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Tribal Courts Assistance Program, FY 2004
About the Tribal Courts Assistance Program
BJA's Tribal Courts Assistance Program (TCAP)
is one of the U.S. Department of Justice's primary initiatives
for providing court-related
support to tribal justice systems. Since fiscal year (FY) 1999,
BJA has awarded 224 grants through a highly competitive process.
The goal of TCAP is to develop new tribal courts, improve the
operations of existing tribal courts, and provide funding for technical
assistance and training of tribal court staff. The objective in
reaching this goal is to help tribal governments develop, enhance,
and continue operation of tribal judicial systems, including intertribal
court systems.
FY 2004 Tribal Courts Assistance Program
In FY 2004, funding of qualified applicants under this competitive
grant announcement is contingent on the availability and amount
of FY 2004 funding for the Tribal Courts Assistance Program.
There are three separate categories for which federally recognized
tribes may apply:
- Category I—Planning and Implementing an Intertribal
Court System for Smaller Service Populations. Applications
are sought from consortia of tribal governments (at least two
per consortium), each of which serves a population of less
than 1,000 persons, to plan, develop, and implement a tribal
court system where none currently exists. This category focuses
on smaller tribes, located contiguous to or near other tribal
governments, for which the creation of an intertribal court
is economically and administratively feasible. Grant funds
may be used to facilitate the development and initial implementation
of an intertribal court system that will be designed to meet
the needs of more than one tribe in the same geographic region.
Distances of several hundred miles separating tribes and rugged
or inhospitable terrain can adversely affect the development of
a collaborative partnership by making it logistically too difficult
or economically unfeasible to establish an intertribal court. In
these severe circumstances, and given that a tribal government
can succinctly justify such hardships and incorporate this information
into its application under Problem Definition, such a tribe may
apply as a single entity.
- Category II—Planning and Implementing a Single-Tribe
Court System. Applications are sought from tribal
governments that serve a population equal to or greater than
1,000 persons for the development and initial implementation
of a tribal court that will meet their needs. Tribal governments
may apply for grant funds to facilitate the development and
initial implementation of a tribal court system where none
currently exists.
- Category III—Enhancing or Continuing the Operation
of Tribal Courts. Applications are sought from tribal
communities, regardless of the size of their service populations,
to enhance or continue the operation of existing tribal courts.
Initiatives may include, but are not limited to, establishing
a core structure for a tribal court, improving case management,
training court personnel, acquiring additional equipment and
software, enhancing prosecution and indigent defense, supporting
probation diversion and alternative sentencing programs, accessing
services, focusing on juvenile services and multidisciplinary
protocols for child physical and sexual abuse, and structuring
intertribal or tribal appellate systems.
If a tribal government is a member of an intertribal consortium that submits an application, it may not submit an individual application or an application as part of a different consortium.
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