consideration the specific drug court models (adult and family treatment drug courts) as appropriate, and the number of ap

The National Institute of Justice has a longstanding history of collaborating with and supporting the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) on research, evaluation, and programmatic projects. Over the years, the shared priorities of OVC and NIJ have resulted in a number of collective projects, workshops, and research. In 2013, OVC began Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services which called for the development of research to build a body of evidence-based knowledge on victims and victimization.   With this solicitation, NIJ is collaborating with OVC to build on three areas of research that are of interest to both agencies. These topics include: 1.     Studying the Victim-Offender Overlap. 2.     Understanding the Violent Victimization Experiences of Young Men of Color. 3.     Research on the Broader Impacts of School Shootings.    Applicants should submit proposals that address one of the three topics.

BJA, in a public/private partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) in 2010 as a multistaged process in which a jurisdiction reduces unnecessary incarceration, increases the cost-effectiveness of its criminal justice system and reinvests savings into high-performing public safety strategies.  JRI jurisdictions reinvest these cost savings into high-performing initiatives that make communities safer. In addition to reducing prison populations, justice reinvestment encourages states to embrace a culture of greater collaboration, data-driven decisionmaking, and increased use of evidence-based practices. While the full impact of justice reinvestment reforms is not yet known, the policies enacted in JRI states hold great promise to reduce prison populations, achieve substantial cost savings, and avert future growth.  However, many of the states found similar factors driving populations and costs for example, parole and probation revocation rates; sentencing policies and practices that favored incarceration of low-risk offenders over alternatives and that resulted in long lengths of stay; insufficient or inefficient community supervision, services, and support; and parole system processing delays and denials. The policy responses to these issues also overlapped, sharing themes of evidence-based practices and data-driven decisionmaking, including risk and needs assessments; accountability measures such as performance and outcome measure reporting; earned credits to encourage compliance with conditions of community supervision; sentencing changes; swift, certain and fair responses to technical probation and parole violations, mandatory post-incarceration supervision requirements; problem-solving courts; streamlined parole processes and expanded parole eligibility; and re-entry programs to reduce recidivism.

BJA, in a public/private partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) in 2010 as a multistaged process in which a jurisdiction reduces unnecessary incarceration, increases the cost-effectiveness of its criminal justice system and reinvests savings into high-performing public safety strategies.  JRI jurisdictions reinvest these cost savings into high-performing initiatives that make communities safer. In addition to reducing prison populations, justice reinvestment encourages states to embrace a culture of greater collaboration, data-driven decisionmaking, and increased use of evidence-based practices. While the full impact of justice reinvestment reforms is not yet known, the policies enacted in JRI states hold great promise to reduce prison populations, achieve substantial cost savings, and avert future growth.  However, many of the states found similar factors driving populations and costs for example, parole and probation revocation rates; sentencing policies and practices that favored incarceration of low-risk offenders over alternatives and that resulted in long lengths of stay; insufficient or inefficient community supervision, services, and support; and parole system processing delays and denials. The policy responses to these issues also overlapped, sharing themes of evidence-based practices and data-driven decisionmaking, including risk and needs assessments; accountability measures such as performance and outcome measure reporting; earned credits to encourage compliance with conditions of community supervision; sentencing changes; swift, certain and fair responses to technical probation and parole violations, mandatory post-incarceration supervision requirements; problem-solving courts; streamlined parole processes and expanded parole eligibility; and re-entry programs to reduce recidivism.

Under 34 U.S.C. § 10132 (c)(3), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is authorized to “collect and analyze data that will serve as a continuous and comparable national social indication of the prevalence, incidence, rates, extent, distribution, and attributes of crime.” To support this goal, BJS has conducted prior surveys of prosecutors and will update that information collection with this solicitation. The National Survey of Prosecutors, 2019 (NSP19) will focus on the administration of prosecution activities. The survey will update basic information, such as office size, types of staff and resources, as well as emerging issues important to the Attorney General’s priorities, such as the prosecution of violent crime, human trafficking, cybercrime, and responses to the opioid crisis. The survey will also collect information on problem-solving courts, prosecutorial diversion, processing of forensic evidence, plea bargains, and trials. There are over 2,300 prosecutor offices in the U.S. The recipient of funds will be asked to verify and update the sampling frame, design a sampling strategy, design a survey of state prosecutor offices, convene at least one meeting of a panel of experts to review the survey instrument and survey contact strategies, and submit the sampling plan and survey to BJS. After approval, the team will field the survey, collect the data, deliver the data to BJS, and work with BJS to analyze and report the data.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) seeks an applicant to conduct the collection, analysis, and dissemination activities for the Annual Surveys of Probation and Parole (ASPP) for the collection years 2020 through 2024. The current funding is for the first 3 years of the award; the final 2 years will be funded upon successful completion of 2020-2022 data. The ASPP are two separate data collections, independently referred to as the Annual Probation Survey and Annual Parole Survey. Since 1980, the ASPP have collected aggregate data on the number of persons supervised on probation or parole (i.e., post-custody community supervision), together referred to as the community supervision population. The ASPP obtain aggregated data from administrative records maintained by state probation and/or parole agencies; local agencies (municipal, county, or court); and the federal system. The ASPP are core BJS data collections and are the only national data collections that describe the size, change, movements, outcomes, and characteristics of the community supervision populations at the national, federal, and state levels. Together with data from the National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) Program, which collects counts of persons incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and data from the Annual Survey of Jails, which collects counts of persons held in local jails, ASPP data are used to estimate the total number of persons supervised by the adult correctional systems in the United States. Collectively, these data collections are also critical for tracking the level and change in the correctional populations over time and enhancing the understanding of the flow of offenders through and eventually out of the criminal justice system.

The Second Chance Act (Pub. L. 110-199) seeks a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and return to their communities. There are currently over 2.2 million individuals serving time in our federal and state prisons, and millions of people cycling through local jails every year. Ninety-five percent of those incarcerated today will eventually be released and will return to communities. The coordination of reentry services for members of Native American tribes is even more complex given that they can return from federal, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), state, local, and tribal facilities. The Second Chance Act Programs are designed to help communities develop and implement comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by reentry and recidivism reduction. Developing a reentry approach for reducing recidivism is extremely challenging for even the most sophisticated correctional agency, requiring access to data and service delivery and coordination from multiple systems, including housing, health, employment, education, etc. This solicitation will provide funding for 12-month strategic planning grants during which time state-level participants will convene and work to 1) identify the drivers of recidivism in the state, 2) identify a target population and recidivism reduction goals for the state, 3) review the alignment of existing corrections programs and practices with evidenced-based practices, and 4) develop a plan to meet recidivism reduction goals using evidenced-based practices. Upon the completion of the Statewide Recidivism Reduction Strategic Plan, states will be invited by BJA to submit applications for implementation grants of up to $1 million with the potential for two supplemental awards of $1 million each. The total possible available in implementation funding per state is $3 million. Future funding decisions fo

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking applications for the testing and fielding of a data collection program that surveys public defenders. This study will continue BJS’s efforts to collect data on indigent defense in the United States. It will extend the efforts of the Census of Public Defender Offices (CPDO) and National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems (NSIDS) to enhance our understanding of the work done by attorneys who represent indigent clients. While the CPDO and NSIDS were conducted at the agency level, the proposed collection will survey public defenders who provide services to adults and juveniles charged with criminal offenses. The design for this work was previously awarded in the Survey of Public Defenders: A Design Study (SPDDS). The SPDDS was renamed the Design of the Survey of Publicly Appointed Defense Attorneys (DSPADA); however, this first solicitation will be limited to public defenders. Applicants are strongly encouraged to review a summary of the final report from this earlier development work, available in an appendix to the solicitation. Please note that the project recommendations include the use of incentives. BJS is not proceeding with a test of incentives with this solicitation.

The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is soliciting proposals from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement for a 12-month period to begin no later than September 15, 2014. Work under this cooperative agreement will involve review and revision of the current Inmate Behavior Management (IBM) curriculum based on the Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP) model, including relevant language and concepts from NIC's Direct Supervision training curriculum, incorporation of two established NIC e-courses ("Objective Jail Classification: Assessing Inmate Risk and Needs" and "Assigning Inmates to Housing")as part of the pre-work for participants, identification of benchmarks for implementation of IBM in local jurisdictions, and development of a 4- to 5-day pilot training based on the revised curriculum. The awardee will develop an updated program description, detailed narrative lesson plans, a participant manual that follows the lesson plans, and presentation slides for each lesson plan. A qualified awardee will demonstrate expertise and experience in the six elements of IBM developing curricula based on adult learning principles, specifically ITIP, the principles of Direct Supervision, and the purpose, functions, and operations of local jails. The awardee will work closely with NIC staff on all aspects of the project and collaborate with NIC-approved subject matter experts and a curriculum specialist as part of the curriculum revision/development team. This project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC Jails Division.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking applications under its Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) Program. This program provides awards to accredited universities for doctoral research that uses criminal justice data or statistical series and focuses on crime, violence, and other criminal justice-related topics. BJS invests in doctoral education by supporting universities that sponsor students who demonstrate the potential to complete doctoral degree programs successfully in disciplines relevant to the mission of BJS, and who are in the final stages of graduate study. The ultimate goal of this solicitation is to increase the pool of researchers using criminal justice statistical data generated by BJS, thereby contributing solutions that better prevent and control crime and help ensure the fair and impartial administration of criminal justice in the United States. Applicant institutions sponsoring doctoral students are eligible to apply only if the doctoral research dissertation has direct implications for criminal justice policy and practice in the United States. BJS encourages institutions to consider doctoral students from social and behavioral sciences, mathematics, or statistics academic disciplines for their applications. Applicant institutions are strongly encouraged to sponsor minority and female student candidates. Awards are anticipated to be made to successful applicant institutions in the form of a cooperative agreement to cover a fellowship for the sponsored doctoral student. Each fellowship potentially provides up to 3 years of support, usable over a 5-year period. For each year of support, BJS provides the degree-granting institution a stipend of $35,000, usable toward the student's salary and related costs, and up to $15,000 to cover the student's tuition and fees, research expenses, and related costs (see B. Federal Award Information). If the doctoral student's dissertation is not completed and delivered to BJS within the 5-year perio

The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has been working with the Government of the Republic of Tunisia to enhance the capacity of Tunisia's criminal justice system since 2011. This includes efforts to improve the capacity of civilian law enforcement to provide citizen security; improve the capacity of the corrections system to provide safe, secure, and humane treatment of inmates; and improve the capacity of the justice sector to provide access to justice and maintain the rule of law throughout the country. The goal of INL's corrections reform project is to enhance the performance and capacity of Tunisia's corrections institutions. This includes the development of a professional and sustainable corrections system that provides humane, safe, and secure imprisonment.