OARS funding Criminal Justice

This program focuses on high crime communities with concentrated distress and hot spots of crime and directly supports the Department's priorities to reduce violent crime (sometimes associated with gang activity), assist communities struggling with drug abuse, and support law enforcement officers by integrating officers and enforcement strategies into community-based crime reduction 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 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 both the capacity of civilian law enforcement to provide citizen security, as well as 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 program is to enhance the performance and capacity of Tunisia's corrections institutions. INL is initiating this notice of funding to provide continued assistance to the DGPR and to build upon previous efforts to implement the classification program system-wide in order to promote safe, secure, and humane prisons.

Among its provisions, the STOP School Violence Act of 2018 authorized BJA to manage a grant program that would support efforts by states, local units of government, and federally-recognized Indian tribes to prevent and reduce school violence. This solicitation specifically seeks applicants to serve as a training and technical assistance (TTA) provider, on BJA’s behalf, to provide TTA and other support to awardees under the BJA STOP Prevention Training and Response to Mental Health Crisis Program, the BJA STOP Technology and Threat Assessment Solutions for Safer Schools Program, and the COPS Office STOP School Violence Prevention Program, in order to develop a knowledge base and technical assistance delivery model for communities seeking to improve school safety.

To reduce the ability of criminal groups to profit from poaching and trafficking of protected animals and their body parts originating in or transiting Central Africa.

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.

To reduce the ability of criminal groups to profit from poaching and trafficking of protected animals and their body parts originating in or transiting Ethiopia.

This award will support the development and launch of a system that can be used to increase transparency around the disposition of assets returned by the United States to a recipient country. The system can either build upon an existing government platform or can stand alone. It should utilize technology, such as but not limited to Distributed Ledger Technology, to ensure transparency and security and allow vested stakeholders to track the movement and utilization of funds. The technology should provide real-time information regarding expenditures. This information can be public or shared with relevant stakeholders depending on the circumstances. The specific country will be determined in consultation with the Department of State and Department of Justice after the award is awarded.

There is an extreme shortage of board-certified forensic pathologists in the United States, as underscored in the 2009 report by the National Academies of Sciences on Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States. This program will address strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner system in two project areas: 1.) By increasing the number and quality of board-certified forensic pathologists who choose the forensic pathology sub-specialty, following the completion of an accredited pathology medical residency program. 2. Assisting ME and Coroner offices achieve accreditation through a recognized accreditation body (examples: NAME, IACME). This program furthers the OJP's goal to increase public safety and improve the fair administration of justice across America through innovative leadership and programs. Compliance with accreditation requirements will assist medical examiner and coroner offices to strengthen the quality of services and data reporting.

Founded in 1922, PEN America champions the freedom to write, recognizes the power of the word to transform the world, and works to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. To that end, the organization is accepting applications for the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship, which seeks to harness the power of writers and writing in being witness to the societal consequences of mass incarceration by capturing and sharing the stories of incarcerated individuals, their families, communities, and the wider impact of the criminal justice system. Proposed projects may include but are not limited to fictional stories, works of literary or long-form journalism, theatrical scripts, memoirs, poetry collections, or multimedia projects. The proposed project should engage issues of reform, fuel public debate, crystallize concepts of reform, and facilitate the possibility of societal change.

BJA is seeking applications for funding under the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program. This program provides cross-system technical assistance to Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) grantees. It furthers the Departments mission by increasing criminal justice capacity to reduce violence and increase support of law enforcement to address challenges when encountering people with Mental Illnesses or co-occurring mental illnesses and substance abuse during calls for service, within the courts, and correctional/detention settings. Through the TTA program, JMHCP grantees will receive the necessary support to reduce and assist the number of people with mental illnesses who enter and move through the criminal justice system.

Through this solicitation, BJA seeks a provider to operate a National Training and Technical Assistance Center (National TTA Center) that will assist and guide states, tribes and local governments to grow and enhance cross system responses between local law enforcement and their mental health and IDD service delivery partners; and to address local response, needs and outcomes for people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities. This National TTA Center is critical to assisting jurisdictions by organizing the structure of the National TTA Center and responding to the focus of policy and practice as outlined in this solicitation.

This funding will support United States government objectives under the U.S. Strategy for Central America (Strategy), and are accomplished through the promotion of prosperity, enhancement of security, and improvement of governance. These objectives are also included under the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), which is a component of the Strategy. Within Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama), the United States works with partner nations to strengthen institutions to counter the effects of organized crime, uphold the rule of law, and protect human rights. Institution building is coupled with both prevention projects that dissuade at-risk youth from turning to crime and gangs and community policing projects that engage local communities on citizen security issues.

The Strategies for Policing Innovation (SPI) National Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program provides resources and opportunities to enable police agencies to identify and define their most pressing crime problems and institute lasting operational and organizational changes that foster reliance on and effective use of evidence-based practices, data, and technology.

The fiscal year (FY) 2019 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program (BWC PIP) directly supports key priorities of the Department of Justice by promoting the safety of law enforcement officers and citizens and capturing an unbiased recording of police interactions with the public. BWCs can provide critical visual and audio records of interactions. When properly deployed, research has shown that a BWC program can reduce civilian complaints, reduce use of force, and improve justice outcomes. Through this solicitation, BJA intends to select one training and technical assistance provider for BWC PIP to support law enforcement agencies that are planning, expanding, and enhancing their BWC programs. The selected TTA provider will prioritize support to law enforcement agencies that have received funding through BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program to Support Law Enforcement Agencies. When funding is available, the awardee must also provide TTA to nongrantees that request assistance within the scope of the BWC program.

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.

Many first responders and victim service providers are affected by vicarious trauma, defined as the exposure to the traumatic experiences of other people, because of their repeated exposure to crime victimization. The purpose of this solicitation is to build upon existing evidence-based resources and expertise (at the national, regional, tribal, state, and local levels), weave these resources together with in-depth and tailored technical assistance, based on the unique needs and resources in a particular community, and provide free and accessible support and technical assistance that results in a robust established and sustained response to vicarious trauma. OVC will conduct a pre-application webinar on April 19, 2019, from 1:00-2:00 p.m. e.t. Register at www.ovc.gov/grants/webinars.html. Apply by June 4, 2019.

Through this solicitation, BJS is seeking a national technical assistance service provider to support the goals and objectives of its National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) and NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP). Direct technical assistance is provided to states, territories, and tribal jurisdictions to ensure that records systems are developed and managed to conform to FBI standards, ensure jurisdictions are using the most appropriate technologies, and adhere to the highest standards of practice with respect to privacy and confidentiality. An additional component of this program includes the routine collection and evaluation of performance measures to ensure that progress is being made in improving state and national records holdings and information sharing and exchanges. The NCHIP TA program has been supported by BJS since 1995.

This award will support efforts in at least three of six target countries (select among: South Africa, The Gambia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malaysia, and Armenia) to identify priority substantive anticorruption 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 anticorruption mechanisms and fora promote action on these standards by facilitating peer recommendations or encouraging country commitments. 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.

The BJS Statistical Support Program (BJS-SSP is designed to provide scientific and technical support for statistical and methodological research, statistical analyses, documentation, and dissemination services in support of BJS's Criminal Justice Statistics Program (CJSP). Through the CJSP, BJS collects and publishes statistics about crime and the operations of the criminal justice system. The CJSP encompasses more than 30 separate statistical collections about policing, prosecution, the courts, institutional corrections, and community supervision. The BJS-SSP will enhance BJSs efforts by expanding our capacity to analyze CJSP data and document the analysis, thus increasing the breadth of substantive issues that CJSP addresses in both the short run and longer term.