Office of Justice Programs Annual Report to Congress Fiscal Year 2000 The Office of Justice Programs is pleased to present its Annual Report for the Fiscal Year 2000. During FY 2000, OJP continued its established programs, but also expanded into new areas relevant to criminal justice policy. OJP developed several new initiatives in FY 2000. The Department's National Institute of Justice, along with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, presented the Methamphetamine Interagency Task Force Final Report, whose findings will further enable local communities to curb methamphetamine use and its effects. Moreover, OJP improved its use of technology designed to assist local law enforcement and corrections personnel. FY 2000 was the first year the Department was able to implement the Crime Identification Technology Act, which funds information systems and identification technologies that enhance local authorities' ability to reduce and prevent crime. OJP also awarded grants to combat Internet crimes against children under its Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program. OJP continued to make more applications for its grant programs available on-line, including the Bulletproof Vest Program, Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program, Executive Office of Weed and Seed grants, Drug Courts Implementation grants, equipment grants to support first responders in preparation of a domestic terrorism event, Residential Substance Abuse and Treatment Program, and violence against women grant programs, among others. This Annual Report provides an array of information about OJP's programs to the Congress and the public, however, additional resources are also available. Throughout this report, you will find lists of publications to refer to for further information on specific issues. Other resources also include OJP's Website (www.ojp.usdoj.gov) and the Department's clearinghouses and offices, whose contact information is provided at the end of this report. OJP looks forward to cooperating with the Congress, along with other federal agencies at all levels of government and within the community, in our ongoing effort to ensure that American communities remain safe. Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 1: THE OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 2: Empowering Communities to Address Crime . . . . . . . . . . 11 3: Breaking the Cycle of Substance Abuse and Crime . . . . . . 23 4: Combating Family Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 5: Addressing Youth Crime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 6: Managing Offenders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 7: Protecting and Supporting Victims of Crime. . . . . . . . . 68 8: Enhancing Technology's Use in Addressing Crime. . . . . . . 75 9: Enhancing Law Enforcement Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . 90 10: Countering Terrorism & Ensuring Domestic Preparedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 1 The Office of Justice Programs OJP'S MISSION To provide federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist crime victims. OJP GOALS  To identify, define, and promote the understanding of critical crime, delinquency, and justice issues.  To develop, support, and evaluate promising and innovative strategies for ensuring safe and just communities and assisting victims of crime.  To build partnerships that strengthen federal, state, and local government and community capacities.  To ensure a fair workplace that maximizes each employee's contribution to the overall mission and goals of OJP. Since 1984, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) has provided federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, improve the criminal and juvenile justice systems, increase knowledge about crime and related issues, aid crime victims, and assist state and local jurisdictions to better ensure public safety. OJP is led by an Assistant Attorney General (AAG), who is responsible for the overall management and oversight of OJP. The AAG sets policy and ensures that OJP policies and programs reflect the priorities of the President, the Attorney General, and the Congress. The AAG promotes coordination among the bureaus and offices within OJP. Five bureaus the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime administer federal grant, training and technical assistance, technology development and introduction, research, and statistics programs. OJP also includes a number of program offices. These offices include the Violence Against Women Office, the Executive Office for Weed and Seed, the Corrections Program Office, the Drug Courts Program Office, the Office for State and Local Domestic Preparedness Support, the Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education, and the American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Desk. Many of these offices were first authorized under the 1994 Crime Act. THE OJP BUREAUS The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) provides funding, training, and technical assistance to state and local governments to combat violent and drug-related crime and to help improve the criminal justice system. It administers the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program, the Local Law Enforcement Block Grants Program, the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, Public Safety Officers' Benefits, the Regional Information Sharing Systems Program, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, community prosecution grants, and other grant programs and initiatives. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the principal criminal justice statistical agency in the nation. BJS collects and analyzes statistical data on crime, criminal offenders, crime victims, and the operations of justice systems at all levels of government. BJS provides financial and technical support to state governments in developing capabilities in criminal justice statistics, as well as improving the accuracy, utility, and interstate accessibility of criminal history records. BJS supports the enhancement of records of protective orders involving domestic violence and stalking, sex offender records, automated identification systems, and other state systems supporting national records systems and their use for background checks. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the principal research and evaluation agency in the Department of Justice. NIJ supports research and development programs, conducts demonstrations of innovative approaches to improve criminal justice, tests new criminal justice technologies, provides technology assistance, evaluates the effectiveness of justice, and disseminates research findings to practitioners and policymakers. NIJ also provides primary support for the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, a clearinghouse of criminal justice-related publications, articles, videotapes, and online information. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides federal leadership in preventing and controlling juvenile crime and improving the juvenile justice system at the state and local levels. OJJDP provides financial assistance to states, local communities, Indian tribes, and the juvenile justice community to help improve the nation's juvenile justice system and sponsors innovative research, demonstration, evaluation, statistics, and technical assistance and training programs to improve the nation's understanding of and response to juvenile violence and delinquency. OJJDP also administers the Missing and Exploited Children's program, funded under the Victims of Child Abuse Act, and the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) works to enhance the nation's capacity to assist crime victims and to provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. OVC provides federal funds to support victim assistance and compensation programs nationwide, and advocates for the fair treatment of crime victims and the recognition of the crime victim within the justice system. OVC administers grants for programs designed to benefit victims, provides training for diverse professionals who work with victims, develops projects to enhance victims' rights and services, and undertakes public education and awareness activities on behalf of crime victims. THE PROGRAM OFFICES OJP has three offices that administer major programs first authorized by the 1994 Crime Act:  The Corrections Program Office (CPO) administers two major formula grant programs and provides technical assistance to state and local governments to help them with the implementation of the Crime Act's corrections-related programs.  The Drug Courts Program Office (DCPO) administers the Crime Act's discretionary drug courts grant program. This program provides support for the development of drug courts through planning workshops, and implementation and improvement of drug courts through grants to local and state governments, courts, and tribal governments, and through technical assistance and training.  The Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) administers programs designed to help prevent and respond to violence against women, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. VAWO administers formula and discretionary grant programs authorized by the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent legislation. VAWO also coordinates other Justice Department initiatives relating to violence against women, responds to requests for information, and collaborates with other federal agencies. The following offices are also located within OJP:  The Office for State and Local Domestic Preparedness Support (OSLDPS) is responsible for enhancing the capability of state and local jurisdictions to prepare for and respond to incidents of domestic terrorism involving chemical and biological agents, radiological and explosive devices, and other weapons of mass destruction. It awards grants for equipment and provides training and technical assistance for state and emergency response agencies. OSLDPS operates the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama, a facility to train emergency response personnel to respond to incidents involving chemical and other weapons. The National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC) is a partnership of several nationally recognized public universities and the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Energy. The NDPC supports the efforts of OSLDPS by providing expertise and training to the state and local emergency management response community.  The Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education (OPCLEE) provides college educational assistance to students who commit to public service in law enforcement, and scholarships to students with no service commitment, who are dependents of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.  The Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS) coordinates the Weed and Seed strategy, a community-based, multi-disciplinary approach to combating crime. EOWS works closely with United States Attorneys to implement Operation Weed and Seed in communities throughout the country. Six offices within OJP provide agency-wide support. They are the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs (OCPA), the Office of General Counsel (OGC), the Office of Administration (OA), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Office of Budget and Management Services (OBMS), and the Office of the Comptroller (OC). OJP also includes an American Indian and Alaskan Native Affairs Desk (AI/AN), which improves outreach to federally recognized Indian tribes. ENSURING COMPLIANCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS OJP's Office for Civil Rights actively enforces civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination by agencies that receive federal funding. OCR has initiated a number of investigations into complaints against various police departments alleging discriminatory traffic stops and searches, or other forms of racial profiling. When complaints are sustained, OJP takes administrative action to remedy civil rights violations, from requiring changes in policy to suspending funding. Even when no violations are found, OJP often recommends changes in policies and practices to help law enforcement alleviate perceptions of bias and to build community trust. OJP also works with agencies to promote the full and equal participation of women and minority individuals in employment opportunities, and investigates complaints of employment discrimination. OJP'S FY 2000 BUDGET Since enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, OJP's annual budget, which includes funding for the Public Safety Officers' Death Benefits and the Crime Victims Fund (CVF), has grown from $1.1 billion in 1995 to $4.4 billion in 2000. The FY 2000 budget included $3.4 billion in direct appropriations and $985 million from the Crime Victims Fund, which is financed by collections of fines, penalty assessments, and bond forfeitures from defendants convicted of federal crimes. Congress placed a cap on this fund and limited the FY 2000 CVF obligations to $500 million. In addition, OJP administered $389 million in reimbursable agreements from DOJ and non- DOJ agencies. Overall, in FY 2000, OJP managed nearly $4.8 billion. The chart on page 8 provides details on OJP's FY 2000 appropriations. THE OJP REORGANIZATION In FY 1999, Congress directed OJP and the Justice Department to develop a plan for a new organizational structure for OJP that would explore the consolidation and streamlining of agency programs and activities. During FY 2000, much progress was made as OJP continued to refine the reorganization plan and begin preparing for its implementation. In November 1999, in the conference report accompanying the FY 2000 Justice Department appropriations bill, Congress directed OJP to prepare and submit to Congress a formal proposal for implementing selected components of the plan submitted to Congress in FY 1999. Specifically, these components included the creation of a "one- stop" OJP information center; the establishment of "state desks" for geographically-based grants administration; and the consolidation and streamlining of OJP program and policy functions by subject area. In January 2000, the Attorney General approved OJP's proposal for implementing the new structure and it was forwarded to Congress for review. In April 2000, with Congress' concurrence, OJP began work on tasks preparatory to implementation of the new OJP organizational structure. It is expected that the reorganization of OJP will be implemented in phases in FY 2001. FY 2000 Appropriations in millions of dollars OJP PROGRAMS Violence Against Women Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants 206.8 Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies 34 Rural Domestic Violence Grants 25 Drug Courts 40 Prison Construction Grants 488.5 State Prison Drug Treatment 63 SCAAP (BJA) 1 585.0 Other Violent Crime Reduction Programs 28.6 BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE Local Law Enforcement Block Grants 497.9 Byrne Formula Grants 500 Byrne Discretionary Grants 52 Regional Information Sharing System 20 National White Collar Crime Center 9.3 EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR WEED AND SEED 33.5 BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS 25.5 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE 43.4 COUNTER TERRORISM PROGRAMS 152.0 OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION Formula and Discretionary Grants 280.1 Missing Children's Program 20 Victims of Child Abuse Act 7 Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants 238 OJP MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 37.5 ___________ TOTAL 2000 OJP Appropriations 3,387.1 OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME 2 500 PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS' DEATH BENEFITS 32.5 ___________ TOTAL 3,919.6 1/ Includes $165 million earmarked from the prison construction grant program. 2/ Program funds are not appropriated. OVC is funded by collections of fines, penalty assessments, and bond forfeitures from defendants convicted of federal crimes. SHARING INFORMATION WITH THE FIELD The resources and national perspective of the federal government give it a unique role in sharing knowledge about crime, justice, public safety issues, and victims. An important part of OJP's mission is providing state and local justice officials, practitioners, researchers, and the public with information. To make its resources more understandable and accessible to the public, OJP revamped its previously bureau/office-organized Website. In FY 2000, OJP launched a new Website that was redesigned so that important information could be found by topics and issues relating to all public safety fields. As a result of the new design, inquiries to OJP's public e-mail address increased significantly. On the average, the e-mail box receives over 700 inquiries per month. In 2000 alone, OJP received a total of 7,645 inquiries from law enforcement officials, federal, state and local officials, researchers, non- profit and for-profit organizations, universities, congressional staff members, the media, and the public. In FY 2000, OJP continued to support the operation of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), which supports the information dissemination efforts of all OJP bureaus and offices, as well as the Office of National Drug Control Policy. NCJRS maintains a library of more than 145,000 documents, available in print and through the Web at www.ncjrs.org. The NCJRS toll-free number at 1-800/688-4252 provides access to reference specialists who conduct individualized research and provide copies of publications. For criminal justice technology development and standards publications, NIJ manages "JUSTNET" on the Web at www.nlectc.org. Criminal justice practitioners and other interested persons can also request these publications by calling 1- 800/248-2742. JUSTNET serves as a gateway to the products and services of NIJ's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) system, as well as other technology information and services of interest to the law enforcement and corrections communities. OJP also continued to support the Department of Justice Response Center in FY 2000. The Response Center is staffed by specialists who answer questions and provide information about Justice Department funding programs, including all OJP and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office funding programs. Center staff also can provide copies of program solicitations, guidelines, and other documents. OJP's Office of the Comptroller (OC) answers over 33,000 calls a year at its Customer Service Center. Staff provide prompt answers to funding recipients' financial questions via toll-free telephone (1-800/458-0786) and e-mail (askoc@ojp.usdoj.gov). Ninety-seven percent of questions are answered immediately or within 24 hours. In addition to the $4.4 billion in payments made to OJP and COPS grantees during FY 2000, OC provides formal financial technical assistance to recipients through its nationwide Regional Financial Management Training Seminars. These two-day training seminars are conducted throughout the year, both in Washington, DC and at various locations across the country, at no cost to recipients. OC trained over 3,000 recipient and program staff during FY 2000. To ensure that OJP's recipients understand and carry out the financial requirements attendant to their awards, OC implemented a risk-based financial monitoring program that examined 1,800 grants in FY 2000, representing over $1.2 billion awarded by OJP. Recipients are either visited or called by OC staff, who provide financial technical assistance, advice, and guidance in support of OJP's programs. REACHING OUT TO A LOCAL DISTRICT SCHOOL OJP employees "practice what they preach" and take pride in working with the Washington, DC community. In 2000, OJP marked the 10th anniversary of its partnership with the Benjamin Orr Elementary School. On June 12, 2000, OJJDP and OJP volunteers joined fourth-grade students and teachers from the Orr School for lunch at the District ChopHouse & Brewery. The lunch culminated the 3-week Manners and Dining Out Program, through which students learned some key elements of fine dining. The students each ordered for themselves and calculated the total cost, including tax and tip, for the meal. The students were each given $20 in "Orr School Money," which they used to "pay" their bill. The District ChopHouse & Brewery covered the cost of the meals. A local anchorman interviewed participants for a segment that aired on the 6:00 p.m. news. Over the course of the year, OJP volunteers participated in Orr School reading programs, accompanied Orr students on field trips, and provided holiday gifts for students and their families. Orr students also participated in DOJ events, such as holiday programs. 2 Empowering Communities To Address Crime Federal and state agencies, along with urban, rural, and tribal communities, have learned that no one program or organization alone can effectively promote safer neighborhoods. Improving the quality of housing, education, employment, economic opportunities, environment, and health care resources available to all families and communities especially in neighborhoods where high rates of crime and poverty co-exist is difficult. Research and experience have demonstrated that the principle behind building safe and healthy communities is in the shared understanding of local needs and issues and the flexibility to address these local needs and issues. This approach involves a number of building blocks leading to positive change in our communities, which include: applying comprehensive approaches; building communities and justice system institutions; working with community leadership; strengthening local organizational capacity; promoting multi-disciplinary partnerships; applying technology and the strategic planning process; and giving residents a real opportunity to solve problems with justice system institutions. OJP has worked to build on community partnerships and expand them throughout the justice system as a whole. During FY 2000, OJP continued to encourage the development of systemwide strategies such as the Weed and Seed program, in which federal and local prosecutors and law enforcement work together to "weed" violence and drug dealing from a specific geographic area, and work with government and private housing, employment, and social service agencies to "seed" an area with jobs, livable housing, and opportunities for youth. BUILDING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT CRIMINAL JUSTICE In FY 2000, statistical data provided OJP insight into how these systemwide strategies have affected our nation's communities. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report, Criminal Victimization 1999-Changes 1998-99 with Trends 1993-99, released in August 2000, the nation's violent crime rate fell by more than 10 percent during 1999, reaching the lowest level since BJS started measuring it in 1973. There were an estimated 28.8 million violent and property crimes during 1999, compared to 44 million such incidents counted in the first year of BJS' National Crime Victimization Survey. The report stated that every major type of personal and property crime measured decreased between 1993 and 1999. The 1999 data indicated:  54 percent of all violent crime victims in 1999 knew their attackers;  almost 70 percent of the rape and sexual assault victims knew the offender as an acquaintance, friend, relative or intimate, compared to just under 50 percent of the aggravated assault victims;  44 percent of violent victimizations in 1999 were reported to police, compared to 34 percent of property crime victimizations;  the most frequently reported crime was motor vehicle theft, while the least frequently reported was personal theft;  little more than 28 percent of the rape and sexual assault victimizations were reported to the police;  persons 16-19 and 35-49 years old experienced violent crimes at rates lower than they did in 1998; and  last year's violent crime rates fell for a third of the demographic categories examined, including males, whites, urbanites, and those earning $75,000 or more annually. According to preliminary Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, homicides declined about 8 percent last year. Historically, males accounted for about three-quarters of the murder victims, and about one in eight of the murder victims was less than 18 years old. Property crime rates continued a 25-year downward trend, dropping 9 percent from 1998 to 1999 from 217 per 1,000 U.S. households to 198 per 1,000 households. In October 2000, BJS released the report, Firearm Injury and Death from Crime, 1993- 97. The number of gunshot wounds from any type of crime fell nearly 40 percent during the 5 year period from 1993 through 1997, according to the comprehensive report. BJS cites data from multiple sources, including its National Criminal Victimization Survey (NCVS), as well as hospital emergency department intake information and death certificates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and law enforcement homicide reports from the FBI. Twenty-eight percent of the serious, non-fatal violent victimizations that occurred from 1993 through 1997 were committed with a firearm. According to BJS' household survey of crime victims, 4 percent of the serious victimizations were committed with a firearm and resulted in injuries, and less than 1 percent resulted in gunshot wounds. About 80 percent of gunshot wound victims sought medical treatment in a hospital. The CDC data showed that gunshot wounds from any type of crime fell 39 percent from 64,100 to 39,400 during the 5 year period. Firearm-related homicides fell 27 percent from 18,300 to 13,300 during the same period. The BJS report said the CDC's Firearm Injury Surveillance Study showed that 62 percent of non-fatal firearm injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms were assaults, 17 percent were accidents, 6 percent were suicide attempts, 1 percent were from law enforcement activity, and 13 percent were from unknown causes. The CDC's Vital Statistics data indicated that 44 percent of firearm deaths were homicides. CDC's data further showed that, during the 5 year period from 1993 through 1997, there were an estimated 3.3 non-fatal gunshot injuries from assaults treated in emergency rooms for every single firearm-related homicide. According to CDC and FBI data, four out of five victims of both fatal and non-fatal gunshot injuries from assaults were male and nearly half of all victims were black males. Black males ages 15-24 made up 26 percent of all the non-fatal gunshot victims and 22 percent of all homicides, according to data from the FBI. The BJS report also indicates that 38 percent of the gunshot assault victims and 31 percent of the homicide victims were ages 18 to 24, while juveniles under 18 years old accounted for 16 percent of non-fatal firearm assault victims and 10 percent of firearm homicides. FBI statistics indicated that from 1993 to 1997, 60 percent of offenders who used a firearm to commit murder were younger than 25: 17 percent were juveniles (younger than 18 years old) and 24 percent were between 18 and 20 years old. The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports indicated that 1 percent of serious violent crimes reported to police from 1993 to 1997 were homicides, 69 percent of which were committed with firearms. For 56 percent of the non-fatal firearm assault victims the relationship to the offenders was unknown. Approximately 11 percent were injured by someone known to them. According to firearm homicide data in the FBI's Supplemental Homicide Reports, the victim's relationship to the offender was unknown in 41 percent of cases, while in 44 percent of the cases, the killer was someone the victim knew and in 15 percent the killer was a stranger. Among gunshot assault cases where the firearm type was provided, 82 percent of non-fatal victims were shot with a handgun. In firearm homicide cases, 81 percent of victims were killed with a handgun, 6 percent with shotguns, 5 percent with rifles, and 7 percent with unspecified firearms. Data reported to the FBI indicated that in 1998 more than 400 police officers were injured in firearm assaults, and 58 police officers were killed by a firearm while responding to a crime. The firearm injury rate for police officers declined in the early 1980s and began climbing again after 1987. In the late 1990s, however, firearm injury rates fell to their lowest level in the 1978-1998 period. Additional reports released by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) regarding community-based programs also provided valuable information. In April 2000, BJA issued Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs. This report focused on a Landlord Training Program in Portland, Oregon, and described how property owners, tenants, and law enforcement agencies cooperated to combat drug-related crime, particularly through effective property management and techniques that discouraged drug activity on rental property. The report also served as a training manual for communities that wished to start a Landlord Training Program. Such programs exist in 22 states. Kids' Korner Program: City of Reno, Nevada Police Department, a BJA publication issued in June 2000, described an initiative that teams law enforcement, public health, social service agencies, and public and private organizations in assisting low-income families who live in local motels due to high housing costs. Under Kids' Korner, which began in 1996, police officers routinely visit motels to check on the status of children and refer families to appropriate community resources. On May 23, 2000, Kids' Korner received the National Council on Crime and Delinquency's New American Community Award. In July 2000, BJA released Memphis, Tennessee Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team, a bulletin focusing on the efforts of specially trained law enforcement and medical personnel who respond to 911 emergency calls involving the mentally ill. Originally conceived as a response to the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in the 1960s, the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) is now a success, with over 200 of the 900 patrol officers as members. The Memphis CIT works in conjunction with the University of Tennessee Medical Center, families of the mentally ill, and emergency medical and psychiatric services. It has inspired other cities around the country, including Albuquerque, New Mexico and San Jose, California to implement similar programs. PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY SAFETY The Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI), which began in five cities nationwide in 1998, takes a problem-solving approach to a specific, local crime problem and increases the capacity of U.S. Attorneys to work in collaboration with federal, state and local law enforcement and community partners in reducing local crime. SACSI tests the assumption that crime is most effectively reduced by: bringing together the various perspectives and capacities of community groups and agencies to address a major crime problem; gleaning knowledge from street-level practitioners and working hand-in-hand with researchers to determine the exact nature and scope of a targeted crime problem; and designing interventions based on the opportunities the analysis reveals. SACSI is operating in Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; New Haven, Connecticut; Portland, Oregon; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with each city focusing on a crime problem of significance within its community. The initiative has five distinct steps, or stages: 1. Form an interagency partnership 2. Gather information and data about a targeted crime problem 3. Design a strategic intervention to tackle the problem 4. Implement the intervention 5. Assess and modify the strategy as ongoing analysis reveals effects Though direct federal funding for the first five sites has ended, all are continuing their efforts, some in significant new ways. In Winston-Salem, widespread community support for this work has resulted in nearly $2 million in foundation funding to establish the Center for Community Safety at Winston-Salem State University. The Center will expand the strategic approaches work in Winston-Salem and also serve as a training center for other communities in the problem-solving approach. The University of Memphis is developing a Center for Community Criminology and Research to help prepare researchers to work directly with communities. Portland, Indianapolis, and New Haven are beginning to apply this approach to problems such as offender reentry and domestic violence. In FY 2000, five new sites were designated as strategic approaches sites to reduce violent firearms-related crime. They are St. Louis, Missouri; Detroit, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; Rochester, New York; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. A training curriculum has been developed by the Justice Department to transfer lessons learned to these new sites and to others interested in adopting the SACSI approach. Key players from the first five sites will administer the training in the new sites, and to other interested districts. This curriculum will also soon be offered at the National Advocacy Center, as part of core training for incoming U.S. Attorneys and Assistant U.S. Attorneys. ADDRESSING HATE CRIME In 2000, the Department of Justice supported police and prosecutorial agencies in responding to hate crimes. The Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) convened a policy briefing on hate crimes in January 2000. In conjunction with the two- day policy meeting, where federal, state, and local officials shared information about effective strategies employed across the nation to respond to hate crimes, BJA presented a 15-minute video and accompanying brochure to assist law enforcement officers in preventing and investigating hate crimes. The video, "Responding to Hate Crimes," was a collaborative effort between BJA and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). The materials were the result of the 1997 White House Conference on Hate Crimes and the later IACP Summit on Hate Crimes in America. The video was sent to approximately 16,000 police and sheriffs' departments across the country. These materials were also presented at BJA's policy briefing for State Administrative Agency Directors, who collectively administer over $600 million annually in BJA funding through the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grants (LLEBG) Program, as well as other federal and state funds. In March 2000, OJP's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) released the first two reports in a series of hate crime bulletins, Addressing Hate Crimes; Six Initiatives That Are Enhancing the Efforts of Criminal Justice, and Promising Practices Against Hate Crimes: Five State and Local Demonstration Projects. The first bulletin focused on the following innovative efforts by police and prosecutors to improve systems for responding to hate crimes. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Summit: Hate Crime in America. Convened in collaboration with OJP and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), law enforcement, civil rights, and other leaders developed a broad range of recommendations for addressing hate crimes in communities across the country; DOJ's National Hate Crimes Training Initiative. This initiative involved the development of multi-level hate crime training curricula and the creation of a nationwide training program for local law enforcement agencies to implement the curricula; BJA's Roll Call Video: Responding to Hate Crimes. BJA produced a 20- minute video covering the initial response to and investigation of possible hate crimes; IACP's Responding to Hate Crimes: A Police Officer's Guide to Investigation and Prevention. This compact guide was published as a quick reference to address hate incidents, hate crimes, and how best to assist victims; The American Prosecutors Research Institute's (APRI) Resource Guide, Prosecutors Respond to Hate Crimes Project. APRI released this resource guide on hate crimes for local prosecutors; and The Maine Department of the Attorney General's Designated Civil Rights Officers Project. This project called for the development of a coordinated statewide system for hate crime investigation and prosecution. Promising Practices Against Hate Crimes: Five State and Local Demonstration Projects discusses five BJA-funded demonstration programs located in Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, Maine, and Massachusetts that are among the nation's most promising models for confronting and reducing bias-motivated acts. These programs demonstrate that the most effective approaches include coordination among all components of the criminal justice system, focused efforts to address the needs of the victims of hate crimes, diversion programs for youth, and activities encouraging tolerance in our schools. In addition, BJA funded Combating Prejudice and Hate on Campus, the first national student symposium on preventing and reducing hate crime and bias incidents on American college campuses. More than 300 students, faculty, and administrators from 70 educational institutions attended the event, held March 23-24, 2000 in Boston, Massachusetts. ADDRESSING CRIME IN NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES A critical DOJ priority is to help tribal governments build comprehensive and effective law enforcement and public safety systems that will provide a foundation for safe communities. As part of this important initiative, several OJP bureaus and offices provide funding and support to tribal communities. The goal of the Comprehensive Indian Resources for Community and Law Enforcement (CIRCLE) Project is to enhance tribal governments' response to public safety and to improve the quality of life in tribal communities. The CIRCLE Project promotes the intertribal exchange of ideas and experiences. It also fosters coordination within the three participating Indian tribes the Northern Cheyenne, the Oglala Sioux, and the Pueblo of Zuni for more efficient and effective use of resources. It combines comprehensive problem-solving planning, implementation, and evaluation with traditional tribal justice practices and support from a broad range of federal partners. On December 5, 2000, OJP participated in the second cluster meeting of the CIRCLE Project held in Zuni, New Mexico. Other participants included representatives from DOJ agencies such as the Office Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), U.S. Attorneys, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Office of Tribal Justice, as well as other federal agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. These federal agencies and tribes are working together to channel technical assistance and resources to the CIRCLE sites. Major FY 2000 BJA-funded initiatives for American Indian and Alaska Native communities included the Tribal Court Assistance Program, Crime Analysis and Planning Strategies for American Indian and Alaska Native Communities, and the Alaska Native Technical Assistance and Resource Center. As part of the Department of Justice's FY 2000 Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative, BJA helped American Indian and Alaska Native communities to develop, enhance, and operate tribal courts. This funding, administered under the Tribal Court Assistance Program, recognizes that tribal courts are the most important vehicle for maintaining security and restoring the community in Indian Country. They give Native American communities a forum to address specific issues such as substance abuse and domestic violence, and promote tribal sovereignty and self-government. Awards under the first component of this initiative funded either new tribal courts or improvements to existing courts in areas such as case management, court personnel training, equipment acquisition, indigent defense services, and diversion programs. The second component of the initiative provided training and technical assistance for tribal court grant recipients and created a National Tribal Court Resource Center. The Center's initial goals are to create a clearinghouse of existing tribal judicial resources, establish a toll-free help line for tribal justice systems, develop a free searchable database of tribal justice system opinions, provide online reference and research assistance services through the Center's Website (www.tribalresourcecenter.org), and establish a mentor system for tribal justice systems. In 1998, BJA began regional Community Analysis and Regional Planning Strategies training for tribal leadership and communities with large portions of diverse Native American populations. Managed by Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wisconsin, these 4-day executive-level training sessions assist tribal jurisdictions as they develop a comprehensive model for identifying crime risk and assessing its impact. THWARTING ECONOMIC CRIME On May 8, 2000, OJP's Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) co-sponsored a week-long economic crime summit in Austin, Texas. More than 1,000 public and private sector economic crime security professionals from around the world attended the conference to learn about the latest crime trends and strategies to thwart economic crime. Plenary sessions and workshops focused on e-commerce crime, health care fraud, identity fraud prevention, telemarketing offenders and victims, fraud prevention for the elderly, and national programs and federal offices that offer support to fraud victims. SUPPORTING COMMUNITY JUSTICE PROGRAMS Weed and Seed The Weed and Seed approach is a coordinated strategy that works to make a wide range of public and private sector resources more accessible to communities. Under the leadership of U.S. Attorneys, the strategy brings together federal, state, and local crime-fighting agencies, social service providers, representatives of public and private sectors, business owners, and neighborhood residents and links them in a shared goal of weeding out violent crime and gang activity while seeding the community with social services and economic revitalization. The Weed and Seed approach emphasizes four principles aggressive law enforcement strategies, community policing, the provision of crime prevention, intervention, and treatment services, and neighborhood restoration and revitalization activities. Initiated in 1991 in three pilot sites, the Weed and Seed approach is currently operational in over 250 sites around the nation. During FY 2000, over 250 communities used funding from Executive Office for Weed and Seed (EOWS). Since Weed and Seed is primarily a strategy, all Weed and Seed sites must show their capacity to obtain financial and in-kind resources from a variety of public and private sources. Many Weed and Seed sites receive support from federal, state, and local agencies, and the private sector (non-profit and for-profit). Technical assistance plays an integral role in the success of the Weed and Seed strategy and is available to all Officially Recognized Weed and Seed sites. Therefore, the Executive Office for Weed and Seed encourages Officially Recognized sites to develop written technical assistance (TA) work plans, which are based on ongoing local needs assessments. To facilitate technical assistance for sites, EOWS works with over 100 TA providers or consultants who carry out TA and have years of advanced, professional experience in areas including: strategic planning, evaluations, grants and funding review, team building, computer systems, funding and marketing, job training, asset mapping, and community policing. Technical assistance usually involves an EOWS consultant traveling to a specific Weed and Seed site. There are many other forms of TA that EOWS can provide, including: electronic (e-mail broadcasts and EOWS Web page), multi- site technical assistance, and telephone consultation. EOWS also sponsors several training workshops and conferences, as well as live, interactive satellite broadcast series that cover Weed and Seed topic areas. In February 2000, EOWS held its annual application kit workshop for Officially Recognized sites. In 2000, EOWS sponsored several conferences, including one held in New Orleans, Louisiana in May on law enforcement and community and one held in Miami, Florida in September on creating healthy communities. In January 2000, EOWS published a report, Weed and Seed Best Practices, which focused on four cities Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Jose, California; and Syracuse, New York that implemented successful crime reduction activities, community policing, crime prevention initiatives, and neighborhood restoration. The initiatives being undertaken in these cities represent approaches that communities across the country may wish to consider when crafting a comprehensive, community-based response to crime and community well-being. Specifically, the publication highlighted community activity in the following areas:  Pittsburgh's efforts to promote neighborhood revitalization through techniques such as developing community technology centers and building the capacity of community-based organizations;  Salt Lake City's undercover law enforcement initiative to disrupt illegal drug and gang activities in targeted areas;  San Jose's community policing approach, which dedicates local-level community coordinators to assist in fostering community involvement and improving community safety and well-being; and  Syracuse's collaborative prevention program which emphasizes involvement with the arts as a vehicle to counteract youth crime, truancy, ethnic intolerance, and substance abuse. Community Oriented Policing EOWS hosted a teleconference, along with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), to spotlight best practices in community policing in April 2000. The teleconference brought together police chiefs and criminal justice researchers from around the country to present model community policing approaches. The discussion also encompassed the community's perspective on community policing. This teleconference followed a Community Oriented Policing Summit live satellite broadcast, also hosted by EOWS, at which these officials discussed promising approaches to and key components of successful community policing programs. The live satellite broadcast was the fourth in the EOWS Community Training Broadcast Series, a series of five one-hour satellite broadcasts on topics of interest to Weed and Seed sites and communities across the country. To assess COPS effectiveness in promoting community policing in communities, OJP's independent research and evaluation arm, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), supported an independent, national evaluation of the COPS program. Findings released in September 2000, showed that COPS has increased the number of officers deployed in America's communities, advanced the utilization of problem-solving policing, helped police departments provide their officers with new technology, and made it easier and quicker for police departments to apply for and receive COPS grants. The evaluation was conducted by the Urban Institute with NIJ funding. The study reported that:  By May 1999, 100,500 officers and equivalents had been funded. Preliminary estimates indicate that between 84,700 and 89,400 officers will have been deployed by 2003.  Because some officers will have departed before others begin service, the Urban Institute estimated that the federally funded increase (based on awards through May 1999) in policing levels will peak in 2001 between 69,000 and 84,600 before falling to between 62,700 and 83,900 in 2003.  The COPS program accelerated the transition to of community policing in those agencies that were already advancing their own local programs, rather than causing the acceleration.  Building partnerships with communities was commonplace for COPS grantees; however, in a number of instances these partnerships were short-term working arrangements.  Many police departments and communities engaged in local problem solving, though the form and visibility of problem solving varied widely throughout communities. The evaluation covered the first four years of the COPS program, with specific focus on how COPS grants enabled law enforcement agencies to put more officers on the street to engage in community policing and redeploy existing officers to community policing by increasing officer productivity through the use of technology or by hiring civilians. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling the NCJRS toll-free number at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: Criminal Victimization 1999-Changes with Trends 1993-99 (BJS) NCJ 182734 Firearm Injury and Death from Crime (BJS) NCJ 182993 Homicide Trends in the United States (BJS) www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd.htm Keeping Illegal Activity Out of Rental Property: A Police Guide for Establishing Landlord Training Programs (BJA) NCJ 148656 Kid's Korner Program: City of Reno, Nevada, Police Department (BJA) NCJ 181718 Memphis, Tennessee Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team (BJA) NCJ 182501 Addressing Hate Crimes: Six Initiatives That Are Enhancing the Efforts of Criminal Justice Practitioners (BJA) NCJ 179559 Weed and Seed Best Practices (EOWS) NCJ 181507 The COPS Program After 4 Years: National Evaluation (NIJ) NCJ 183644 Promising Practices Against Hate Crimes: Five State and Local Demonstration Projects (BJA) NCJ 181425 3 Breaking the Cycle of Substance Abuse and Crime There is a close relationship between substance abuse and crime. The majority of persons who come into contact with the criminal justice system, regardless of the offense, are substance abusers. Approximately 73 percent of the 106,139 federal arrests made during fiscal year 1998 were made by Department of Justice law enforcement agencies the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Marshals Service according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) report, 1998 Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, released in May 2000. Almost half of these arrests made during 1998 were for drug or immigration offenses. Treasury Department agencies made 11 percent of the arrests, while other federal agencies, such as the Postal Service and the Defense, Interior, and Agriculture Departments, accounted for the remainder. Highlights from the 1998 Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics include:  The number of defendants prosecuted in federal courts rose 12.7 percent from 69,351 in 1997 to 78,172 in 1998, principally because of increases in drug law prosecutions (38 percent of the increase) and immigration law violations (29 percent of the increase). Most (83 percent) were charged with felony offenses.  Eighty-seven percent of those charged were convicted. Of those convicted, 94 percent plead guilty.  Seventy-one percent of those convicted were sentenced to prison, up from 60 percent of those convicted in 1990.  The average prison sentence imposed on the 43,041 persons sentenced to prison during 1998 was 58.8 months, down from the high of 62.6 months in 1992. However, the length of time likely to be served in prison is increasing. Since 1990 the time actually served rose from 65 percent to 87 percent of the sentence imposed.  Forty-three percent of those charged with federal offenses were freed while awaiting trial, down from 62 percent during 1990. Violent, drug, weapons, and immigration offenders were among those least likely to be released. About 43 percent of weapons, 35 percent of drug, 32 percent of violent, and 8 percent of immigration offenders were released while awaiting trial in 1998.  About 84 percent of those released while awaiting trial completed their release without incident, while most (14.5 percent) of those who violated the conditions of their release committed only technical violations of their release, such as a failure to participate in a substance abuse treatment program or any other court-imposed condition. Three percent committed new crimes and 2 percent failed to make scheduled court appearances. (Offenders may have had more than one type of violation, so percentages add to more than 100 percent.) According to another BJS publication, Drug Use, Testing, and Treatment in Jails, released in May 2000, an estimated 10 percent of the inmates tested for drugs in local jails during June 1998 tested positive for one or more illegal drugs. More than two-thirds of the 712 jails that tested inmates had at least one inmate who tested positive. The findings in this report are based on data collected in June 1996 from a representative sample of the nation's jail inmates. About 54 percent of all inmates were held in jails that tested for illegal drug use. It was found that different jails tested inmates at various times during their incarceration, and they used a variety of criteria to select inmates for testing. Among those facilities that tested, fewer than 5 percent tested all inmates upon admission to jail. About 49 percent of those jails that tested, selected inmates at random, and 69 percent selected inmates for testing upon an indication of drug use. Some jurisdictions also tested all inmates upon entry into a facility after an absence for activities such as work release, furlough, or court visit. The report also found that among the sanctions that jails impose on inmates who tested positive, 70 percent usually took away inmate privileges, such as visitation rights, recreational activities, and freedom to move about the facility, and about half took away good time or reclassified the offender to a higher security level. Other findings in the report include:  Drug testing policies to detect and control drug use in jails often also included jail employees.  49 percent of the jails reported testing staff members, compared to 47 percent of the jurisdictions that test inmates.  Of the 1,418 jail jurisdictions that tested employees, 70 percent said all staff members were subject to testing, including supervisors, administrative staff, and corrections officers, as well as programs and treatment personnel.  One-fifth of these jurisdictions tested only prospective employees, and one percent tested only corrections officers. Dismissal was the usual sanction against staff members.  Almost 73 percent of jail authorities provided substance abuse treatment or programs for jail inmates.  Self-help programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, were common, with about 68 percent of jurisdictions having such groups or providing peer group counseling or education and awareness programs.  About 43 percent provided detoxification, sent inmates to a special residential treatment facility, or provided professional counseling. Among those inmates surveyed who had pled guilty or had been convicted of an offense, 36 percent were under the influence of drugs at the time of the offense. In 1998 almost 72,000 were under the influence of marijuana or hashish and 59,000 were under the influence of powder or crack cocaine. BJS reported that, in interviews with convicted jail inmates, 16 percent said they committed their offenses to get money for drugs. Two-thirds of all convicted jail inmates were actively involved with drugs prior to their admission to jail. Among convicted jail inmates who were actively involved with drugs prior to their going to jail, 20 percent said they had received treatment or participated in a substance abuse program since their admission. COMBATING THE METHAMPHETAMINE PROBLEM Collaboration among agencies responsible for education, public health, law enforcement, and public safety is critical to implementing effective responses to the growing meth-amphetamine problem, according to the findings of the final report of the Methamphetamine Interagency Task Force. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), along with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, released the report, Methamphetamine Interagency Task Force Final Report, in Washington, DC at the 68th Winter Meeting of the U. S. Conference of Mayors. The report describes the methamphetamine problem; needs and recommendations in the areas of law enforcement, prevention and education, and treatment; and research priorities to advance the understanding of the nature and effects of the methamphetamine problem and to measure the effectiveness of prevention, enforcement, and treatment interventions. A final section discusses promising strategies and recommendations for the federal government to assist communities in combating methamphetamine. In FY 2000, Congress appropriated $35,675,000 to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to help state and local law enforcement in combating meth- amphetamine production, distribution, and use. These funds can also be used to reimburse the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for properly removing and disposing of hazardous materials found at clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. BJA, in cooperation with the COPS Office and the DEA, administered $16,275,000 for the FY 2000 Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program. Between August 2000 and February 2001, BJA awarded 18 grants totaling $12,214,837. Awards were delayed because of the grantees' need to address environmental considerations and assurances of their ability to comply with the laws and regulations. BJA also provided $150,000 in funding to support nationwide training in multi-agency responses to methamphetamine laboratories. Additionally BJA funded Circle Solutions to update training on clandestine lab enforcement and cleanup issues, with special emphasis on the needs of agencies in high intensity drug trafficking areas. The COPS Office retained two earmarks, $18.2 million for the California Department of Justice and $1.2 million for a Tri-State Methamphetamine Training Program, based in Iowa, which addresses a broad array of law enforcement initiatives pertaining to the investigation of methamphetamine trafficking in many heavily impacted areas of the country. To ensure that the investigation and cleanup of methamphetamine labs does not violate federal environmental and occupational safety laws, BJA, in cooperation with DEA and the COPS Office, devoted substantial effort in explaining to law enforcement agencies the requirements for compliance and providing guidance for programmatic remedies. On April 26, 2000, BJA sponsored such a conference for the Methamphetamine/Drug Hot Spots Program grantees. Further, BJA, in consultation with DEA, developed and published in the Federal Register a program-level environmental assessment with mitigation measures that can be used by any agency undertaking similar investigative programs to ensure compliance with current environmental laws. In addition, the use of multi-jurisdictional task forces has produced a variety of benefits for law enforcement and adjudication committees, including unprecedented interagency coordination and pooling of resources, the establishment of new systems to facilitate information sharing and intelligence gathering, and improved access to specialized resources. States spent $186 million in FY 2000 on 829 multi-jurisdictional task forces. One of the nation's most effective users of such task forces is the State of Wyoming. The State's Regional Enforcement Teams (RETs) have made investigating and prosecuting the trafficking of methamphetamine a priority. As a result, the number of cases involving methamphetamine has increased 350 percent since 1990. In one case, two RETs worked with the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to shut down a cartel distributing methamphetamine in several counties. This complex investigation, which involved gathering information on a kidnaping, an attempted murder, and multiple co-conspiracies, produced numerous convictions and sentences in federal and state courts. FIGHTING SUBSTANCE ABUSE AT THE LOCAL LEVEL Over half of adult male arrestees in 34 reporting American cities tested positive for drug use according to data released by NIJ. The report, Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program: 1999 Annual Report on Drug Use Among Adult and Juvenile Arrestees, found significant differences in the patterns of arrestee drug use by city. For example, the percentage of male arrestees who tested positive for any drug ranged from 50 percent in San Antonio to 77 percent in Atlanta. The range among female arrestees was even more pronounced, from a low of 22 percent in Laredo, Texas, to 81 percent in New York City. These findings emphasize the need for local, comprehensive approaches to address drug use among at-risk individuals. ADAM assists both law enforcement officials and drug treatment providers as they work together to break the cycle of drug use and crime. The ADAM study found:  cocaine remains the drug of choice among many arrestees: more than one-third of adult male arrestees in a majority of sites tested positive for cocaine;  the proportion of male adult arrestees testing positive for marijuana was greater than the rate of female adult arrestees in all sites;  among juvenile detainees, marijuana was the most commonly used drug more than six times higher than cocaine use for both juvenile males and females;  opiate use, such as heroin and opium, remained relatively low in 1999 compared to the prevalence of cocaine and marijuana among adult arrestees; and  the proportion of female adult arrestees testing positive for opiates was greater than that for male adult arrestees in many sites. Consistently high percentages of overall use among arrestees, however, mask differences in trends for specific drugs and in specific segments of the arrestee population. For example, methamphetamine use among ADAM arrestees is a phenomenon that appears to be concentrated mainly in the Western part of the United States, particularly in Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Jose, and Spokane, where more than 20 percent of both the male and female arrestee populations tested positive for the drug. Methamphetamine use among juvenile arrestees followed a pattern similar to that of adult arrestees: methamphetamine was more commonly used by females and was most often detected at sites in the West/Southwest. Data collected under the ADAM program highlight the complex nature of the drug abuse problem and the need for communities to tailor law enforcement, prevention, and treatment efforts to meet local drug problems. Local efforts to prevent substance abuse by young people were enhanced through nearly $9 million in federal grants awarded to 94 sites, including Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Washington, DC, through the Drug-Free Communities Support Program in September 2000. The Drug-Free Communities Support Program was created under the Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-20) to strengthen local antidrug coalitions, which include businesses; youth service organizations; health care professionals; and state, local, or tribal government agencies. Each of the coalitions receiving grants has worked together for a minimum of six months on substance abuse reduction initiatives before applying for the grants. The program, now in its third year of funding, is overseen by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Justice Department agency that administers the grant. ONDCP and OJJDP selected the new sites through a competitive review process from more than 200 applications. In Fiscal Year 1998, ONDCP and OJJDP awarded grants to 93 sites. An additional 124 sites received grants in Fiscal Year 1999. Awards range up to $100,000 for use over a one-year period. The coalitions, which have developed a long-range plan to reduce substance abuse, are required to match grant awards with funding from non-federal sources. The new program sites represent a cross-section of projects from every region in the nation. Fifty-four are predominantly rural, 24 are predominantly urban, and 13 are predominantly suburban. Further, 10 of these sites include tribal communities. OJJDP is conducting a national evaluation of the Drug-Free Communities Support Program. One of the Centers for the Application of Prevention Technologies, through funding from OJJDP and the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), will also provide the grantees technical assistance to help implement effective community prevention programs. In addition, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) provides support to these grassroots organizations. With the addition of the sites, the grants are funding more than 300 community coalitions of youth, parents, media, law enforcement, school officials, religious organizations, and other community representatives in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The program, which will allow the coalitions to strengthen their coordination efforts to prevent and reduce young people's illegal use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, also encourages citizen participation in substance abuse reduction efforts and disseminates information about effective programs. The Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) Program is helping all 50 states and the District of Columbia develop comprehensive and coordinated initiatives to enforce state laws that prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors and prevent the purchase or consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors. OJJDP awarded FY 2000 block grants of $360,000 each to all states and the District of Columbia. Recipients use these funds to support activities in one or more of three areas: enforcement, public education activities, and innovative programs. OJJDP selected 11 states and 1 territory to receive FY 2000 discretionary grants: Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Wisconsin. OJJDP also funds an extensive training and technical assistance program through the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) of Calverton, Maryland and its partners, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) of Dallas, Texas; American Indian Development Associates of Albuquerque, New Mexico; the National Crime Prevention Council of Washington, DC; the Police Executive Research Forum of Washington, DC; and the National Liquor Law Enforcement Association of Raleigh, North Carolina. During FY 2000, PIRE provided training and technical assistance to more than 4,000 individuals through a variety of activities. PIRE also continued to operate the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center which helps states receiving EUDL funds to focus their efforts on prevention, intervention, and enforcement issues. In addition, OJJDP continues to support a national evaluation of the EUDL program by Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. OJJDP also supports the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) at the University of Colorado, Boulder in helping communities replicate the Life Skills Training (LST) and Technical Assistance Program, a school-based drug prevention initiative to reduce the risks associated with substance abuse. The program motivates youth to make healthy lifestyle decisions by training them to resist peer and media pressures, develop a positive self-image, manage anxiety, communicate effectively, build healthy relationships, and handle social situations with confidence. CPSV works in conjunction with LST and the National Health Promotion Associates, which provides three years of training workshops for all LST instructors (a 2-day, initial training in the first year, and 1 day workshops in the second and third years to train teachers in the booster sessions) and curriculum materials for all LST instructors and students. In FY 2000, OJJDP awarded $4,964,110 to CSPV to expand its efforts. With this funding, CSPV provided training and technical assistance to an additional 35 sites, bringing the total to 70. The program now serves approximately 280 schools and more than 110,000 students. ADDRESSING SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN INDIAN COUNTRY In September 2000, the Attorney General addressed the "Indian Self-Determination: Summit on Tribal Strategies to Reduce Alcohol, Substance Abuse and Violence." The summit provided tribal leaders with an opportunity to develop a national agenda on alcohol, substance abuse, and violence for Indian Country. The summit also highlighted promising practices developed by tribal governments and programs. OJP released the report, Promising Practices and Strategies to Reduce Alcohol and Substance Abuse Among American Indians and Alaska Natives, at the summit, which highlights promising programs and initiatives that have proven effective for addressing substance and alcohol abuse problems among American Indians and Alaska Natives. The report is part of an overall effort to develop a comprehensive approach to reduce substance abuse and violence in Indian country. The programs highlighted represent three types of policy initiatives designed to reduce substance abuse: efforts that control the availability of drugs and alcohol within a tribal jurisdiction; educational and treatment efforts; and efforts that reduce the social and environmental factors that increase the risk of harm to the individual and the community. Programs described in the report include, the Poarch Creek Indian Nation Drug Court Program, the Pueblo of Zuni Recovery Center, and the Southern Ute Peaceful Spirit Youth Services Program. In addition to program descriptions, the report also contains a literature review, a selected bibliography, and a listing of resources for further information. DRUG COURTS OJP's Drug Courts Program Office (DCPO) awarded more than $25 million to 102 communities to plan, implement, or enhance drug courts in June 2000. Drug courts integrate substance abuse treatment, drug testing, sanctions, and incentives with case processing to place nonviolent drug-involved defendants in judicially supervised rehabilitation programs. Thirty-eight of the grants totaling more than $5 million were made to Native American tribal governments to plan or implement drug courts. These grants help respond to the higher alcohol dependency rates and need for treatment among Native Americans, which was reported in a 1997 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Since the drug court grant program was authorized in the 1994 Crime Act, OJP has made approximately 650 grants totaling over $125 million to plan, implement, or enhance drug courts throughout the country. More than 650 drug courts are operating in the United States and more than 425 are being planned. All 50 states have drug courts in operation or in the planning stages. Once limited only to adult offenders, specialized drug courts have been developed for juveniles, families, and persons charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) or Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), as well as for tribal court operations. In addition to the drug courts supported through Drug Court Grant Program funding, all states and communities use their own funds or a combination of state and local, private, and federal funding to support drug court programs. Some localities use funding from OJP's Byrne Formula Grant Program, the Local Law Enforcement Block Grants, or the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program, all of which include drug court funding as an allowable purpose area. All drug courts use multiple funding sources, even those that have received Drug Court Grant Program funding. The Drug Courts Program Office greatly expanded its training efforts in FY 2000 in response to the needs expressed by drug court practitioners. Under the Drug Court Planning Initiative (DCPI), a series of three workshops on planning a drug court is now available directly to interested communities, which no longer need to submit a funding application or provide a 25 percent local match. Communities must assemble a complete drug court team of up to 10 individuals for adult, juvenile, or family drug courts, and team members must attend all training sessions in order to qualify for payment of workshop and travel expenses by DCPO. As a result of this improved access, DCPO was able to train more than 200 communities in planning a drug court in FY 2000 nearly a 300 percent increase from its previous training capacity. DCPO expects to train an additional 200 communities in FY 2001. During the past two years alone, DCPO has funded and directed more than 50 training workshops and provided more than 3,500 incidences of technical support and assistance to practitioners in the field. In addition to the drug court planning workshops, training is being developed to serve operational drug courts through a series of single-subject training programs on topics such as team building, management, cultural competency, and technology. Also, the Mentor Drug Court Network is a cadre of 25 experienced drug courts providing referrals that link interested communities with operational drug courts that have agreed to serve as mentors. Over 2,500 persons visited a mentor drug court in the past year; 1,900 of those visits were in conjunction with DCPO training programs. The Drug Court Clearinghouse, funded by DCPO and operated by American University, supports training and technical assistance efforts, and serves as a repository of statistics and research findings on drug courts. A sampling of the statistics and research findings released by the Clearinghouse in June 2000 indicate continued positive outcomes for drug court graduates and participants: Over 57,000 individuals have graduated from a drug court. More than 1,000 drug-free babies have been reported born to drug court participants. Over 90 percent of graduates retained or obtained employment. Over 4,500 parents with previous child support orders were reported to be current in their child support, and 3,500 parents were reported to have regained custody of their children, as a result of drug court participation. Determining the effectiveness of drug court programs is an integral part of DCPO's efforts. With DCPO funding, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is overseeing a national evaluation program examining the impact of 25 drug courts. The first phase of a retrospective evaluation of the Pensacola, Florida and Kansas City, Missouri drug courts was released in March 2000 and a similar evaluation of the Las Vegas, Nevada and Portland, Oregon drug courts was released the following month. Findings from these studies include: Participation in the Pensacola Drug Court reduced recidivism for new felonies from roughly 40 percent to nearly 12 percent within a 2-year follow-up period. Participation in the Kansas City Drug Court reduced recidivism for new felonies from approximately 50 percent to 35 percent within a 2-year follow-up period. 27 percent of Portland drug court clients were arrested for a new offense as compared to 46 percent for the comparison group. 39 percent of Las Vegas drug court clients were arrested for a new offense as compared to 66 percent for the comparison group. DCPO is also committed to helping state and local drug courts obtain outcome information such as recidivism, retention, and relapse, and to evaluate their drug court systems. Through state evaluation and management information systems grant awards, DCPO is currently funding 14 statewide evaluations totaling $3.5 million. DCPO will review and disseminate evaluation findings to the drug court field when the evaluations are completed. In addition, FY 2001 implementation grantees will be required to conduct an outcome evaluation, as well as process evaluation, of their drug court operations. The combination of funding, training, technical assistance, and evaluation now being implemented by the DCPO will help to maintain strong, effective drug courts throughout the country. Those drug courts can become major assets to public safety, improved operation of the nation's justice systems, and to achieving the goal of breaking the cycle of substance abuse and crime. SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT FOR OFFENDERS OJP awarded grants totaling more than $57 million to all 50 states and eligible territories to continue providing substance abuse treatment for offenders at state and local correctional facilities. The grants were made under the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) for State Prisoners program, which was originally authorized in he Crime Act of 1994, and has allowed OJP to provide more than $230 million to the states and territories since 1996. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling the NCJRS toll-free number at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1998 (BJS) NCJ 180258 Drug Use, Testing, and Treatment in Jails (BJS) NCJ 179999 Methamphetamine Interagency Task Force Final Report (NIJ) NCJ 180155 Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program: 1999 Annual Report on Drug Use Among Adult and Juvenile Arrestees (NIJ) NCJ 181426 Promising Practices and Strategies to Reduce Alcohol and Substance Abuse Among American Indians and Alaska Natives (OJP) NCJ 183930 The Interrelationship Between the Use of Alcohol and Other Drugs (DCPO) NCJ 178940 Drug Testing in a Drug Court Environment: Common Issues to Address (DCPO) NCJ 181103 4 Combating Family Violence The nature and extent of violence within the family is tragic and alarming. Family violence intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, and elder abuse is still a significant problem that often results in an increase in the use of criminal and civil justice processes. However, progress is being made in addressing this problem. BUILDING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Violence against women by intimate partners fell by 21 percent from 1993 through 1998, according to the Intimate Partner Violence report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in May 2000. The data are from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey, in which a nationally representative sample of men and women age 12 years old and older are interviewed twice a year. The report provides information on violence by intimates (current or former spouses, girlfriends, or boyfriends) and covers trends in intimate violence, characteristics of victims (race, sex, age, income, ethnicity, and whether the victims live in urban, suburban, or rural areas), type of crime (physical assault, verbal threats), and trends for reporting to police. Intimate victimizations measured include rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Data on murder by intimates are also given. According to the report, an estimated 876,340 violent victimizations against women by intimate partners occurred during 1998 down from 1.1 million in 1993. In both 1993 and 1998 men were the victims of about 160,000 violent crimes by an intimate partner. On average each year from 1993-1998, 22 percent of all female victims of violence in the United States were attacked by an intimate partner, compared to 3 percent of all male violence victims. Other highlights from the Intimate Partner Violence report include:  Intimate partners committed fewer murders in 1996, 1997, or 1998 than in any other year since 1976;  Between 1976 and 1998 the number of male victims of intimate partner murder fell an average 4 percent per year, and the number of female victims fell an average 1 percent;  During 1998 women were the victims of intimate partner violence about five times more often than males, and;  There were 767 female victims of intimate partner violence per 100,000 women in 1998, compared to 146 male victims. According to data contained in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports:  about 11 percent of all murders in 1998 (1,830 homicides) were the result of intimate partner violence, compared to about 3,000 such homicides in 1976;  in 72 percent of the intimate partner homicides, the victim was female (1,320 incidents) compared to 50 percent in 1976;  the number of white female intimate partner homicide victims rose 3 percent between 1976 and 1998;  the number of black females killed by intimates fell 45 percent, black males fell 74 percent, and white males fell 44 percent;  between 1997 and 1998, the number of white females murdered by an intimate partner increased 15 percent;  between 1993 and 1998, women from 16 to 24 years old experienced the highest per capita rates of intimate victimization 19.6 per 1,000 women;  about half of the intimate partner violence against women was reported to police during the 6-year period; black women were more likely than other women to report such violence;  among victims of violence by a domestic partner, the percentage of women who reported the violence to police was higher in 1998 (59 percent) than in 1993 (48 percent);  half of the female intimate violence victims told the survey they were physically injured, and 37 percent of these victims sought professional medical treatment;  about 45 percent of the female intimate violence victims lived in households with children younger than 12 years old; and  among all U.S. households, 27 percent were homes of children younger than 12 years. However, it is not known to what extent young children in households with intimate violence witnessed that violence. Although the incidence of family violence has shown a decline, family violence continues to occur across the country. In July 2000, OJP's National Institute of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Service's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) released the report, Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS). This study, which followed the release of the BJS Intimate Partner Violence report containing NCVS data, used a different method to collect the data. The NCVS asked respondents specifically about their experiences with crime, whereas the NVAWS was administered in the context of a personal safety survey. As a result, the surveys showed both similarities and differences in their findings. For example, both surveys indicate that women are much more likely to be victimized than men and are more likely to suffer injuries as a result of victimization. However, the surveys differ in the number of victimizations reported by survey respondents and the proportions of those reporting their victimization to the police. Both surveys are part of the Justice Department's efforts to develop multiple measures to improve understanding of violence between intimates and formulate more effective policy, including prevention and intervention tools. According to the NVAWS report, nearly 25 percent of surveyed women and about 7 percent of surveyed men said they have been raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse or partner at some time in their lives. The NVAWS compared victimization rates among women and men, specific racial and ethnic groups, and same-sex and opposite-sex couples. The NVAWS found the following:  violence perpetrated against women by intimates is often accompanied by emotionally abusive and controlling behavior;  women whose partners were jealous, controlling, or verbally abusive were significantly more likely to report being victimized;  verbal abuse was found to be the behavior most likely to predict intimate partner victimization;  rates of reported intimate partner violence varied significantly among women of different racial backgrounds;  African-American and American Indian/Alaska Native women and men tended to report higher rates of intimate partner violence than women and men from other backgrounds;  Asian/Pacific Islander women and men tended to report lower rates;  women experience more chronic and injurious physical assaults in intimate partner relationships than do men;  women who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner averaged 6.9 physical assaults by the same partner and men averaged 4.4 assaults; and  more than 40 percent of women who were assaulted experienced an injury during their most recent assault, compared to 20 percent of the men. ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN In October 2000, OJP's Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) awarded $131.6 million under the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant program to improve law enforcement, prosecution, and victim services responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories. Since the first grants were awarded in 1995, VAWO has awarded over $681 million in STOP funds and over $1.6 billion in overall VAWA grant programs since its legislative enactment in 1994. STOP funds are used for the training of law enforcement officers and prosecutors to more effectively identify and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking; to develop domestic violence units in police departments and prosecutors' offices; to enhance victim services; and to improve court responses to these crimes. Ninety-four jurisdictions across the country received a total of $28.9 million to continue their efforts in implementing policies that encourage or mandate the arrest of batterers and enforce protection orders. The VAWO Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies Program fosters collaboration among law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, and victim advocates to treat domestic violence as a serious crime. With the help of the Arrest Program, communities are sending a strong message to batterers that domestic violence will not be tolerated. In FY 2000, this program was reauthorized by the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act of 2000, further improving the enforcement of protection orders. VAWO awarded funds to 94 communities in 41 states and the District of Columbia to continue Arrest Program projects that began with FY 1998 and FY 1999 funds. In FY 2000, there were 176 jurisdictions participating in the Arrest Program, with at least one jurisdiction in almost every state receiving funding. In order to receive this funding, states, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribal governments have to certify that their laws or official policies encourage or mandate the arrest of domestic violence offenders when there is probable cause or when a protection order has been violated. Applicants also have to demonstrate that their laws and policies discourage the arrests of both offender and victim. Police officers, prosecutors, and victim advocates have been using Arrest Program funds to build on their efforts to hold offenders accountable and to improve victims' safety. While there is not yet an official evaluation of the program, communities have reported that the Arrest Program has made a real difference in their fight to eliminate violence against women. FY 2000 Arrest Program funds are being used to:  establish specialized units in police departments or prosecutors' offices that focus solely on domestic violence;  centralize responsibility for domestic violence cases in groups or units of probation and parole officers or judges;  educate criminal justice personnel about domestic violence and how to improve the handling of domestic violence cases;  develop, improve, and coordinate domestic violence computer tracking systems to ensure communication among police, prosecutors, and criminal and family courts; and  strengthen services for victims. FIGHTING FAMILY VIOLENCE IN TRIBAL AND RURAL COMMUNITIES Delivery of domestic violence services in rural areas can be difficult. Rural battered women and children face challenges, such as geographic isolation, not encountered by victims living in urban areas. The unique circumstances of rural communities also complicate the ability of the criminal justice system to investigate and prosecute domestic violence and child victimization cases, and they present barriers for victim service providers in identifying and assisting abused women and children. In FY 2000, VAWO awarded $23.9 million in funding under the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Enforcement Grant Program to continue projects begun with FY 1998 grant funds. As a result, victims of domestic violence and their children living in 63 rural areas in 41 states will receive improved services. These grants will help improve the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence and child abuse cases and increase victims' access to advocacy and counseling in rural areas. This program assists criminal justice and social service staff to find creative solutions to some of the problems they face in rural communities. The Rural Program provides a unique opportunity for rural jurisdictions to address the needs of law enforcement, prosecution agencies, the courts, and nonprofit nongovernmental victim services agencies responding to domestic violence and child abuse cases. Rural jurisdictions are encouraged to create or enhance partnerships among criminal justice agencies, community organizations, health and social service providers, and child welfare agencies to implement prevention and education programs, as well as to develop innovative strategies to address the unique challenges of preventing and responding to domestic violence and child victimization in rural areas. States, Indian tribal governments, local governments in rural states, and other public and private entities in rural areas are eligible to apply. According to the VAWA statute. There are 19 states classified as rural. In non-rural states, the state may apply on behalf of one or more of its rural jurisdictions. The STOP Violence Against Women Program, authorized under VAWA, has allowed OJP to assist tribal justice agencies to partner with service providers that assist Indian victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. This collaboration promotes the safety and sovereignty of Native American women and also emphasizes holding offenders accountable. At a December 1999 domestic violence conference convened in Flagstaff, Arizona, over 100 tribal governments and Native American organizations from 25 states met to learn about the promising practices and programs addressing violence against Native American women. Two nonprofit Native American organizations, Mending the Sacred Hoop and Sacred Circle National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women, spearheaded the program as part of a VAWO technical assistance grant. Conference attendees, which included tribal grantees from VAWO's STOP Violence Against Indian Women program, discussed promising efforts within the areas of law enforcement, prosecution, tribal courts, tribal leadership, victim's advocacy, and coordination with county, state, and federal agencies, including United States Attorney's Offices. Tribal grantees also had the opportunity to visit the Hopi Tribe to see its community response to domestic violence. Assistant United States Attorneys from various districts, along with the Northwest Tribal Court Judges Association and the American Indian Law Center, assisted with training and presentations. Since the inception of the STOP Violence Against Indian Women Discretionary Grant program in 1995, VAWO has awarded over $36 million to tribal governments to strengthen the tribal justice system's response to violent crimes against Indian women. In FY 2000, VAWO awarded 82 Indian tribal governments $6.35 million in 23 states to continue projects begun in previous fiscal years that help Indian women who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse. These funds also assist law enforcement officers and prosecutors who investigate and prosecute cases involving violence against Indian women. In FY 2000, total funding for the STOP Violence Against Indian Women Discretionary Grant Program was $8.27 million. COMBATING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES Sexual assault and other violent crimes against women often go unreported on college campuses because appropriate services are not available to victims or there is a lack of coordination with the local criminal justice system. For the second year, VAWO awarded $6.8 million to higher education institutions under its FY 2000 Grants to Combat Violent Crimes Against Women on Campuses program. In order to receive funding, colleges and universities must:  develop partnerships with nonprofit victim advocacy organizations and local criminal justice or civil legal agencies;  train campus police to respond to sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking; and  establish a mandatory prevention and education program on violence against women for incoming students. Congress appropriated $10 million for the FY 2000 Grants to Combat Violent Crimes Against Women on Campuses program, which is authorized by the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. VAWA received 120 applications requesting $40.1 million and awarded 20 grants. The remaining funds were used for a national evaluation of the program and technical assistance. The Grants to Combat Violent Crimes Against Women on Campuses program was reauthorized as part of VAWA 2000. HELPING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS Many domestic violence victims do not have access to civil legal services, which can provide important avenues for victims to escape from circumstances that lead to domestic violence . Under the Legal Assistance to Victims Grant Program, in FY 2000 VAWO awarded 30 new grants totaling $7.7 million to law school legal clinics, victims and legal services organizations, domestic violence programs, and bar associations so that victims of domestic violence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories can receive legal assistance with matters related to the abuse. These funds provide legal assistance to victims of domestic violence to address their immediate concerns about physical safety and financial security, and enable them to escape the violence. Grantees are using the civil legal assistance funds to:  establish legal advocacy programs to represent victims in protection order, divorce or separation, spousal and child support, and custody matters;  help victims access benefits, health care, and housing; and  recruit and train attorneys who provide pro bono civil legal assistance to domestic violence victims. VAWO also awarded 56 grants totaling $15.9 million to continue projects begun with FY 1998 Legal Assistance grant funds. EFFORTS TO HELP CHILDREN EXPOSED TO VIOLENCE OJP also is working to assist children exposed to violence. Nine sites are sharing more than $6 million in grants during the first year of a five and a half year Safe Start Initiative to develop comprehensive efforts to help children exposed to violence. The sites are San Francisco, California; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Pinellas County, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; Washington County, Maine; Baltimore, Maryland; Rochester, New York; Chatham County, North Carolina; and Spokane, Washington. Each grantee receives approximately $670,000 per year from OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention. The Safe Start Initiative is part of the Children Exposed to Violence Initiative (CEVI), which was launched in December 1998. CEVI is a nationwide effort to seek new and effective means to prevent children's exposure to violence, to adopt innovative intervention efforts, and to find better ways to hold perpetrators accountable. The Safe Start Initiative is based in part on the Child Development Community Policing (CD-CP) pilot program developed by Yale University and the New Haven (Connecticut) Police Department with OJJDP support. The CD-CP program brings police officers and mental health professionals together through training, consultation, and support to provide constructive intervention for children who are victims and witnesses of violent crime. OJJDP, which administers the Safe Start Initiative, selected the 9 grantees after a review of the 208 applications. First-year funding is dedicated to a thorough review of existing community services and gaps that need to be filled. Based on this review, the grantees will plan a 5-year comprehensive response. The sites' plans will be based on coordination among law enforcement, mental health and medical professionals, and child protective service providers. The plans will include efforts such as child advocacy centers, home visitation programs, and domestic violence services for battered mothers whose children are at a high risk of exposure to violence. In addition to the nine Safe Start sites, OJJDP also awarded $670,000 to each of three sites Miami, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Newark, New Jersey for a 2-year period. These sites are focusing on specific improvements to services for children exposed to violence. The National Center for Children Exposed to Violence in New Haven is working with OJJDP to provide training and technical support to the Safe Start sites. As part of CEVI, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) released a video series and companion resource guide, Responding to Child Victims and Witnesses: Innovative Practices that Work. The Responding to Child Victims series includes three individualized videos, which highlight innovative practices for specific groups that work with child victims and witnesses law enforcement, prosecution, and the courts. A fourth video stresses the importance of partnerships among these groups, mental health providers, and community organizations to effectively respond to children who are exposed to violence. The companion resource guide offers discussion questions on how to address child victims. OVC also produced a video, Through My Eyes, which features the voices and artwork of children who have experienced or witnessed violence and comments from mental health and treatment providers on the effects of violence on children. BJA-funded Closed-Circuit Televising of Child Victims of Abuse (CCTV) grants were instrumental in securing portable videotape and closed-circuit television equipment that allowed the testimony of child victims at Children's Advocacy Centers to be televised and linked to courtrooms. CCTV grants purchased document cameras and electronic whiteboards that clarify the testimony of child victims through physical evidence such as drawings. The grants also funded the creation of forensic interview rooms in Children's Advocacy Centers and training for criminal justice professionals in interviewing child victims that examined legal requirements, minimizing trauma, and a range of issues related to children's memory. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling the NCJRS toll-free number at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: Intimate Partner Violence (BJS) NCJ 178247 Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NIJ/CDC) NCJ 181867 Child-Development Community Policing: Partnership in a Climate of Violence (OJJDP) NCJ 164380 Evaluation of the STOP Formula Grants to Combat Violence Against Women - The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (NIJ/Urban Institute) Responding to Child Victims and Witnesses Series (Videotapes and Resource Guide) (OVC) NCJ 181501, 181504, 181505, 181500, 181506 Through My Eyes (Videotape) (OVC) NCJ 178229 5 Addressing Youth Crime Through comprehensive and coordinated efforts at the federal, state, and local levels, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) contributes to the reduction of youth violence. OJJDP continues to strengthen the nation's juvenile justice system and supports prevention and early intervention programs that are making a difference for young people and their communities. Juvenile violent crime is at its lowest level since 1987 and fell 30 percent from 1994 to 1998, according to the OJJDP bulletin, Juvenile Arrests 1998, which reports significant decreases for every violent crime, including a nearly 50 percent drop in the juvenile murder arrest rate from 1993 to 1998. The bulletin presents an analysis of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports data, including arrest rates, which are the numbers of arrests for a specific crime per 100,000 youth ages 10 to 17. In addition to the sharp declines in violent crime committed by juveniles, there was also a 33 percent drop in the arrest rate for weapons law violations by youth between 1993 and 1998. Juvenile Arrests 1998 also showed drops in other juvenile arrest rates: Forcible rape down 25 percent from 1991 to 1998. Aggravated assault down 20 percent from 1994 to 1998. Robbery down 45 percent from 1995 to 1998 and now at its lowest level since 1980. Burglary down 22 percent from 1989 to 1998 and 50 percent from 1980 to 1998. Larceny-theft down 4 percent from 1989 to 1998. Motor vehicle theft down 39 percent from 1989 to 1998. Arson down 23 percent from 1994 to 1998 and now at its lowest level since 1990. In addition to the juvenile arrest data, the bulletin also presents an analysis of a new FBI study of 1998 data on family violence and the relationship between offenders and victims. Young people were victims in 58 percent of forcible rapes, with 15 percent of the victims under age 12. When rapes occurred between family members, juveniles were victims 73 percent of the time and 39 percent of the victims were under age 12. ENSURING SCHOOL SAFETY The majority of schools are very safe, and even those with higher levels of crime than the typical school may be safer generally than the communities in which they are located. However, no level of school violence is acceptable and reducing violence in schools and assuring that students can learn in a safe and nonthreatening environment is a national priority. Many programs have been implemented in the nation's schools in recent years to promote safe and healthy learning environments. While many schools also have incorporated school safety technologies within their overall school safety plans, little focused national attention has been given to the possible role of technology as an effective aid in creating safer and more secure schools. The NIJ-coordinated Safe Schools Technology Initiative encourages technology developers to work with schools, school administrators, and law enforcement agencies that serve schools to propose new or improved safety technologies that have promise for wide implementation. Under this initiative, NIJ sponsors technology research and development in the following areas: concealed weapons/ contraband detection, information technology, less-than-lethal, surveillance, training, and simulation. Technology assistance is the final piece of the Safe Schools Technology Initiative. NIJ invites practitioner participation in policy and liability assessment forums that bring together law enforcement and school safety officials wherever appropriate. NIJ also utilizes the resources of its National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center system to provide technology information, assistance, demonstrations, and other support to community law enforcement agencies and school security personnel. Research validates that a comprehensive community-wide and school-wide approach works best to promote healthy child development and to reduce school violence and drug use. The safety and well-being of our nation's children can be enhanced through the work of partnerships that bring together schools, families, and community organizations and offer a broad-based preventive approach to violence and drug use. The Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative (SSHS) supports urban, rural, suburban, and tribal school district efforts to link prevention activities and community-based services and to provide community-wide approaches to violence prevention and healthy child development. This collaboration among the U.S. Departments of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services helps communities design and put into place comprehensive educational, mental health, social service, law enforcement, and juvenile justice services for youth. In April 2000, more than $41 million in SSHS grants were awarded to 23 communities to make schools safer, to foster children's healthy development, and to prevent aggressive and violent behavior and drug and alcohol use among the nation's youth. These grants funded 23 new 3-year projects, adding to the 54 SSHS projects funded last year. Research shows that preventing violence by building on children's strengths and promoting healthy development produces more positive results and is more cost-effective than strictly punitive measures. Grantees were urged to intervene with children early and to use programs that have been proven effective, such as life skills development, mentoring, conflict resolution, support for families, professional development for staff, truancy prevention, after-school activities, teen courts, and alternative education. Continuation grants for the initial 54 three-year projects funded in FY 1999 were awarded in summer 2000 with nearly $100 million from the three federal agencies. Projects had to demonstrate substantial progress to receive continued funding. REDUCING YOUTH VIOLENCE Most OJJDP funding is awarded directly to state governments to support local juvenile justice and delinquency prevention projects. In FY 2000, OJJDP awarded more than $70 million to all 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia under the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Program formula grant program to support a variety of juvenile justice activities, from prevention to incarceration. Two states are not participating in the Formula Grants Program (Wyoming and South Dakota) due to non-compliance with the core protections of the OJJDP Act. In these states, funds were awarded to non-profit agencies working to help the state attain compliance and regain eligibility. OJJDP also awarded more than $38 million under the Title V program, which provides funds to states to implement comprehensive plans for delinquency prevention, and more than $8 million under the State Challenge Grants program, which provides funds to improve juvenile justice systems, including juvenile courts, juvenile corrections, and juvenile probation and aftercare programs. The Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program is helping to strengthen the juvenile justice system by encouraging states and local jurisdictions to implement accountability-based reforms. Under the program, OJJDP awards block grants to states, which in turn are passed through to local jurisdictions. JAIBG also supports program-related research, demonstration, evaluation, training, and technical assistance activities. During FY 2000, 56 eligible jurisdictions, which includes the 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, received JAIBG awards totaling $224 million. The awards can be used to fund programs in 12 purpose areas, including construction of juvenile detention and corrections facilities; development of accountability-based sanctions programs for juvenile offenders; hiring of prosecutors, public defenders, and judges to address drug, gang, and youth violence more effectively; and the establishment and maintenance of interagency information-sharing programs to promote more informed decision-making in the control, supervision, and treatment of juvenile offenders. To help states and local jurisdictions implement JAIBG programs, OJJDP provides training and technical assistance through Development Services Group, Inc. (DSG), of Bethesda, Maryland and 16 other training and technical assistance providers. During FY 2000, the training program featured six regional training sessions for state and local JAIBG grantees and included a 3-day program of 20 workshops and presentations customized to the needs of each region. OJJDP and BJS also established the JAIBG Technical Support Center to help states calculate the amount of JAIBG funds to be allocated to local jurisdictions. ABT Associates Inc., of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is conducting a 48-month national evaluation of the JAIBG program. In addition, OJJDP continued to publish a series of JAIBG Bulletins, which present up-to-date information about each of the JAIBG program purpose areas. DSG coordinates a JAIBG Training and Technical Assistance Alliance that is composed of 19 providers (members include the American Correctional Association, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, American Probation and Parole Association, and the National Institute of Corrections) that give various types of services to states and localities implementing JAIBG programs. Since its inception in 1998, the Alliance has provided technical assistance (TA) in response to more than 2,510 requests. The TA has focused primarily on operating juvenile detention facilities, developing accountability-based programs, providing training for prosecutors, improving juvenile courts and probation, and implementing drug testing programs. In support of the JAIBG program, the Alliance has conducted 365 training events, workshops, presentations, and videoconferences reaching more than 16,000 practitioners, including juvenile justice specialists, judges, probation officers, law enforcement officers, court and school personnel, prosecutors, and detention staff. Local needs assessments have led to effective training approaches, which are crucial to increasing accountability in juvenile justice systems nationwide. By directly training state and local practitioners on best practices in juvenile accountability and graduated sanctions, OJJDP is supporting state and local governments in increasing their juvenile justice systems' capacity to address accountability. While juvenile crime rates have dropped throughout the nation, they continue to rise in Indian country. In December 1999, 34 American Indian and Alaska Native tribal communities were awarded nearly $8 million in Tribal Youth Program grants to prevent and control juvenile delinquency and substance abuse. The Tribal Youth Program, new in FY 1999, is administered by OJJDP. Funds are being used to support accountability-based sanctions, training for juvenile court judges, strengthening family bonds, substance abuse counseling, and other programs. The Tribal Youth Program was created through the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act for 1999 (P.L. 105-277) and is part of a joint Justice Department and Interior Department Indian Country Law Enforcement Improvement Initiative to address the need for improved law enforcement and administration of criminal and juvenile justice in Indian country. PREVENTING YOUTH CRIME As part of another federal interagency collaboration to prevent youth crime, the Attorney General led a discussion on preventing and controlling juvenile crime by girls as part of the quarterly meeting of the Federal Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Federal Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is chaired by the Attorney General and includes the Secretaries of Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development and juvenile justice practitioners appointed by Congress and the President. Its primary function is to coordinate all federal juvenile delinquency prevention programs, all federal programs and activities that detain or care for unaccompanied juveniles, and all federal programs related to missing and exploited children. It also examines how programs can be better coordinated at different levels of government to serve at-risk youth, makes recommendations to Congress, and reviews the programs and practices of federal agencies to assess their compliance with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The focus of the quarterly meeting on March 29, 2001 centered around the latest research on gender trends in juvenile crime, effective prevention programs for troubled girls, and promising intervention programs for girls in the juvenile justice system. In July 2000, the Deputy Attorney General met with youth from across the country to hear their ideas about the causes of juvenile violence and promising solutions. The youth were part of the National Campaign to Stop Violence "Do the Write Thing Program," through which seventh/eighth grade students and National Guard Unit high school students write essays and poems about delinquency, crime, and victimization. OJJDP has supported this program since 1997. For millions of children, Boys & Girls Clubs are a safe haven from drugs and violence. Established in 1906, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America has grown from 53 clubs to a national network of more than 2,800 clubs, many in public housing, schools, churches, shopping malls, homeless shelters, orphanages, Native American reservations, and U.S. military bases around the world. Today, Boys & Girls Clubs serve more than 3.3 million youth, employ more that 10,000 full-time and 40,000 part-time youth professionals, and organize the efforts of more than 200,000 volunteers. Over the 8-year history of its partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs of America, BJA funds have directly assisted over 600,000 youth and helped to start at least 850 new clubs. BJA has also funded nearly 2,200 special awards to help local clubs enhance their curricula and provide outreach in their communities. In 2000, BJA funds helped to establish new clubs and expand the outreach of existing clubs in severely distressed communities, in Indian country, and in small, rural communities. BJA funds also supported a pilot initiative to help bridge the technology divide between affluent and disadvantaged youth through youth technology centers. Under another long-standing program, the award-winning public service ads of the BJA- funded National Citizen's Crime Prevention Campaign challenged Americans to invest in youth and do something about violence, crime, and illegal drug use. Campaign advertising appears on television, radio, billboards, and posters; in newspapers and magazines; and now through Website banners. In 1998, the Campaign reached more than 155 million households and raised an unprecedented $128 million in donated broadcast and print media support. These media campaigns generate approximately 25,000 calls per year to the Campaign's toll-free number and 22,000 per year to a toll-free number for teens. The Campaign is a cooperative effort of the National Crime Prevention Council, BJA, the Crime Prevention Coalition of America, and the Ad Council, Inc. RESPONDING TO YOUTH CRIME America is demanding solutions to increases in violent crime committed by its youth. The emerging consensus is that communities need to adopt comprehensive approaches to combat juvenile crime. In response, OJJDP developed the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders to provide a framework of strategic responses at the community, city, state, and national levels. OJJDP's Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders provides the necessary tools and program information to systematically and comprehensively address rising violent juvenile crime. Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy, however, requires a commitment to improving the juvenile justice system; providing appropriate prevention methods to children, families, and communities; and intervening in the lives of first-time offenders with structured programs and services. The Comprehensive Strategy and the Guide are important resources for communities interested in identifying and implementing solutions to growing juvenile violence through a more effective juvenile justice system. States using the Comprehensive Strategy include: Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Texas. The Children's Initiative in San Diego, California, is also participating as a pilot site. Another OJJDP bulletin, The Comprehensive Strategy: Lessons Learned From the Pilot Sites, released in March 2000, found that leadership, engaging the media, and training a broad range of community participants are critical elements in establishing comprehensive, community- wide efforts to combat juvenile violence. Community support and the ability to maximize existing resources are other critical factors to ensure a successful youth crime-fighting strategy. The bulletin describes the efforts of three sites Lee County, Florida; Duval County, Florida; and San Diego, California that applied the principles of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The strategy, which OJJDP initially published in 1993, is based on six key principles: Strengthening families. Supporting core social institutions such as schools, churches, and other youth- serving organizations. Providing prevention programs that offer positive opportunities for troubled youth. Intervening early at the first signs of trouble to keep youth from moving toward more serious and violent crimes. Establishing accountability-based sanctions that provide for public safety while also providing treatment for young people in the juvenile justice system. Identifying and controlling the small group of serious, violent, and chronic offenders who account for most violent juvenile crime. OJJDP selected the three strategy pilot sites in 1993 and provided training and technical assistance to help them develop strategic plans to meet their needs. The bulletin describes some unique features of the three sites' efforts: Lee County implemented the Parenting Project, which provided counseling, training, and support for parents of children with attention deficit disorders and other behavioral problems. Duval County established a Family Visitation Center, which offered a safe and supervised environment for abused and neglected youth to visit their biological parents. San Diego implemented the Critical Hours program, which provided positive after- school activities for more than 14,000 young people in its first year. The bulletin also outlines the challenges of implementing a comprehensive strategic approach, such as difficulties in collecting needed data. Other obstacles included "turf" issues that developed between agencies that were not used to working together and the time demands on key community and agency leaders. In FY 2000, OJJDP provided training and technical assistance funding for five communities in two states that wanted to develop and implement the strategic planning framework as an approach to serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders. The model includes: Identifying programs that address prevention services for at-risk youth and their families, and Developing a system of graduated sanctions for juvenile offenders. Program development is guided by risk and needs assessment instruments at each level of the juvenile justice process. OJJDP is also providing training, technical assistance, and funding to eight states Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy in selected communities. ADDRESSING YOUTH GANG CRIME OJJDP also is helping communities to address problems related to crime by youth gangs. In FY 2000, OJJDP launched a new demonstration and replication effort to allow more communities across the country to use a promising approach to reducing and preventing youth gang crime and, especially, violence. The FY 2000 Gang-Free Schools and Communities Initiative included three new programs: 1) Comprehensive Gang Model: An Enhanced School/ Community Approach to Reducing Youth Gang Crime, 2) Gang-Free Communities, and 3) National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Gang Model: An Enhanced School/Community Approach to Reducing Youth Gang Crime. This initiative will provide support for up to 16 communities to use the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model to address local youth gang problems through intervention and suppression while building on and enhancing local youth gang prevention activities. The programs implemented under this initiative are strategic in nature and will be guided by comprehensive assessments of the local youth gang problems in each community. OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) will provide training and technical assistance to these communities. In FY 2000, the Boys & Girls Clubs added 30 new gang prevention sites, five new gang intervention sites, and two "Targeted Reintegration" sites where clubs provide services to youth returning to the community from juvenile correctional facilities to prevent them from returning to gangs and violence. In FY 2000, OJJDP also provided continuation support for its Rural Gang Initiative in four communities across the nation; its ongoing Comprehensive Gang Sites; the National Youth Gang Center in Tallahassee, Florida; and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in Alexandria, Virginia. The National Youth Gang Center and the IACP each provide training and technical assistance to communities across the country experiencing youth gang problems. DEVELOPING NEW INTERNET RESOURCES A new Website www.parentingresources.ncjrs.org was launched in June 2000 to offer parents information on such topics as child care, education, health, and safety. The site, "Parenting Resources for the 21st Century," is part of a joint effort by several federal agencies to promote a national agenda for children and foster positive youth development. The site was unveiled at a quarterly meeting of the federal Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. This Website, which includes information on advocacy, education, employment, mental health, substance abuse, nutrition, learning disabilities, and volunteer activities, is divided into eight categories: Child and Youth Development - presents information about common behaviors, developmental milestones, and emotional and physiological changes that typically occur during different stages of a young person's life. Child Care and Education - provides information on what skills children are expected to master at each grade level, how to support children's learning processes, and how to ease children's transitions between schools. Also offers guidance on home schooling, alternative schools, and standardized tests. Family Concerns - presents information about topics including gangs, hate crimes, school safety, domestic violence, child abuse, substance abuse, tobacco, mental health, and suicide. Family Dynamics - provides information on matters pertaining to different types of family relationships, such as single, two-parent, and multi-generational families; special circumstances, such as the incarceration of a family member; and work and family issues, such as alternative work schedules and daycare. Health and Safety - includes exercise and nutrition guidelines, recommendations for a preventive approach to health, and strategies for dealing with chronic ailments. Links also deal with topics such as Internet safety and caring for aging parents. Out-of-School Activities - provides links to information about a wide range of activities to do at home and in the community, including sports, arts, volunteering, and employment. Resources - offers information about financial assistance and publications of interest to parents and youth-serving organizations. What's New - provides up-to-date information about new parenting-related developments, research, publications, and events. In another joint effort by several federal agencies to promote a national agenda for children and foster positive youth development, a new Website was posted in February 2000 to aid children with disabilities. The Website www.childrenwithdisabilities.ncjrs.org provides quick and easy access to a broad array of information, ranging from the latest research to programs and events designed specifically for young people with disabilities. Studies have found that disabilities are one of the many risks associated with juvenile crime and drug abuse. The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention developed both of these Websites. BUILDING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT YOUTH CRIME As part of OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency, OJJDP released the bulletin, Teenage Fatherhood and Delinquent Behavior, in February 2000. Teenage fathers are more likely than other youths to commit delinquent acts, be involved in drug dealing, use alcohol, and drop out of school. This bulletin includes an analysis of studies of urban males in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Rochester, New York. The Pittsburgh study found that: 62 teenagers, 12 percent of the sample, became fathers before their 19th birthday, these 62 youth fathered a total of 82 children, and fatherhood occurred as early as age 14, with the rate rising steadily to age 18. The study then compared these youth with 62 other similar youth who were not fathers: 72 percent of the fathers had a court petition alleging delinquency compared to 41 percent of the other youth; 39 percent of the fathers were involved in frequent alcohol use compared to 19 percent for the other youth; 41 percent of the fathers were involved in drug dealing compared to 21 percent of the other youth; and 60 percent of the fathers dropped out of school compared to 37 percent of the other youth. The Rochester study also found a correlation among teenage fatherhood, delinquency, and drug use. Its findings: 70 percent of the young people examined who were classified as high-frequency drug users became fathers, compared to 24 percent of the low-frequency users and non-users, and 47 percent of the young people who were classified as high-rate delinquents became fathers, compared to 23 percent of the low-rate delinquents and the non- delinquents. Since 1986, OJJDP has issued bulletins on different risks that can lead to delinquency, including family disruption, child maltreatment, and gang involvement. More recent releases continue to explore these themes. OJJDP released the bulletin Youth Gang Drug Trafficking in December 1999. Serious drug trafficking by youth gangs is concentrated in a small number of areas. Forty-seven percent of law enforcement agencies responding to the survey reported that youth gangs controlled less than a quarter of the drug distribution in their jurisdictions, while an additional 23 percent reported that youth gangs controlled less than half of the drug distribution. The bulletin was based on data from the 1996 National Youth Gang Survey, which collected information from 2,630 law enforcement agencies nationwide and was the first report on the extent and nature of youth gang drug trafficking based on nationwide law enforcement reports. Highlights from the study include: Jurisdictions that began to experience youth gang-related problems before 1991 reported far more youth gang control of drug distribution than jurisdictions that initially experienced youth gang-related problems in 1991 or later. Youth gang involvement in drug sales was more widespread than youth gang control of drug distribution. 46 percent of law enforcement agencies reported that youth gang members were involved in at least half of the drug sales in their jurisdiction, while 23 percent of the agencies reported that youth gang members were involved in at least three- quarters of the drug sales. However, a youth gang member's involvement in drug sales may not necessarily have been motivated by gang membership. Youth gang members' drug sales could have been motivated solely by personal gain, while youth gang-related drug distribution would mean that the youth gang itself served as a mechanism to control the buying and selling of the drugs. OJJDP also looked at new approaches to providing youth services. An OJJDP bulletin released in April 2000 described how the Community Assessment Center (CAC) concept can improve the cost efficiency, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of services to youth in the juvenile justice system. CAC's provide a round-the-clock, centralized point of intake and assessment for juveniles who have come into or are likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system. The multi-disciplinary, single-stop centers are usually staffed by a team of law enforcement, social service, and mental health professionals who assess the young person's needs and make immediate, appropriate referrals. The CAC model has four key elements that, when properly implemented, have a positive impact on the lives of youth and can divert them from delinquent behavior: A 24-hour centralized point of intake and assessment for juveniles who have come or are likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system. Immediate and comprehensive assessments (both broad-based and in-depth). A management information system (MIS) to manage and ensure the provision of appropriate treatment and rehabilitation services. Integrated case management to develop recommendations, facilitate access to services, conduct follow-ups, and periodically reassess youth. The bulletin, The Community Assessment Center Concept, describes a number of difficulties that communities must be careful to avoid when they implement the CAC concept: a lack of due process for youth; "net widening," which refers to expanding the number and types of youth brought under the supervision of the juvenile justice system; the unavailability of youth services needed for appropriate referrals; the possibility of youth being stigmatized by the process (affecting the way others see them and how they see themselves); and increasing over- representation of minorities in the system. Another OJJDP effort encourages youth to get involved in crime prevention. Three OJJDP bulletins released in March 2000 are written for youth, ages 12 to 19, and outline ways young people can enhance the use of communication tools to help prevent crime and make their communities safer. These bulletins are part of OJJDP's Youth in Action (YIA) series. The series is a product of OJJDP and its National Youth Network, a group of young people and national youth organizations working to prevent crime and victimization and to make a difference in their communities. Want to Resolve a Dispute? Try Mediation, Making the Most of Your Presentations, and Working With the Media provide guidance for youth who want to improve their ability to educate the community about crime prevention through public speaking, media relations, and conflict resolution. These reports were written in cooperation with BJA and the National Crime Prevention Council. -Want to Resolve a Dispute? Try Mediation describes how trained mediators can help two or more people resolve a conflict or disagreement, no matter how simple or complex. The bulletin gives examples of two successful programs the New Mexico Center for Dispute Resolution Peer Mediation in Schools Program and the Mediation Center of Asheville, North Carolina. It also outlines a six-step plan on how to start a peer mediation program. -Making the Most of Your Presentations discusses planning presentations, ways to make presentations effective, the challenges and rewards of making presentations, and ways in which they can be self-evaluated. Presentations include speeches, panel discussions, debates, skits, performances, book readings, and dances. -Working with the Media describes media organizations and the importance of media in publicizing messages that prevent or reduce crime. Five critical planning steps are highlighted to help youth get started in working with the media and developing productive partnerships to ensure their crime prevention messages are aired. In March 2000, OJJDP released, From the Courthouse to the Schoolhouse: Making Successful Transitions. The bulletin shows that when youth who were formerly in the juvenile justice system participate in programs to help them return to the community, they are more likely to go back to school, graduate from high school, and find jobs. Improving communication and developing partnerships among public and private youth-serving agencies is key to moving these youth back into the education mainstream. The bulletin also examines effective education programs in youth correctional facilities. The report features the Jackson-Hinds County (Missouri) Youth Detention School educational program, which teaches basic academic and survival skills, vocational training, support services, and parent training. The program is an extension of the Jackson Public School District, which works with community partners, including two local universities, a private agency, and a foundation. The bulletin covers training and technical assistance programs that stress the importance of interagency information sharing. One of these, Gateway, is a successful transition program in New Jersey. Also described are transitional educational placements, and steps that schools can take to help students reenter the school environment immediately after being released from juvenile correctional facilities. This bulletin is one in a series related to the Youth Out of the Education Mainstream (YOEM) initiative, a joint effort between OJJDP and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program of the U.S. Department of Education. YOEM focuses on the needs of five often interrelated categories of at-risk youth: students fearful of attending school because of violence; truants; dropouts; suspended/expelled youth; and youth returning to school from correctional settings in the juvenile justice system. Families and Schools Together: Building Relationships, an OJJDP bulletin released in November 1999, profiles Families and Schools Together (FAST), a program that works with teachers to identify elementary school children with behavioral or developmental problems and organizes these families and their teachers into groups that participate in weekly meetings. Parents learn to monitor their children's behavior, interact through play, and communicate. They also become more involved with social networks of other parents, schools, and communities. After families graduate, they join an ongoing school-based group of families who meet monthly for two years. In 1998, the White House Conference on School Safety recognized FAST as an effective approach to delinquency prevention. The program is having a positive impact on conduct disorders, anxiety/withdrawal, and attention span problems. In all areas, after only 8 to 10 weeks, participants showed significant progress. The bulletin discusses the program's curriculum, its strategies, and the research and evaluation efforts of the program. It includes a summary of expenses for building a new program and a table of program activities. One family's experience is highlighted, outlining the family's progress through each phase of the program and describing the long-term positive effects on the family. OJJDP also released the following two complementary bulletins addressing the issue of juvenile substance abuse: Developing a Policy for Controlled Substance Testing of Juveniles discusses the policy issues involved in testing juveniles for controlled substance use and is targeted toward juvenile justice decision-makers who are considering implementing a substance-testing program. The bulletin outlines national indicators of the need for substance testing and includes data on juvenile substance abuse. It also discusses the consequences of substance abuse among youth, analyzes the impact of substance-testing programs on the juvenile justice system, and gives examples of substance-testing programs in a variety of juvenile justice settings. Ten Steps for Implementing a Program of Controlled Substance Testing of Juveniles is for those who have already decided to implement a program, but need detailed information on how to go about it. The bulletin describes in detail a 10- step process for developing and implementing a substance-testing program. It notes the key stakeholders who should be involved, explains how to develop a program purpose statement and written policies and procedures, and discusses legal issues, including the constitutionality of such testing and the need to protect juveniles' confidentiality. Two OJJDP bulletins released in April 2000, examine juvenile crime prevention and intervention programs. Prevention of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending describes prevention efforts targeting at-risk youth at infancy, elementary school, adolescence, and high school. It offers examples of programs that target parents and families. Effective Intervention for Serious Juvenile Offenders studies more than 200 intervention programs, which showed an overall 12 percent decrease in the reoffending rate for the participating youth. Both bulletins include information from OJJDP's Study Group on Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders, which analyzed the risks associated with juvenile crime, the pathways youth follow to delinquency, and effective methods of reducing youth violence. A July 2000 OJJDP bulletin, Special Education and the Juvenile Justice System, describes the special education needs of young people in the juvenile justice system. Studies of incarcerated youth reveal that as many as 70 percent have disabling conditions. Other studies have shown that as many as 20 percent of young people with emotional disabilities are arrested at least once before they leave school. The bulletin summarizes critical provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other laws relating to special education. It also shows how the special education process and information about disabilities can be useful in juvenile delinquency proceedings and examines the role of special education in juvenile and adult institutions. Additional FY 2000 OJJDP bulletins covered topics such as school violence, youth arts programs, conflict resolution, teen courts, and juvenile transfers to criminal court. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling NCJRS toll-free at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: Juvenile Arrests 1998 (OJJDP) NCJ 179064 Teenage Fatherhood and Delinquent Behavior 2000 (OJJDP) NCJ 178899 Youth Gang Drug Trafficking (OJJDP) NCJ 178282 The Comprehensive Strategy: Lessons Learned from the Pilot Sites (OJJDP) NCJ 178258 The Community Assessment Center Concept (OJJDP) NCJ 178942 Want to Resolve a Dispute? Try Meditation (OJJDP) NCJ 178999 Making the Most of Your Presentations (OJJDP) NCJ 178997 Working with the Media (OJJDP) NCJ 178998 From the Courthouse to the Schoolhouse: Making Successful Transitions (OJJDP) NCJ 178900 Families and Schools Together: Building Relationships (OJJDP) NCJ 173423 Developing a Policy for Controlled Substance Testing of Juveniles (OJJDP) NCJ 178896 Ten Steps for Implementing a Program of Controlled Substance Testing of Juveniles (OJJDP) NCJ 178897 Prevention of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending (OJJDP) NCJ178898 Effective Intervention for Serious Juvenile Offenders (OJJDP) NCJ 181201 Special Education and the Juvenile Justice System (OJJDP) NCJ 179359 6 Managing Offenders There are now approximately 1.2 million people in federal and state prisons in America, compared to 320,000 in 1980. In 1998, 545,000 offenders came back from state and federal prisons; in 1999, 565,000; in the year 2000, 585,000 were anticipated to return to communities, and a slight increase is projected for each year beyond. Offenders come to prison with significant problems, including drug abuse and mental illness. They also come to prison as dropouts or illiterate, without life skills or work skills. Upon release from prison, ex-offenders often go with little supervision and return to the same environment from which they came. With problems like these, it is not surprising that, nationwide, two-thirds of the offenders are rearrested within three years of release. ENSURING COMMUNITY SAFETY WHEN OFFENDERS RETURN About one in five prisoners leaves prison without any post-release supervision. This poses a serious public safety issue for our communities To address this problem, OJP has been working to ensure offenders receive the supervision and services they need to successfully transition back into the community. In partnership with state and local jurisdictions, OJP continues to work towards developing a seamless system of offender accountability, supervision, and support. This system should begin before incarceration and continue as the offender leaves prison and re-enters the community. Over the past year, OJP has worked to develop several different approaches to help communities address the re-entry problem. In FY 1999, OJP invited state and local jurisdictions around the country to submit proposals to become pilot reentry courts. To help promote the reentry court concept, OJP has been working with a small number of jurisdictions to explore the model, to provide technical assistance, and to support information sharing across the sites. In FY 2000, OJP provided assistance to reentry courts in nine states: California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, New York, and West Virginia. Each of the nine jurisdictions participating in the OJP reentry court initiative have a reentry court that is customized to its local needs. All of the pilot programs contain certain core elements, which include: Offender assessment and planning, which brings together reentry court personnel, such as a judge, parole or probation officer, to explain the reentry process to the offender and identify his/her needs upon release; Active offender oversight, which includes routine judicial visits with all offenders; Accountability to the community, to include the development of initiatives to ensure that offenders are held accountable both to victims and the community; Graduated sanctions, or a predetermined range of sanctions for violations of the conditions of release that can be swiftly, predictably, and universally applied; Access to an array of supportive services, which includes substance abuse treatment, job training programs, private employers, faith-based institutions, housing services, and community service providers; and Positive judicial reinforcement, or rewarding successful offender behavior and compliance with the conditions of release. OJP did not fund these courts in FY 2000, however, through its technical assistance, OJP continues to work closely with each jurisdiction to explore how existing federal, state, and local resources can be used to support these programs. The reentry partnership is another approach pioneered by OJP. This partnership initiative seeks to: Enhance public safety by reducing recidivism; Build stronger police, corrections, and community partnerships and collaborations; Maximize offenders' accountability and positive contributions to the community; Strengthen support services for victims whose offenders are in the community; Increase the justice system's ability to identify offender needs and to match those needs with appropriate community resources; and Minimize prison returns due to technical violations of supervised release. Patterned after successful police/corrections partnerships, reentry partnerships establish new key resources through institutional corrections, community corrections, community policing, local businesses, and faith-based institutions. In FY 1998, OJP began working with eight pilot sites in Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington. Partners in these sites come together to work with offenders before and after their release. In July 2000, the National Institute of Justice released four new reports describing innovative ways for increasing an offender's chance for successfully reintegrating back into society. These reports, But They All Come Back: Rethinking Prisoner Reentry, The Rebirth of Rehabilitation: Promise and Perils of Drug Courts; Correcting Corrections: Missouri's Parallel Universe; and "Technocorrections": The Promises, the Uncertain Threats, provide insight into the current thinking about balancing offender rehabilitation without compromising public safety. But They All Come Back: Rethinking Prisoner Reentry examines the concept of "prisoner reentry." The report discusses three aspects of reentry: The pursuit of social goals through reentry practices, e.g., successful ex-offender employment, The redefinition of "reentry manager," and The role of the judiciary in the reentry process. The Rebirth of Rehabilitation: Promise and Perils of Drug Courts presents an overview of the drug court movement and uses Delaware's experience to illustrate the development of drug courts. Drug courts are specialized courts that offer treatment-based alternatives to drug offenders, combined with mandated judicially supervised sanctions. Preliminary positive evaluation results are summarized. The report also discusses the philosophical differences in treatment options and the lack of resources in some localities. Correcting Corrections: Missouri's Parallel Universe highlights a new strategy undertaken by the Missouri Department of Corrections to help prepare inmates for life after release from prison. The strategy, "parallel universe," is based on the theory that life inside prison should resemble life outside prison and that inmates can acquire values, habits, and skills that will help them become productive, law-abiding citizens. The parallel universe has four distinct expectations: Every offender must be engaged during work and non-work hours in productive activities that parallel those of free society. Every offender must adopt relapse prevention strategies and must not use drugs or alcohol or become involved in sexual misconduct. Most offenders are given opportunities to make choices and are held accountable for them. Most offenders are recognized for good conduct and can improve their status by obeying the rules and regulations. As a result of this program, the Missouri Department of Corrections has seen a decrease in recidivism rates, an increase in the number of inmates earning GEDs, and an increase in the number of inmates receiving substance abuse treatment. "Technocorrections": The Promises, the Uncertain Threats describes how technologies are converging with the forces of law and order to create "technocorrections." The emerging technologies that can be used in technocorrections are discussed in three areas tracking and location systems, pharmacological treatment, and neurobiologic risk assessment. BUILDING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT OFFENDERS General Prison Population According to the BJS bulletin, Prisoners in 1999, released in August 2000, during 1999 the nation's prison population rose at the lowest rate since 1979 and recorded the smallest absolute increase since 1988. The prison population growth slowed to 3.4 percent last year less than the average annual amount of 6.5 percent during the 1990-1999 period. At the end of the year, there were more than 2 million people held in some type of incarceration. The 2,026,596 people behind bars were held as follows: 1,284,894 in state and federal prisons (this excludes state prisoners held in local jails); 18,394 in territorial prisons; 605,943 in local jails; 7,675 in facilities operated by (or exclusively for) the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; 2,279 in military facilities; 1,621 in American Indian country jails; and 105,790 in juvenile facilities (as of October 29, 1997). Since 1990, the prison population has increased by 77 percent, an increase of almost 600,000 inmates. Factors contributing to the 1990-1998 growth in the state prison population included: A 54 percent increase in the number of parole violators returning to prison; A 7 percent increase in new court commitments; An increase in the average time served in prison by released inmates from 22 months in 1990 to 28 months in 1998; An increase in the time expected to be served by those entering prison from 38 months to 43 months; and An increase in violent offenders, who accounted for 51 percent of the state growth, and drug offenders, who made up 19 percent of the state growth. Women Offenders The National Symposium on Women Offenders, held in December 1999, was a landmark event for the Department of Justice the first major discussion of women offender issues in the Department's history. Panelists, including representatives from state and local corrections, pointed out that, although the number of women offenders in the United States has increased dramatically over the past 20 years, criminal justice programming has not kept pace. They also emphasized that programs need to be tailored to the special needs of women offenders, needs involving dependent children, drug use, domestic violence, and other issues. Symposium participants were urged to work towards developing a systemwide response and plan of action from arrest through adjudication through aftercare for women offenders. A BJS study prepared for the symposium, Women Offenders, examined existing data on women offenders. This data points to some of the issues offenders raise for the criminal and juvenile justice systems: The number of women offenders has increased dramatically over the past several years. Although their numbers are relatively small compared with men, the number of women coming into the criminal justice system has increased at a much higher rate than any other population. About 3 million women are arrested each year, and there are almost one million women in custody. Women comprise about 16 percent of the nation's correctional population. Women offenders are the mothers and often the primary caretakers of about 1.3 million minor children. Women offenders are often victims themselves. Nearly 60 percent of women in state prisons reported being physically or sexually abused at some time in their lives. About a third were abused by an intimate or family member. There is a close connection between women offenders and drugs. About 40 percent of female offenders were reported by their victims to be using drugs or alcohol or both at the time of the crime. A large percentage of women in prison are incarcerated for drug law violations. More than a quarter of women offenders (28 percent) are juveniles. Crime by girls has risen substantially since the early 1980s including violent crime. In addition, a BJA grant to the National Clearinghouse on Women Offenders provided assistance on a range of complex issues surrounding incarcerated women, including detention, re - entry into families and society, and keeping children in closer contact with their mothers. INCARCERATING VIOLENT CRIMINALS In FY 2000, OJP's Corrections Program Office awarded a total of $428,830,679 to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories under its Violent Offender Incarceration/Truth in Sentencing (VOI/TIS) Grant Program. All eligible applicants have received a grant award each year since the VOI/TIS Formula Grant Program was established in FY 1996. Funding from this program can be used to build permanent or temporary prison facilities for offenders convicted of Part 1 violent crimes or for juvenile offenders. As of July 2000, over 15,000 adult prison beds had been completed with VOI/TIS funds. An additional 23,000 beds were under construction. More than half of the states had used VOI/TIS funds to add a total of over 6,500 juvenile corrections and detention center beds in 139 separate projects. Several states allocated all or a large portion of their funds to juvenile projects. Thirteen states had used VOI/TIS funds to add a total of approximately 9,200 beds in local facilities; these beds represented 141 separate projects. Eleven states had used VOI/TIS funds to lease a total of almost 2,500 beds in private facilities. In all categories, additional projects were planned, but not yet implemented. Beginning in FY 1999, up to 10 percent of VOI/TIS funds may be used for costs associated with the state's program of substance abuse testing, sanctions, and treatment for incarcerated inmates or offenders on post-release supervision. Twenty-two states indicated an intent to use funds for this purpose in FY 2000. To ensure program fiscal integrity, OJP's Office of the Comptroller presented a financial management training module as a part of the Correction Program Office's workshop, which was attended by approximately 85 grant recipients. Beginning March 1, 2000, states and territories were required to submit an annual report on progress toward a drug-free prison environment along with their application for VOI/TIS Tier 1 funds. The report required them to provide data on all drug tests conducted in calendar 1999. A total of 885,140 drug test specimens were reported, resulting in an average drug-free rate of 96.4 percent. This represents an improvement of .9 percent or almost 10 additional drug-free inmates per 1,000 specimens tested over the baseline statistics established in 1999. In addition, 18 states reported drug-free rates of over 98 percent. The National Institute of Justice is overseeing a national evaluation of VOI/TIS to assess the cumulative impacts and effectiveness of the sentencing initiatives and legislative strategies encouraged by the program. The RAND Corporation was selected by the National Institute of Justice as the national evaluator and has since submitted the trial evaluation for peer review. The preliminary report was issued in April 2000, which showed the following key findings:  The VOI/TIS program has provided partial or key incentive for 15 states to pass Truth-in-Sentencing legislation, but other states have determined that the cost of such legislation would far exceed the probable grant award.  VOI/TIS funds have the biggest impact both in terms of dollars awarded per violent crime and grant-funded beds as a percentage of total prison capacity in smaller states.  While the violent crime rate has fallen since 1993, the rate of felony incarceration per 1,000 violent crimes has risen each year. INCARCERATING CRIMINAL ALIENS For the first time, the FY 2000 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) was administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) on-line via the Internet. Nearly 100 new jurisdictions applied for payments, representing an increase of more than 25 percent from FY 1999. Much of the increase is attributed to the implementation of the on-line application. Thus, the same amount of funds were distributed among a substantially larger pool. All 50 states, more than 360 localities, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, received FY 2000 SCAAP funds totaling more than $573 million to assist with the costs of incarcerating criminal illegal aliens. MANAGING SEX OFFENDERS The Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM), is a project sponsored by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), and the State Justice Institute (SJI). CSOM was created in June of 1997 as a result of recommendations that emerged from the first OJP-sponsored summit, "Promoting Public Safety through the Effective Management of Sex Offenders in the Community." CSOM initially focused its efforts in four primary areas that were identified during the first summit:  Delivering training to the field;  Responding to a variety of technical assistance efforts from jurisdictions around the country;  Identifying and documenting the lessons learned in a number of resource sites; and  Responding to the need for easily understandable and accessible information through the development of a Website and the publication of several documents on a myriad of issues of interest to the field. The project has also undertaken work with 40 grant sites that are building their capacity to manage these offenders through strategic planning and data collection and sites that are working to refine or enhance their existing sex offender management practices. In December 2000 CSOM, on behalf of OJP, convened the Second National Summit on Sex Offender Management in Washington, DC. The summit brought together approximately 200 practitioners, including judges, legislators, parole and probation agencies, treatment providers, victim advocates, and others. Participants were drawn from nationally recognized experts, researchers, resource site teams, training and technical assistance event participants, and other participants recommended by federal agencies and the CSOM National Resource Group. This summit was designed to revisit the significant strides that have been made in sex offender management in recent years, to examine which practices constitute the current state-of- the-art in working with sex offenders, and to seek guidance from participants about future directions the field should take to continue to advance its efforts. As was the case during the first summit, participants spent considerable time in small, multi-disciplinary work groups developing recommendations to OJP about how federal level justice and health agencies could better serve the needs of the field as they work to contain and ultimately prevent sexual violence. The goals of second summit were to: Encourage the development of multi-disciplinary recommendations to OJP regarding future areas of need for the field of sex offender management; Recognize the significant accomplishments and the progress that have been achieved in the field of sex offender management to date and the challenges that lie ahead; Define a framework to understand and discuss a comprehensive approach to sex offender management, its various components and activities, and their complex inter-relationships; Define and recognize fundamental elements and evolving practices associated with the components of a comprehensive approach to sex offender management; Discuss the differences in the etiology, treatment, and management interventions for sexually abusive youth as compared to adult sex offenders; and Consider why and how the boundaries of the comprehensive approach to sex offender management might be expanded to include a public health and primary prevention perspective. The agenda featured a mix of plenary and small work group sessions. Plenary sessions focused on a number of substantive areas, including: A discussion of the evolution of a comprehensive approach to sex offender management; Current best practices in the fields of sex offender supervision, treatment, and management; Issues associated with the management and treatment of juvenile sex offenders; and An exploration of the possible application of a public health model to preventing sexual violence. For the second year, OJP awarded funding to state and local jurisdictions to develop, implement, or expand comprehensive strategies to manage sex offenders under community supervision. Twelve communities in nine states received a total of $1.3 million in FY 2000. To receive funds under the Comprehensive Approaches to Sex Offender Management Grant program, communities must develop multidisciplinary teams, which include probation and parole officers, other criminal justice personnel, treatment providers, and victim advocates. Eight of the awards are planning grants to assist jurisdictions in developing comprehensive, collaborative approaches to managing sex offenders. The grantees are:  Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole in Montgomery, Alabama;  St. Lawrence County in Canton, New York;  State of Oklahoma;  Office of the Illinois Attorney General;  Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Poplar, Montana;  City of Santa Fe; New Mexico,  Rensselaer County Executive in Troy, New York; and  St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in Hogansburg, New York. The other four grantees Minnesota Department of Corrections, Fort Belknap Community Council in Harlem, Montana, Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Austin, Texas, and the Department of Criminal Justice Services in Richmond, Virginia are helping these communities to implement these strategies or to enhance current programs. Grantees used OJP funds to establish teams of representatives from law enforcement, prosecution, courts, corrections, probation, social services, and victim organizations to identify strengths and weaknesses in sex offender management systems and assess the staff and equipment necessary to identify, track, and treat sex offenders. Planning funds were also used to gauge the need for training probation officers and other criminal justice personnel, treatment providers, and victim advocates about sex offender management. Congress appropriated $5 million for sex offender management initiatives in FY 2000, $2 million of which was set aside for the grants. Training and technical assistance was provided to grantees and other interested jurisdictions through a grant to CSOM. BJA continued to encourage compliance with the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, which conditions 10 percent of states' Byrne formula funding on establishing effective systems for registering and tracking convicted sex offenders. The Wetterling Act was amended in 1996 and 1998 to require lifetime registration for certain offenders; heighten registration of sexually violent predators, federal and military offenders, and nonresident workers and students; and increase jurisdictions' participation in the National Sex Offender Registry. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling the NCJRS toll-free number at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: The Rebirth of Rehabilitation: Promise and Perils of Drug Courts (NIJ) NCJ 181412 Correcting Corrections: Missouri's Parallel Universe (NIJ) NCJ 181414 "Technocorrections": The Promises, the Uncertain Threats (NIJ) NCJ 181411 But They All Come Back: Rethinking Prisoner Reentry (NIJ) NCJ 181413 Women Offenders (BJS) NCJ 175688 Prisoners in 1999 (BJS) NCJ 183476 7 Protecting and Supporting Victims of Crime Every crime can have a significant and long-lasting impact on surviving victims and families of victims. Over the past few decades, great strides have been made in protecting and supporting victims of crime. With the help of federal funding and other assistance, a network of service providers has been established across the country to help victims deal with the impact of crime on their lives. In FY 2000, OJP continued its exploration of the unmet needs of victims, particularly the underserved populations the disabled, the elderly, Native Americans, rural, and immigrant victims. ASSISTING VICTIMS The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is the federal government's chief advocate for crime victims and their families. OVC provides funding for approximately 4,100 victim assistance programs serving 2.5 million crime victims each year and state victim compensation programs that serve an additional 200,000 victims. Fines collected in one year by U.S. Attorneys, the U.S. Courts, and the Bureau of Prisons are deposited into the Crime Victims Fund, which is supported solely by fines paid by federal criminal offenders, not taxpayers, and are available for grant awards the following year. In June 2000, OVC awarded a total of $451.5 million in FY 2000 funds to crime victim assistance and victim compensation programs in all 50 states and six territories. Victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking also receive assistance under six grant programs administered by the Violence Against Women Office (see chapter 4). IMPROVING EMERGENCY AND LONG-TERM SERVICES TO VICTIMS OF TERRORISM Acts of terrorism resulting in mass casualties have a wide and traumatic impact on communities and residents. It has become clear that United States citizens are not immune from these crimes, either at home or outside the borders of this country. Each act of terrorism presents unique challenges that are specific to the victims, the event itself, and the progress of the criminal investigation and prosecution. Providing services to the victims of each terrorism event teaches additional and important lessons for responding to future events and expands our base of knowledge for serving victims more effectively. In October 2000, OVC released Responding to Terrorism Victims: Oklahoma City and Beyond, which identifies the special measures needed to protect the rights and meet the needs of victims of a large-scale terrorist attack involving mass casualties. In particular, the report emphasizes that when the federal government responds to acts of terrorism involving massive casualties, victims' rights must be upheld, and victims' short- and long-term emotional and psychological needs must be met. A number of individuals involved in providing services to the Oklahoma City bombing victims contributed their insights and experiences to this report, in addition to OVC staff who have been directly involved in working with victims of other acts of terrorism. Underlying their insights and efforts have been the voices of the surviving victims and families of the victims of Oklahoma City, Khobar Towers, the embassy bombings, and Pan Am Flight 103. In 1996, the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act became law. The act authorized OVC to assist victims of terrorism by using monies from the federal Crime Victims Fund to pay for emergency medical and psychological services for victims, victim advocacy throughout the criminal justice proceedings, and limited financial compensation for costs incurred by victims as a result of terrorism. Terrorist acts against Americans also occur beyond our nation's borders as evidenced by the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the Pam Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, signed into law in 2000, enables OVC to provide more assistance to these victims by expanding the types of assistance for which the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) emergency reserve fund may be used and the range of organizations to which assistance may be provided. These changes do not require new or appropriated monies; they simply allow OVC greater flexibility in using existing reserve funds to assist victims of terrorism abroad. The act authorizes OVC to raise the cap on the VOCA emergency reserve fund from $50 million to $100 million, so that the fund is large enough to cover the extraordinary costs that would be incurred if a terrorist act caused massive casualties. Together, the 1996 Victims of Terrorism Act and the 2000 Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act have enhanced the federal government's capacity to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of victims of terrorist acts, whether that act occurs within or beyond our national borders. HELPING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF VICTIMS How people cope as victims of crime depends largely on their experiences immediately following the crime. The way in which law enforcement officers initially respond to victims is critical in determining how victims cope in both the short and long term. This interaction also strongly influences victims' participation in the investigation and prosecution of the crime, and increases the likelihood that they will report future offenses to law enforcement. In March 2000, OVC released a new handbook to help law enforcement officers better understand and meet the needs of crime victims. First Response to Victims of Crime provides law enforcement officers basic guidelines when approaching and interacting with elderly victims, victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, child victims, and survivors of homicide. Prepared by the National Sheriffs' Association with funding from OVC, the handbook also addresses issues that arise during the initial contact between officers and victims. Other OJP efforts focus on child victims. In May 1998, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) published When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, to provide critical information for families to use in working with law enforcement, media, and volunteers to find a missing child. OJJDP has provided copies of this Guide to every U.S. law enforcement agency, every public library, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, each state's missing children's clearinghouse, and other nonprofit organizations. To date, OJJDP has distributed over 50,000 copies. In response to the growing Spanish-speaking population in the United States, OJJDP released a Spanish translation of the When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide entitled, Cuando su Ni¤o Desaparece: Una Gu¡a Para la Supervivencia de la Familia, in April 2000. Now Spanish-speaking people who are not comfortable with English will have quick access to this information without having to depend on someone to translate for them. OJJDP distributed 42,000 copies of the Spanish translation targeting law enforcement agencies and libraries in predominantly Spanish-speaking areas, as well as national Hispanic organizations. UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING VICTIMIZATION OF ELDERS In January 2000, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) released the report, Crimes against Persons Age 65 or Older, 1992-97. It found that people 65 and older are substantially less likely to be violent crime victims than are younger men and women. Each year from 1992 through 1997, there were 5 violent crimes per 1,000 U.S. residents 65 years old or older, less than a tenth the rate of 56 crimes per 1,000 of those age 12 through 64, according to the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The only crime category that affected the elderly at about the same rate as most others (except those ages 12-24) was personal theft, which includes purse snatching and pocket picking. Although people 65 or older made up 15 percent of the population, they accounted for 7 percent of all victims of crimes measured in the survey. OJP was an active participant in the Justice Department's Elder Justice Initiative. The primary objective of this initiative was to enhance enforcement, training, coordination, and awareness regarding the problems of elder abuse, fraud, and exploitation; create the infrastructure for broad-based collaboration at the national policy level, as well as at the state and grass roots levels; and to bridge the historical gap between those on the front lines, who see the problems first hand, and those charged with enforcing the law. Building on these efforts, on October 30-31, 2000, the Justice Department in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services convened a national symposium on preventing and responding to the victimization of older persons. The symposium, "Our Aging Population: Promoting Empowerment, Preventing Victimization, and Implementing Coordinated Interventions," showcased federal, state, and local programs designed to prevent older people from becoming victims of abuse, exploitation, fraud, and neglect. It also focused on improving the response of law enforcement and social service agencies when victimization does occur. Financial exploitation and consumer fraud, domestic/community abuse and neglect, and institutional abuse and neglect were the three primary issues addressed at the symposium. The Blackfeet Nation received OVC funding in FY 2000 to continue its development of a coordinated response to crimes against the elderly by adapting the Triad program approach to Indian country. Triad is a joint effort of the American Association of Retired Persons, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs' Association to build coordinated services for elderly victims of crime. Triad combines the efforts and resources of law enforcement, senior citizens and organizations that represent them, and victim assistance providers. BJA continued to support a consortium of prevention, education, and prosecution projects working to thwart fraudulent telemarketers who prey on senior citizens. A major component of the project is the Telemarketing Fraud Training Task Force, a multiagency committee led by the National Association of Attorneys General. The Task Force includes the National District Attorneys Association through the American Prosecutors Research Institute, the National White Collar Crime Center, and the American Association of Retired Persons Foundation. The Task Force works to broaden criminal and civil enforcement efforts by increasing the numbers of state and local telemarketing prosecutions; coordinate statewide and local investigations and prosecutions; enhance technical and case preparation assistance for state and local prosecutors; and increase U.S.-Canada cooperation to reduce the cross-border flow of telemarketing fraud. In addition, members of the Task Force provided training to five BJA-funded demonstration sites that have implemented innovative telemarketing prevention and enforcement programs. The programs are located in Los Angeles, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Hillsborough County (Tampa), Florida, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Montpelier, Vermont. RECOGNIZING SERVICE TO VICTIMS Presented annually by OVC, the Crime Victims Fund Award recognizes federal employees whose work increased deposits into the Crime Victims Fund and substantially improved federal criminal debt collection. On September 20, 2000, the Attorney General honored three individuals and four teams of federal employees from nine states whose efforts resulted in record deposits to the Crime Victims Fund, which finances services for millions of crime victims across the nation. A Dallas team from the Justice Department's Antitrust Division received an award for prosecuting an international vitamin cartel and exacting two fines, $225 million and $500 million, which was the largest amount the Justice Department has obtained in a criminal case. Other award recipients included a team from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, which collected the largest fine ever recorded in a health care fraud case and the largest fine in any case in New England's history. Funds deposited into the Crime Victims fund in FY 1999 totaled $985 million, of which $500 million was available in FY 2000. TRAINING VICTIM SERVICE PROFESSIONALS National Victim Assistance Academy Over 350 victim services professionals completed a week-long intensive training at the sixth annual National Victim Assistance Academy sponsored by OVC in June 2000. The training was aimed at improving direct services to victims by informing victim service professionals about the latest techniques and programs in the field. The 2000 class included participants from the criminal justice system, domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victimization advocates, and those who serve elderly victims, survivors of homicide victims, and victims of juvenile offenders. This class also included federal Victim-Witness Coordinators from U.S. Attorneys' Offices and representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Border Patrol, Bureau of Prisons, State Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Postal Inspector's Office, and the U.S. Capitol Police. Students can earn academic credit through select universities by taking this course. To date, 137 students have taken the program for undergraduate credit and 203 students have received graduate credit. Between 1995 and 1999, 340 students earned academic credit. OVC funds the Academy through a grant from the Crime Victims Fund. Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance On January 31, 2000, the latest edition of the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance went into effect. These guidelines outline requirements for federal employees whose job responsibilities involve contact with crime victims. Last published in 1995, the Attorney General Guidelines have been revised to be more user-friendly. By providing real life anecdotes, the guidelines answer such questions as, "Who is the victim of a given crime?" and "Can a victim be a witness?" In addition to becoming more user-friendly, the guidelines were changed to reflect an Office of Legal Counsel opinion from last year that found that Justice Department employees are required by law, not just as standard policy, to provide victims with many of the services defined in the victims' rights laws. DOJ employees who work with crime victims have a mandatory responsibility to identify victims, inform victims about how to obtain various forms of assistance, developments in the investigation, prosecution, and punishment of the offender, and arrange reasonable protection for victims from offenders. In addition to outlining mandatory victim services, the guidelines also suggest ways to deliver these services to victims. Furthermore, during FY 2000 the Office of the Comptroller presented a financial management training module as part of OVC's Victim Assistance in Indian Country conference, which was attended by approximately 35 recipients. IMPROVING UNDERSTANDING OF CHILD VICTIMIZATION Only 28 percent of violent crimes against children are reported to law enforcement, according to Reporting Crimes Against Juveniles, an OJJDP bulletin released in November 1999. The bulletin relies upon data derived from victim reports from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which covers approximately 55,000 households and 100,000 individuals, including children ages 12 to 17 and adults. The NCVS indicates that: An additional 16 percent of violent crimes against children are reported to other authorities, such as school officials; and Only 10 percent of thefts against juveniles become known to police, but an additional 29 percent of such thefts get reported to other authorities, such as school officials. Even when taking into account such reported instances, juvenile victimizations are still less likely to be made known to authorities than adult victimizations. The most common reasons offered by children for not notifying the police of the crimes were similar to those cited by adults they reported the crime to another official, saw the crime as a private matter, or viewed the incident as minor or unsuccessful, in that they saw it as an attempted crime. OJJDP released another bulletin in July 2000 that revealed that children are more likely to be kidnaped by acquaintances people they know but who are not family members than by complete strangers. Although kidnaping by a family member is more prevalent than either acquaintance or stranger abduction, it is kidnaping by an acquaintance that is the most likely to result in violence. The bulletin, Kidnaping of Juveniles: Patterns From NIBRS (National Incident-Based Reporting System), shows that: 49 percent of child abductions were committed by family members, 27 percent by acquaintances, and 24 percent by strangers; 71 percent of acquaintance youth kidnaping victims were ages 12 to 17; 24 percent of the acquaintance kidnapings led to a victim injury, compared to 16 percent of the stranger kidnapings and 4 percent of the family abductions; and Family kidnaping is committed primarily by parents, occurs more frequently to children under 6, and originates in the home. The new findings are from1997 data submitted by law enforcement agencies in 12 states as part of the FBI's NIBRS, which collects detailed information on crimes known to the police, including kidnaping. The bulletin was prepared for OJJDP by New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling NCJRS toll-free at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: Responding to Terrorism Victims: Oklahoma City and Beyond (OVC) NCJ 183949 New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century (OVC) NCJ 170600 Cuando su Ni¤o Desaparece: Una Gu¡a Para la Supervivencia de la Familia (OJJDP) NCJ 178902 When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide (OJJDP) NCJ 170022 First Response to Victims of Crime (NSA/OVC) NCJ 176971 Crimes against Persons Age 65 or Older, 1992-97 (BJS) NCJ 176352 Reporting Crimes Against Juveniles (OJJDP) NCJ 178887 Kidnaping of Juveniles: Patterns From NIBRS (OJJDP) NCJ 181161 8 Enhancing Technology's Use in Addressing Crime Today, criminal justice practitioners use advanced technology for everything from tracing stolen vehicles, to the use of DNA technology at the crime scene, to investigating pornography, to solving financial crimes, to combating cybercrime. Technology can be a valuable tool to help criminal justice agencies enhance their ability to lower crime and improve their operations. OJP supports development of technology for direct use by front-line law enforcement and corrections personnel, as well as technology that improves the justice system as a whole. Of particular importance are initiatives to advance technologies that improve law enforcement and first responder management of critical incidents and ability to combat cybercrime. SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY NIJ's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) system serves as a "broker" for technology information, assistance, and expertise for the nation's law enforcement, corrections, and criminal justice community. NLECTC assists in the introduction and demonstration of emerging technologies; tests off-the-shelf products; prepares and disseminates equipment test reports, user guides, bulletins, and the award-winning TechBeat newsletter; provides unique technology assistance; and assists in technology commercialization. NLECTC's products and services help to ensure that law enforcement and corrections agencies and personnel utilize appropriate technology to enhance their effectiveness, efficiency, and safety. NIJ also develops minimum performance standards and guides for equipment and technology. Testing and research have led to performance standards for more than 60 types of criminal justice equipment, ranging from body armor and handcuffs to protective gloves and communications systems. NIJ does not recommend particular brands. Rather, it distributes lists of products that have passed standardized tests and indicates whether the item will meet the minimum performance requirements necessary to be effective for the criminal justice practitioner. Recent projects include: Establishment of minimum performance requirements and test methods for the ballistic resistance of personal body armor designed to protect the torso against gunfire. This standard serves as a general revision to NIJ Standard 0101.03 from 1987. A two-volume guide for emergency first responders about detecting chemical agents and toxic industrial materials and selecting equipment for different applications. The commercially available products described in this report are those known as of May 2000. NIJ's technical working group developed the guide, Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for Law Enforcement, which was released in January 2000. The guide is designed to help law enforcement officials identify, collect, and preserve useful physical evidence. In 1995, the Attorney General asked NIJ to study cases in which convicted sex offenders were later exonerated by DNA testing. Based on the outcome of this study, the Attorney General then asked NIJ to study how evidence could be better gathered and processed for more accurate identification of offenders. As a result, NIJ initiated a technical working group composed of 44 members representing law enforcement, prosecution, the defense bar, and forensic science on crime scene investigation to determine recommended practices for the identification, collection, preservation, and use in court of physical evidence, including DNA evidence, blood and bloodstain patterns, fingerprints, tool marks, trace evidence, and trajectory evidence. NIJ's technical working group developed the guide, Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for Law Enforcement which was released in January 2000. The guide is designed to help law enforcement officers identify, collect, and preserve useful physical evidence. In May 2000, NIJ awarded funds to two gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and FN Manufacturing, Inc. to establish projects to research and develop "smart gun" technologies. Smart guns, which are firearms engineered to fire only for authorized users, show tremendous promise in reducing the cost of human life when weapons are taken from their proper owner. The Smith & Wesson project will support feasibility and functionality tests of fully electronic smart gun technology, as well as design a next generation prototype. FN Manufacturing, Inc. will use its grant award to further research, development, and testing of its ultrasonic smart gun prototype. SHARING INFORMATION Crime Identification Technology Act The Crime Identification Technology Act (CITA), enacted on October 9, 1998, authorizes funds to assist state and local jurisdictions to establish, integrate, or upgrade criminal justice information systems and identification technologies that enhance their ability to prevent crime. Fiscal Year 2000 was the first year OJP received funds related to CITA and, with those funds, OJP was able to help numerous states and localities. OJP used CITA funds to support the following activities in FY 2000: The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) provided grants and technical assistance to states and Native American tribes through a cooperative agreement with the National Governors' Association (NGA). In July 2000, states and tribes were invited to apply for $25,000 planning grants for integrated information system strategy development. BJA also is providing technical assistance to the states to assist their work with local government officials in developing strategic plans and participating in policy development and other activities to strengthen integrated criminal justice information systems. In FY 2000, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) provided more than $40 million to the states through the National Criminal History Improvement Program, an effort to assist states to automate and improve the systems they use to record criminal histories. BJS also provided approximately $10 million to states and local jurisdictions to help them participate in the FBI's National Incident Based Reporting System, which expands and enhances information reported to the Uniform Crime Reports. NIJ provided more than $14 million to 21 states that submitted proposals under the FY 2000 Solicitation for Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) Analysis of States' Collected Convicted Offender DNA Samples. Samples analyzed as a result of this program will be input into state databases and shared nationally through CODIS. NIJ estimates that the funds provided will reduce the nationwide convicted offender DNA backlog by nearly 300,000 samples and provide nearly 3,000 unknown suspect cases for comparison. In FY 2000, NIJ's Forensic DNA Laboratory Improvement Program was expanded to become the Crime Laboratory Improvement Program (CLIP), with the goal of increasing the capabilities and capacities of our nation's public laboratories to perform various types of forensic analysis, such as biological evidence analysis (including DNA testing), trace evidence analysis, fingerprint comparison, toxicology, and firearm and tool mark analyses. NIJ allocated more than $10 million to support congressionally directed projects at the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, National Forensic Science Technology Center, Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory, Marshall University, and West Virginia University. An additional $2.7 million was allocated in 2000 to fund eight projects at state and local crime labs that were recommended for funding under the FY 1999 Forensic DNA Laboratory Improvement Program solicitation. Those eight projects focus solely on the improvement of DNA analysis capabilities and capacities. NIJ also funded several projects under its FY 2000 Communications Interoperability and Information Sharing Technologies solicitation with other funding received under CITA. Those initiatives explore promising technologies that make law enforcement voice and data systems interoperable. In many instances, public safety systems are incapable of interfacing. These conditions cause major problems as agencies try to coordinate efforts during emergencies and work together administratively. These grants will explore ways to alleviate this problem. By leveraging funds from the CITA appropriation and through partnerships with the Community Oriented Policing Services Office and Sandia International Laboratories, NIJ directed over $17 million toward developing technologies and other resources to enhance school security. FY 2000 funds supported the establishment of a School Security Technology Center at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia selected several pilot school sites for security upgrades and identified technologies new to the market that may provide school security technology solutions. Crime Mapping The use of computerized crime mapping is an important tool in fostering data-driven, multi-agency collaborative approaches to identifying and solving crime problems. Crime mapping allows law enforcement agencies and their partners to display and analyze their own data on offenses, calls for service and arrests, as well as additional information collected by a variety of agencies about a specific area, on one map. Visualizing data in this way promotes better understanding of relationships among different phenomena and crime. NIJ's Crime Mapping Research Center hosted a conference December 11-14, 1999 in Orlando, Florida. The future of crime mapping and its many applications in the justice system was the focus of this event. Participants included over 600 law enforcement practitioners, local planners, and academics from around the world. NIJ also released Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice at the conference. This publication serves as a primer for criminal justice agencies interested in using crime mapping techniques to better identify and combat community crime problems. The guide also explains the basic concepts and theories behind crime mapping and answers broad questions about applying these technologies in real-life situations. In January 2000, NIJ unveiled a new, innovative, and free crime mapping program designed to help law enforcement officers in their community policing efforts. The program, the Community Policing Beat Book, was designed for use in the field on a laptop, with an in-car computer, or at the police station and allows an officer access to electronic maps that display pertinent crime-fighting information. The electronic maps of the community show information such as land-use, demographics, businesses, and landmarks, as well as crime incident sites. The Beat Book provides law enforcement officers with: A variety of methods to find a location by address, and The ability to create and manage their own data, such as a list of informants along with their areas and locations. The Crime Mapping Analysis Program (CMAP), which is coordinated by NIJ's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) Rocky Mountain (RM) Center, provides technology assistance and training to state and local agencies in the areas of crime and intelligence analysis and geographic information systems (GIS). CMAP has provided training to over 300 students from 28 state and local law enforcement agencies. NLECTC- Southeast, in Charleston, South Carolina, has joined NLECTC-RM in meeting the high demand among criminal justice practitioners by bringing GIS technology resources to bear in the administration of justice and the fight against crime and violence. NLECTC-SE fosters the use of crime mapping techniques in law enforcement through capacity building classes and the coordination of research on new and improved GIS applications for criminal justice. Interoperability In today's fast-moving environment, there are many occasions when more than one law enforcement agency may be involved in a case or situation. Police units from multiple departments engaging in a joint operation, such as a high-speed pursuit, frequently cannot communicate with one another directly as events are unfolding. This inability may result from use of different radio frequencies, varying and proprietary protocols or system architectures that are incompatible, outdated equipment, or operational restraints. NIJ is addressing interoperability problems through its AGILE program (Advanced Generation of Interoperability for Law Enforcement). In order to consider the latest technologies that can impact short and long-term interoperability planning, NIJ's Office of Science and Technology released a focused solicitation in May 2000 for research and development proposals that address the area of convergence of wireless and information technologies, software radios, and general interoperability technologies. The proposals were reviewed by a peer panel and NIJ, resulting in four awards in September 2000 to help solve some of these interoperability problems. In FY 2000, AGILE also funded the creation of the NPSTC Support Office (NSO). The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) is a federation of 11 associations that together represent nearly all components of public safety in wireless communications issues. Coordinated by the NLECTC-RM Center in Denver, Colorado, NSO provides secretariat support for NPSTC, thereby providing a voice for this important constituent group in the areas of wireless communications. AGILE also provided funding for the creation of a national, pre-coordination database for the 700 MHZ band, so that when this part of the spectrum does become available for public safety use, this database will provide a rapid and efficient allocation and licensing of the spectrum. To assist state and local agencies that are in immediate need of interoperability assistance, NIJ has developed partnerships to technically and operationally evaluate interoperability solutions. A federal laboratory will provide technical assessments, while public safety agencies (such as the Alexandria, Virginia Police Department) are integrating, testing, and evaluating products in actual operational environments. In FY 2000, some of the first products evaluated were the ACU-1000, an audio gateway technology that ties incompatible radio systems together as a means for rapidly disseminating information on missing children, and the INFOTECH informational technology system, which provides inter-regional information sharing among law enforcement agencies. Information Sharing Other OJP information sharing activities include the Regional Information Sharing System (RISS), a multijurisdictional criminal intelligence system operated by and for state and local law enforcement agencies. The program comprises six regional sites, which act as hubs for the member agencies that use RISS. In FY 2000, the Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded approximately $25 million under the RISS program. This funding helped the six regional RISS centers provide state-of-the-art investigative support and training, analytical services, specialized equipment, and information sharing technology to more than 5,500 municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies nationwide. This assistance helped law enforcement agencies make more than 3,000 arrests and seize or recover illegal controlled substances, property, and currency worth $100 million. BJA also awarded funds to the Institute for Intergovernmental Research for Information Technology Support to support the RISS program and for the RISS Performance Management and Assessment. Information Technology In addition to building interoperability and communications into law enforcement, OJP is also sponsoring integration of the justice information system as a whole. The OJP Justice Integration Initiative seeks to improve communication and information sharing among justice agencies at all levels of government, federal, state, and local, and across all disciplines within the juvenile and criminal justice systems. OJP recognized that, as state, local, and tribal governments forge ahead with the development of information sharing architectures, OJP was presented with an unparalleled opportunity, through the efficient, coordinated, and targeted use of grant funds, to form partnerships in support of justice information sharing. OJP subsequently created the Information Technology Executive Council (IT Executive Council or ITEC) to design a more strategic approach to OJP's funding and technical assistance in this area. OJP's generalized basis for a coordinated grant funding strategy is found in more than 40 of its current statutory provisions that contain express or implied language authorizing the purchase of information technology. Each of these statutes provides for and encourages the development of information sharing systems to further the fight against crime. The IT Executive Council worked with more than 300 state and local criminal justice leaders through a conference series designed to gain insight into current state and local integrated technology initiatives. The conference series provided OJP with the field's recommendations for furthering state and local justice integration through grant guidance, technical assistance, and the development of a national integration resource center. Based on this field input, in 1999 OJP refined its federal role in support of integrated justice and designed and implemented a number of actions to facilitate and assist integration efforts at the state, local, and tribal level. Some FY 2000 IT initiative highlights include: BJS issued a public solicitation to state and local jurisdictions to implement the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Implementation Program. This program is designed to improve the quality of crime statistics in the United States. The NIBRS program provides funding to states, in conjunction with units of local government and tribes, that want to participate in the FBI's new approach to uniform crime reporting. FY 2001 funds allocated to NIBRS will enable BJS to fund additional applications submitted in response to the FY 2000 solicitation. Crime Victimization Survey (CVS) software is available to help communities conduct local crime and attitudinal surveys. The CVS software package, designed by BJS and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), allows communities to conduct their own telephone surveys of residents to collect data on crime victimization, attitudes toward policing, and other community issues. Using the established methods and questions of the National Crime Victimization Survey, this software allows communities to generate crime and victimization estimates that facilitate comparisons among similar jurisdictions. To date, more than 1,800 requests for copies and downloads of the software have been made from police departments, local agencies, and criminal justice researchers. Many of these requests have come from other countries, including Israel, Ireland, and South Africa. In addition to the CVS software, BJS released the CVS Software User's Manual and Conducting Community Surveys: A Practical Guide for Law Enforcement Agencies in October 1999. BJS began experimental use of Web-based data collection to compile administrative data from selected state and local criminal justice agencies. BJS currently maintains over two dozen different data collection programs that obtain information describing the workload of approximately 50,000 federal, state, and local agencies, offices, and institutions. Until now, all BJS collection efforts entailed sending paper questionnaires to law enforcement agencies, prosecutors' offices, probation offices, local jails, courts, pretrial release agencies, public defender offices, and prison and parole authorities. Like many other governmental and private-sector data managers, BJS has begun the transition from paper-based data collection to direct Internet submission of information to a database. In FY 2001, BJS will conduct data collections using the Internet for the Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories, the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, and the Annual Survey of Jails. OJJDP awarded $500,000 to start the Information Systems to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency Training and Technical Assistance project. This program is aimed at advancing more effective and proactive responses to at-risk youth and youth within the juvenile justice system. It is also geared to support solutions to juvenile delinquency by providing training and technical assistance on information sharing to juvenile justice, education, health, child welfare, and other youth serving systems or organizations that foster multi-disciplinary and multi-agency solutions. FIGHTING CYBERCRIME Law enforcement agencies must act quickly to keep pace with criminals who are increasingly using high-capacity technology that could soon surpass current abilities and resources to combat them. In August 2000, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released the publication, State and Local Law Enforcement Needs to Combat Electronic Crime, which summarizes the critical steps that must be addressed in order for law enforcement agencies to successfully contend with electronic crime. The study, initiated in response to a request from the National Cybercrime Training Partnership, was conducted to assess law enforcement needs for identifying, preventing, and combating electronic crimes in this country. The full report was released in July 2001. NIJ's Office of Science and Technology also supported the publication and dissemination of a pocket guide for use by first responders at crime scenes. The guide, Best Practices for Seizing Electronic Evidence, was developed by the U.S. Secret Service. In addition, NIJ continued work to complete the first of a set of quick reference guides for cybercrime investigations that will address the entire life-cycle of cybercrime remediation, from crime scene to prosecution in the courtroom. To help meet the needs identified in this study, in the summer of 2000 NIJ established the National Law Enforcement CyberScience Laboratory Northeast, which is co-located with NIJ's National Law Enforcement Corrections and Training Center-Northeast Center at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York. The CyberScience Laboratory's mission includes fostering government, industry, and academic research partnerships that address cybercrime and provide technical assistance to state and local law enforcement. Its partners include Utica College's Computer Forensics Research and Development Center, the New York Electronic Crimes Task Force, the New York State Police, the New York City Police Department, and Eastman Kodak. Internet Crimes Against Children Keeping children safe online increasingly has become as important as keeping them safe in schools or on the streets. Sexual predators no longer lurk only in malls and on playgrounds. Instead, they roam freely in cyberspace and hide in chat rooms looking for vulnerable children. More than 28 million children currently go online, and industry experts predict that more than 45 million young people will use the Internet by 2002. Law enforcement and prosecutors will be increasingly challenged by sex offenders who use computer technology to victimize children. These crimes present complex technical and investigative challenges for law enforcement. Because few crime investigations begin and end in the same jurisdiction, investigations require close coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. In addition, evidence collection, interviewing practices, and undercover operations must be carefully adapted to meet the technical and legal demands of Internet crimes. In May 2000, OJJDP awarded nearly $2.5 million in grants to 10 state and local law enforcement agencies to combat Internet crimes against children under its Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force program. These awards were announced at an ICAC law enforcement training seminar at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. OJJDP also awarded continuation funding to the existing 30 sites. These grants provide states and localities with the tools and skills to investigate, prosecute, and prevent Internet crimes against children. The ICAC program encourages communities to develop regional, multi-jurisdictional, and multi-agency responses to Internet crimes. Grant funds are used to ensure that investigators receive specialized training in Internet crimes and are equipped with the most up-to-date computer technology. The task forces developed as part of the ICAC program are also designed to become sources of prevention, education, and investigative experience to provide technical assistance to parents, teachers, law enforcement, and other professionals. The 20 existing ICAC grantees' collective efforts have led to the arrest of more than 115 people who were using the Internet to sexually exploit children. The grantees have also trained more than 1,000 law enforcement officers and prosecutors. In addition, thousands of children, parents, and educators have received information about safe Internet practices for young people. OJJDP awarded $6 million in FY 2000 for the task force program, with another $2.125 million set aside for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline and training activities. OJJDP has identified some major obstacles to a successful law enforcement response to child pornography on the Internet. Forensic capacity to deal with child pornography on computers is deficient, and case referrals are not followed through because receiving agencies lack understanding and capacity to respond. OJJDP utilized $6 million to respond to these problems in FY 2000 with a plan that includes investigative and computer forensic training and technical assistance ($1 million), and an investigative satellite program that would support non-ICAC task force members with acquiring skills and equipment needed to process referral cases ($1.2 million). In FY 2000, OJJDP also offered two training programs for law enforcement officers investigating child pornography and "cyberenticement" offenses. The 5-day Protecting Children Online course provides detectives with information regarding forensic and investigative techniques, offender behavioral characteristics, statutory, and existing case law, and available resources that can assist in ICAC investigations. The 3-day Protecting Children Online Unit Commander course encourages law enforcement supervisory and management personnel to develop departmental policies and procedures that respond effectively to online crimes against children. Nearly 1,000 investigators and managers participated in these courses within the past year. Research & Tools Working in partnership with state, local, federal, and international law enforcement agencies, the Department of Justice developed the National Cybercrime Training Partnership (NCTP) as an important element in the solution to the growing cybercrime problem. The National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), serves as the state and local liaison and training arm of the NCTP. Additionally, BJA serves in a leadership role with NCTP in providing guidance and advice on state and local issues regarding the investigation and prosecution of cybercrime. The NW3C was awarded $9.25 million in FY 2000 to support these efforts. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC), managed by the FBI with operational support provided by the NW3C, was launched nationwide in early 2000. Since its official opening, the IFCC has averaged about 125 calls per day, conducting numerous investigations in conjunction with the FBI and state and local agencies. The IFCC has also provided information on fraud schemes that had not previously come to the attention to law enforcement. In addition, it serves as a central repository for complaints related to Internet fraud, works to quantify fraud patterns, and provides timely statistical data on current fraud trends. For victims of Internet fraud, the IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. In November 2000, NW3C released two computer-based training courses The Internet as an Investigative Tool and Computer Crimes on Your Doorstep. This interactive training demonstrates how to use the Internet as an investigative tool, helping law enforcement managers, investigators, and the criminal justice system respond to the growing computer crime problem. The training was provided to state and local law enforcement agencies at no cost. Through NCTP, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are working with private industry to provide cross-training. More and more private companies are experiencing cybercrime, which requires a greater involvement by law enforcement. The component agencies of OJP are committed to continuing the dialogue with state and local counterparts and the organizations that represent them. For example, through its participation in NCTP, BJA is facilitating coordination of state and local issues through organizations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, the National Sheriffs' Association, the National Association of Attorneys General, and the National Association of District Attorneys. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has been modifying an ongoing statistical series that gathers administrative data from operational criminal justice agencies to include data on computer crime. The Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics series, which was fielded July 1, 2000, obtains information on computer crime units in state and local law enforcement. BJS also has been exploring computer crime measurement issues with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) as part of a larger effort that would facilitate the collection and reporting of statistical information relating to cybercrime and its effect upon the business community. The BJS partnership with the business community will allow BJS to tap into the knowledge the private sector has gained in responding to cybercrime, as well as provide BJS important information that can be used to define the scope of the cybercrime issue for the development of national statistics. As a first step in FY 2000, BJS held a focus group for BJS and Census Bureau staff, as well as representatives from the private sector and the academic community to facilitate exploration of the issues related to the collection of cybercrime statistics. As a result of this meeting, BJS began work with the Census Bureau, with the input and advice of the private sector, to formulate and test cybercrime-related questions to supplement ongoing commercial surveys dealing with businesses, industries, and other private concerns. In FY 2000, NIJ provided funds totaling $450,618 to the National Institute of Standards' Office of Law Enforcement Standards to continue its efforts in: Verifying computer forensic software tools for law enforcement use; Developing a National Software Reference Library for use by law enforcement; and Developing two of a seven volume series of quick reference guides for investigating electronic crime. Also in FY 2000, NIJ awarded the Institute for Security Technology Studies at Dartmouth funds totaling $8.52 million for two projects involving cybersecurity and information infrastructure assurance. The cybersecurity project involves the development, evaluation, and demonstration of cybersecurity, network security, cybersecurity tools, and software system protection. The information infrastructure assurance project will develop, demonstrate, and evaluate cybercrime technology tools for law enforcement and forensic application. This project will also focus on wireless and web infrastructure and security issues within law enforcement agencies. BJA, NIJ, and OJJDP are pooling resources and working with the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) on developing an overall awareness campaign to alert the general public about problems associated with cybercrime. Each of these OJP bureaus is exploring how existing appropriations can be used to expand opportunities for communicating with the general public about using the Internet responsibly and the consequences that could result from misuse. Victims In FY 2000, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) supported a project to establish a model victim-centered community response to stalking, which included cyber-stalking. A working group is developing protocols in identifying roles and responsibilities of the agencies that respond to stalking issues. The Violence Against Women Office supports the National Stalking Resource Center at the National Center for Victims of Crime. Also in FY 2000 through 2003, as part of the Innocent Images Project of the FBI Baltimore Field Office, OVC funded a clinical level Child Interview Specialist to assist the FBI in training special agents in identifying, contacting, and interviewing child victims involved in online pornography cases. OVC also provided funding to the U.S. Secret Service to hire a Victim-Witness Specialist to assist in implementing a victim- witness assistance program. Victims under the Secret Service's investigative purview often include victims of credit card fraud and identity theft offenses that are oftentimes perpetrated electronically. In addition, during FY 2000 OVC supported a variety of training initiatives for law enforcement related to the emergence of cybercrime and will continue this support in FY 2001. IMPROVING THE USE OF DNA EVIDENCE Increasing law enforcement's ability to use DNA evidence in the fight against crime makes sense, and ultimately gets violent offenders off our streets. Last year, the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence provided recommendations to the Attorney General on the current and future uses of DNA technology in the criminal justice system. Among those recommendations was one to help states analyze existing DNA samples that had been collected from convicted offenders, but not yet analyzed and added to existing state systems and the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). At the time of the recommendation, it was estimated that there were more than 750,000 unanalyzed samples in existence. In July 2000, more than 100 police chiefs, sheriffs, and other law enforcement officials met in Washington, DC for the National Law Enforcement Summit on DNA Technology. Based upon another recommendation by the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence, NIJ sponsored the summit to educate law enforcement decision makers about the crime-solving potential of DNA technology. Training for first responders to identify and preserve DNA evidence, as well as stress collaboration between law enforcement and other members of the criminal justice system was also emphasized. The National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence also recognized the importance of identifying technical advances in the next decade and assessing the expected impact of these on the forensic DNA community. The Forensic DNA Research and Development Program aims to maximize the value of DNA evidence to the criminal justice system by supporting research that builds or improves upon existing technologies, methods, or approaches, as well as research based on new or novel technologies, methods, or approaches. In addition to the continued support in the development of a DNA chip for high-speed, inexpensive, and ultimately portable DNA testing, NIJ supported research of improved tools for use in routine DNA analysis, as well as exploration of genetic markers that will increase the success rate of testing old, degraded, or very small amounts of biological crime scene evidence. With over a million copies of What Every Law Enforcement Officer Should Know About DNA Evidence distributed, and continued demand for this publication, more needed to be done. The Commission, in collaboration with NIJ grant recipient Eastern Kentucky University, developed a computer-based training program for law enforcement on DNA. The interactive CD- ROM training module is being distributed in two parts. The first module, which covers basic information on DNA and the identification and preservation of potential DNA evidence at the crime scene, was designed for first responders and was distributed in FY 2000. GENERAL FORENSICS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT While DNA evidence is important to the resolution of many violent crimes, on average it makes up less than 5 percent of the evidence used. Other types of forensic evidence continue to play a crucial role in the investigation of violent crimes. NIJ is committed to enhancing the use of all classes of forensic evidence, and in FY 2000 supported research and development in forensic disciplines, such as questioned document examination, firearms and toolmarks examination, toxicology examinations, forensic entomology, transfer (trace) evidence examinations, and controlled substance examinations. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling NCJRS toll-free at 1-800/851-3420. In addition, the NIJ- sponsored NLECTC JUSTNET Website (www.nlectc.org) provides criminal justice professionals with impartial information on a variety of products to help agencies in making purchasing decisions that will maximize their limited resources. The following publications are available from NCJRS: State and Local Law Enforcement Needs to Combat Electronic Crime (NIJ) NCJ 183451 Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for Law Enforcement (NIJ) NCJ 178280 Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report CD-ROM (OJJDP) NCJ 178257 Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice (NIJ) NCJ 178919 CVS Software User's Manual (BJS) NCJ 176361 Conducting Community Surveys: A Practical Guide for Law Enforcement Agencies (BJS) NCJ 178246 Guide for the Selection of Chemical Agent and Toxic Industrial Material Detection Equipment for Emergency First Responders (NIJ) NCJ 184449 Stab Resistance of Personal Body Armor (NIJ Standard-0115.00) (NIJ) NCJ 183652 Ballistic Resistance of Personal Body Armor (NIJ Standard-0101.04) (NIJ) NCJ 183651 9 Enhancing Law Enforcement and Adjudication Initiatives OJP continues to promote innovation in law enforcement and adjudication in states and counties, as well as to support efforts that enhance confidence in criminal justice processes, improve productivity of law enforcement agencies, target violence that is disproportionate to national trends, and promote the interaction of the police with their communities in positive and productive partnerships. DEPLOYING PROSECUTORS TO THE COMMUNITY Community prosecution is a strategy being implemented by an increasing number of prosecutors around the country. A basic premise behind this approach to prosecution is the realization that a prosecutor is more than a mere case processor, simply waiting for matters to be presented for resolution. Rather, a prosecutor can be much more effective if he or she enters into partnerships with the community and other law enforcement entities and engages in a problem- solving approach to law enforcement. While community prosecution programs or projects differ from one jurisdiction to another, this collaborative, problem-solving approach is what makes this strategy different from other prosecution initiatives. A number of jurisdictions have been involved in community prosecution efforts for many years with little or no federal resources to support those efforts. For instance, community prosecution has been in Portland, Oregon for almost 10 years. The amount of interest generated at the local level for this approach to prosecution has grown substantially. The National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) and many state attorneys general are actively involved in community prosecution. Community prosecution is a key element to increasing a community's confidence in the justice system. Community prosecutors work directly with neighborhood residents and organizations in the communities they serve. In FY 2000, BJA awarded Community Prosecution grants totaling more than $8 million to 61 communities. These grants will foster collaborative efforts between local prosecutors' offices and the community to identify local priorities and develop and implement strategic crime prevention and reduction plans. The grants also will help communities plan, implement, or enhance community prosecution strategies. In FY 1999, BJA provided approximately $5 million to 40 jurisdictions. The FY 2000 grants awarded bring the number of federally funded community prosecution initiatives to almost 100. Community prosecution programs are spread throughout a variety of prosecutors' offices across the country, from tribal prosecutor offices to some of the largest district attorney offices to state attorney general offices. BJA provided more than $300,000 in funds to provide technical assistance and training for the new grantees, a portion of which is being provided by the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI), the training and research component of NDAA. APRI has also developed a community prosecution course that it offers to prosecutors at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Complementary to OJP's community prosecution effort is BJA's Community Court Initiative. In January 1998, New York City's Midtown Community Court was the only community court in the United States. Midtown Community Court succeeded by asking a new set of questions about the role of the court in a community's daily life. What can a court do to solve neighborhood problems? What can courts bring to the table beyond their coercive power and symbolic presence? And what roles can community residents, businesses, and service providers play in improving justice? By March 2000, nearly a dozen community courts had opened across the country in cities in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas. Another 13 communities, many using BJA grants, are planning to open courts in the near future. The courts that followed Midtown are answering these questions in different ways, but they also seek a set of common, important goals. All of them have implemented a new way of doing business that imposes immediate, meaningful sanctions on offenders, truly engages the community, and helps offenders address problems that are at the root of their criminal behavior. BJA funds the Center for Court Innovation to provide assistance to these courts through publications, on-site training, and the Center's Website, www.communityjustice.org. ADVANCING AND IMPROVING PROSECUTION As the number of juvenile gun offenders increases, the need for a more focused, coordinated response to reducing youth gun violence is becoming more apparent. An innovative program by the King County, Washington Prosecutor's Office and the Seattle Police led to quicker handling of juvenile firearm offense cases and an increased conviction rate. During the first eight months of the program, the average number of days handling a firearm case dropped from 53 to 17, while the conviction rate rose from 65 percent to 78 percent. The Seattle program is part of the city's Youth Handgun Violence Initiative, which was funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). This program is profiled in Seattle's Effective Strategy for Prosecuting Juvenile Firearm Offenders, a bulletin released from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in March 2000. According to the bulletin, the Seattle program emphasizes:  Vertical prosecution, meaning that the same prosecutor handles a case from start to finish, and  Prosecutors train police officers on how to collect the specific information needed to improve investigations and write better reports, which lead to successful prosecution of these cases. As a result of this program's approach, delays and backlogs in filing juvenile firearm cases were eliminated, while the quality of information provided to prosecutors was substantially improved. These improvements led to a 50 percent drop in the dismissal rate for juvenile firearms cases. The Seattle program was also profiled in OJJDP's report, Promising Strategies to Reduce Gun Violence. Eyewitnesses frequently play a vital role in uncovering the truth about a crime. The evidence they provide can be critical in identifying, charging, and ultimately convicting suspected criminals. Recent cases in which DNA evidence has been used to exonerate individuals convicted primarily on the basis of eyewitness testimony have shown that eyewitness evidence is not infallible. In October 1999, NIJ released Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement. This guide was produced with the participation of criminal justice professionals who served on the Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence. These 34 individuals brought together knowledge and practical expertise from jurisdictions large and small across the United States and Canada. ENSURING FAIRNESS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT Although serious cases of abuse of police authority have raised questions and been debated in recent years, little is known about how police officers themselves view these critical issues. According to two studies released by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in June 2000, a majority of law enforcement officers in the United States find incidents of excessive force unacceptable and believe that police should be held accountable and punished for inappropriate behavior. Police Attitudes Toward Abuse of Authority: Findings from a National Survey questioned more than 900 U.S. police officers regarding their attitudes about police abuse of authority. To assess these attitudes, researchers polled 925 randomly selected police officers from 121 departments. The officers were asked what types of abuse and attitudes toward abuse police observe in their departments and what strategies or tactics are effective in preventing officers from abusing authority. The majority responded that:  It is unacceptable to use more force than legally allowable to control someone who physically assaults an officer;  Extreme cases of police abuse of authority occur infrequently, although fellow officers occasionally use more force than necessary when making an arrest; and  The police "code of silence" affects an officer's willingness to report improper police behavior. The second study, The Measurement of Police Integrity, surveyed officers in 30 police agencies nationwide to explore organizational influences on police behavior. In this study, the researchers drew the following conclusions about the perception of police integrity:  Police officers were more likely to report and endorse severe discipline for more serious misconduct;  The majority of police officers felt that their department's disciplinary policies for misconduct are fair; and  A majority of police officers said that they would not report a fellow officer who had been engaged in what they regarded as less serious conduct, but would report conduct such as stealing from a burglary scene or accepting a kickback. These findings support what we already know that the behavior of our nation's law enforcement officers is guided by principled decision making. And, any incidence of unethical behavior or inappropriate use of force is unacceptable. These two policing studies also give us direction about the tools that supervisors and line officers need to foster sound decision making. Factors such as strong leadership from police chiefs and supervisors, as well as training in ethics and diversity, can help prevent inappropriate behavior or excessive use of force on the streets. IMPROVING INDIGENT DEFENSE Studies have shown that nearly 80 percent of defendants charged with felonies in this country rely on a public defender or assigned counsel for legal representation because they are too poor to hire private attorneys on their own. All individuals charged with an offense should receive fair and effective representation. Two new reports on indigent defense systems were released in May 2000 by OJP to provide examples of how the criminal justice system can meet this goal. The first publication, Report of the National Symposium on Indigent Defense, presents the results of a 1999 two-day conference that addressed the issue of equal justice for all those charged with a criminal offense, especially those who cannot afford to pay the cost of representation. The second publication, Contracting for Indigent Defense Systems: A Special Report, funded by BJA, examines the major issues surrounding the planning, implementation, and use of contracting in indigent defense systems as an alternative to using assigned counsel programs or public defender offices. BJA seeks to bring more balance to the criminal justice system by giving indigent defense more visibility, funding, and information tools. In FY 2000, BJA supported projects in Arizona, Georgia, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas under the Emerging Issues in Indigent Defense Management and Technology Program that improves case management practices and building capacity to access technology. This program represents the first grant opportunity in decades specifically targeting defenders. BJA also supported the work of several organizations that provide technical assistance to indigent defense practitioners. The National Legal Aid and Defender Association continues its work to help state and local indigent defense organizations improve the quality of indigent representation in the United States. The Vera Institute of Justice provided training to defender managers through the National Defender Leadership Project to become more active participants in policy planning and development. BJA funded and disseminated two reports by The Spangenberg Group that focused national attention on major challenges facing the indigent defense community. SUPPORTING LAW ENFORCEMENT In the course of interacting with community groups and criminal justice practitioners, we have learned that many agencies at the state and local level need funds to assist their personnel in dealing successfully with violent crime and serious offenders. In FY 2000, BJA awarded a total of $500 million to all 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia under its Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program for combating violent and drug-related crime. The Byrne program is authorized by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (as amended) and award amounts are based on each state's population. States make subawards to units of local government and nonprofit agencies and funds must be used in accordance with legislatively authorized purpose areas, including multi-jurisdictional drug task forces, criminal justice records improvement, crime prevention, and drug treatment and education. More than 3,100 local jurisdictions received Local Law Enforcement Block Grants (LLEBG) totaling nearly $400 million in FY 2000 to help them reduce crime and improve public safety. The funds can be used to hire police officers, improve security in and around schools, purchase law enforcement equipment and technology, enhance the adjudication of violent offenders, and for other public safety efforts. The LLEBG program awards its funds based on a formula derived from Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data. To be considered eligible for the LLEBG Program, a jurisdiction must report to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's UCR program. The determining variable within the LLEBG formula is the number of UCR Part I violent crimes reported by a jurisdiction to the FBI. In short, the formula is based on the premise that areas with higher crime rates need more funds. Public safety officers face numerous risks in their daily jobs. In FY 2000, BJA assisted over 3,500 law enforcement agencies across the nation obtain bulletproof vests. Through the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, BJA distributed $25 million to jurisdictions nationwide to provide for up to half the cost of bullet-resistant vests. Funding for over 180,000 bulletproof vests have been provided to state, county, and local law enforcement agencies in the program's two years. Each jurisdiction may purchase one vest per officer per year, and all vests must meet or exceed standards developed by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education (OPCLEE), which in November 1998 was transferred from the Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to OJP, provides college educational assistance to students who commit to public service in law enforcement, and scholarships to students with no service commitment, who are dependents of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty. In FY 2000, the Police Corps program added an additional 140 officers with advanced education and training to community patrol positions throughout participating states and territories. As of September 30, 2000, a total of 771 individuals were currently participating or had participated in the Police Corps program. Six additional states and territories Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, Virginia and America Samoa initiated participation into the program in FY 2000. A total of 30 states and territories currently participate. The Mississippi Police Corps program became the first law enforcement training program in the nation to receive national certification for its emphasis on ethics instruction in its law enforcement training. The certification award was presented by the National Institute of Ethics (NIE), a non-profit organization that is the largest provider of law enforcement and corrections ethics training in the United States. The Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program, also administered by BJA, is designed to offer peace of mind to men and women seeking careers in public safety. The PSOB program provides financial benefits to survivors of police officers, firefighters, and emergency response personnel killed in the line of duty, and to those who are permanently and totally disabled in the line of duty. The program also collects information on line-of-duty deaths, which is used to enhance public safety officer training. In FY 2000, the PSOB program awarded nearly $30 million in death and disability benefits to surviving families of nearly 200 public safety officers. In 1999, Congress amended the Police, Fire, and Emergency Officers' Educational Assistance Act, which authorizes the Federal Law Enforcement Dependents' Assistance (FLEDA) program. In the past, the FLEDA program, administered by BJA, provided assistance for higher education to eligible survivors of federal police officers whose death or permanent disability occurred in the line of duty. The act was amended to allow for this assistance to apply to all federal, state, and local public safety officers, including federal police and firefighters, state and local law enforcement, and members of federal, state, and local public rescue squads. To reflect these changes, the title of the program was changed to the Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) program. In January 2000, Congress amended the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to extend the retroactive financial assistance eligibility dates for higher education benefits to the families of public safety officers. In FY 2000, the PSOEA program awarded more than $40,000 in educational financial assistance to 16 families. NIJ's Corrections and Law Enforcement Family Support Program is discovering innovative ways to prevent and treat the negative effects of stress experienced by law enforcement and correctional officers and their families. The program primarily consists of demonstration and research grants that are periodically awarded to state and local law enforcement and corrections agencies or organizations (e.g., unions and associations) representing law enforcement and corrections personnel. In FY 2000, two grants were awarded for research into officer and family stress issues and four grants were awarded for development of demonstration and training programs. Grants focused primarily on programming for managerial rather than line staff. The grants awarded for demonstration and training programs will impact 571 supervisors and 420 officers and their families. The Violence Against Women Office supports the Battered Women's Justice Project (BWJP) to train law enforcement officers on promising practices, such as: interviewing children at the scene of a domestic assault; making self-defense and primary aggressor determinations; investigating officer-involved domestic violence cases; testifying in court; coordinating with victim services programs; managing specialized domestic violence units; and enforcing protection orders. BWJP also is updating and disseminating a best-selling video-based curriculum on law enforcement response to domestic violence. In addition, VAWO supports specialized domestic violence training for rural law enforcement officers. Praxis, International trains rural grantees about intervention practices that enhance the safety of battered women and their children. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) is implementing a domestic violence rural law enforcement train-the-trainer program to enable participants to conduct training in their own jurisdictions. The National Sheriffs' Association provides training to front line officers and administrators, focusing on rural law enforcement in sheriffs' offices. COLLECTING DATA FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OJP data is continuing to support efforts to ensure that felons and other ineligible persons cannot legally obtain firearms. Approximately 536,000 of the more than 22.2 million individual applications to purchase or pawn firearms have been rejected based on federal, state, or local laws since the inception of the Brady Act in February 1994. BJS released two reports in June 2000, Background Checks of Firearm Transfers, 1999 and Federal Firearm Offenders, 1992-98 With Preliminary Data for 1999. According to these reports, more than 200,000 firearms applications were rejected in 1999 and the number of defendants charged with federal firearms offenses increased from 1998 to 1999. Other findings include: Firearm Background Checks  In 1999, of the 123,000 rejections made by state and local agencies, 73 percent were rejected because of a felony conviction or indictment.  Domestic violence convictions or restraining orders accounted for 11 percent of these rejections; and 4 percent were due to state or local law prohibitions.  During 1999, slightly less than half of the firearms applications were screened through state or local points of contact, the rest of the checks were handled by the FBI through its National Instant Criminal Background Check System.  Of the approximately 8.6 million applications to transfer firearms in 1999, about 204,000 (2.4 percent) were rejected. The rejection rate among state or local points of contact was 3 percent; at the federal level it was 1.8 percent.  State points of contact have access to more detailed criminal history records than the FBI, and more than two-thirds of the U.S. population is in the 26 states that do their own background checks for handguns. Firearm Offense Prosecutions  During 1998, 85 percent, or 5,419, of the 6,397 firearms defendants were charged with a firearms possession offense, half of whom were charged with using a firearm during a violent offense or a drug offense.  Seven percent of the 1998 firearm defendants were charged with unlawfully receiving or transferring a firearm.  From 1992 through 1999, among defendants charged with illegally possessing a firearm: 48 percent were charged with using a firearm during a violent crime or during a drug trafficking offense; 44 percent were charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm; 8 percent were charged with having an unregistered firearm; 3 percent were charged with possessing a firearm with an altered or obliterated serial number; and 3 percent were charged with having stolen firearms. In July 2000, criminal and juvenile justice researchers, practitioners, and policy makers met to discuss the latest studies and program evaluations related to crime, drug control, and violence. This Annual Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation, sponsored by the agencies and bureaus of OJP, provided a national forum for the discussion of cutting edge research and promising programs that are making a difference in shaping criminal and juvenile justice policy. Specifically, firearms intervention programs, police accountability, youth gangs, crime in Indian country, violence against women, community policing, reentry of offenders back into the community, racial profiling, drug courts, youth violence, and drugs and crime were among the topics discussed. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling NCJRS toll-free at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: Seattle's Effective Strategy for Prosecuting Juvenile Firearm Offenders (OJJDP) NCJ 178901 Promising Strategies to Reduce Gun Violence (OJJDP) NCJ 173950 Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide For Law Enforcement (NIJ) NCJ 178240 Report of the National Symposium on Indigent Defense (OJP) NCJ 181344 Contracting for Indigent Defense Systems: A Special Report (BJA) NCJ 181160 Police Attitudes Toward Abuse of Authority: Findings from a National Survey (NIJ) NCJ 181312 The Measurement of Police Integrity (NIJ) NCJ 181465 Background Checks of Firearm Transfers, 1999 (BJS) NCJ 180882 Federal Firearm Offenders, 1992-98 With Preliminary Data for 1999 (BJS) NCJ 180795 10 Countering Terrorism & Ensuring Domestic Preparedness Incidents of domestic and international terrorism over the past several years have made it clear that the federal government must do all it can to prepare at the federal, state, and local levels to respond more quickly to these incidents and to ensure the safety of our citizens. As a result, the federal government has been called upon to play a larger role in mitigating and responding to all types of human-caused violent events and disasters. As part of this, the federal government has dramatically increased its activities with state and local jurisdictions to enhance their abilities to prepare for and respond to these incidents. TRAINING STATE AND LOCAL EMERGENCY RESPONDERS Since the inception of the Office for State and Local Domestic Preparedness Support (OSLDPS), it has trained over 60,000 emergency responders, including firefighters, law enforcement, EMS, HAZMAT, and emergency management personnel. First responders were trained through OSLDPS programs in the areas of awareness, technician, operations, and terrorist incident command. Training is provided through a variety of resources, including the Metropolitan Firefighter and Emergency Medical Services Program, the U.S. Army's Pine Bluff Arsenal, the National Terrorism and Prevention Institute, the Center for Domestic Preparedness, and the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium. The National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC), which was formally organized on June 11, 1998, brings together several federal and local agencies receiving funding under OJP's domestic preparedness initiative into a singular, coordinated, and integrated training program. One Consortium member, OJP's Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), was established as an OJP component on June 1, 1998 and operates as part of OSLDPS. Currently, OSLDPS offers 16 domestic preparedness training courses, a televised distance learning initiative, and three videos and booklets for use by public safety officials. OSLDPS is developing additional courses, videos, and other training materials. EQUIPPING LOCALITIES OSLDPS funds state and local agencies to enhance the nation's first responder capabilities through equipment acquisitions that will help the first responders' response to incidents of domestic terrorism involving chemical and biological agents, as well as radiological and explosive devices. In FY 1999, OSLDPS developed two levels of grant equipment programs to cover more of the country than under its FY 1998 initiative. The FY 1999 equipment grants reached out and funded additional counties and, for the first time, states. The first of these grant equipment programs, the FY 1999 County and Municipal Agency Domestic Preparedness Equipment Support Program, provided direct grants totaling $30.7 million to 157 of the most populated cities and counties in the nation for the procurement of basic defensive level equipment. Also, in FY 1999, OSLDPS awarded $51.8 million through its State Domestic Preparedness Equipment Program to the nation's 50 states and the District of Columbia to purchase personal protective, chemical, biological, and radiological detection, decontamination, and communications equipment. This funding is administered by a governor-designated state agency. In FY 2000, territories were also included in the State Domestic Preparedness Equipment Program. To qualify for OSLDPS assistance, the states, territories, and the District of Columbia are required to undertake a Threat, Risk, and Needs Assessment and to develop a Three-Year Statewide Domestic Preparedness Strategy to plan the allocation of OJP and other resources. A Web-based data collection tool was created to allow states and local jurisdictions to submit their assessment data and statewide strategic plans on-line. To assist in this effort, OSLDPS released the following publications: State Domestic Preparedness Equipment Program Assessment and Strategy Development Tool Kit, and Guidance for the Development of a Three-Year Statewide Domestic Preparedness Strategy. FY 2000 and FY 2001 State Equipment funding will be awarded after OSLDPS receives the completed assessments and the Statewide Domestic Preparedness Strategy from each state. The 50 states will receive a total of $70,103,000 in equipment grants through FY 2000 funds. It is projected that states will receive $78.4 million in FY 2001. BJA continued its support of the State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) Program, the only ongoing training and technical assistance counterterrorism initiative specifically designed for state and local law enforcement and prosecution authorities. Working in close cooperation withe FBI and its National Security Division Training Unit, the SLATT program delivers specialized executive, investigative, intelligence, and officer safety training, with an emphasis on lesser populated jurisdictions. PLANNING AND RESPONDING TO TERRORISM OSLDPS continues to work with state and local jurisdictions, as well as with its federal agency partners, to assist in preparing and developing responses to potential terrorist acts. In May 2000, OSLDPS worked with more than 25 federal organizations and several states and local communities to conduct the TOPOFF (Top Officials) 2000 exercise, the most comprehensive counterterrorism exercise conducted to that point in time in America. The exercise simulated a chemical weapons attack on Portsmouth, New Hampshire and a biological attack on Denver, Colorado. More than 1,000 federal, state, and local officials participated in the exercise, which was co-chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The National Capital Region (NCR) 2000 counterterrorism exercises in Washington, DC also ran concurrently with the TOPOFF 2000 exercises. NCR 2000 simulated radiological attacks at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC and the U.S. Air Arena in Landover, Maryland. The NCR 2000 exercises were directed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). TOPOFF 2000 was conducted to assess the ability of federal, state, and local assets working together to mitigate the consequences of a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) attack. The exercise spanned a 10-day period during which local, state, and federal personnel were challenged to employ the measures they normally would in the event of a real incident or attack involving chemical or biological agents. An after-action report detailing the lessons learned and making recommendations for future counterterrorism activities will be released. A second TOPOFF exercise is being planned for 2002. Also in 2000, OSLDPS assisted the City of Seattle and King County, Washington in the SEAKING 2000 exercise. As a result of this exercise series, the area's capability to respond to a WMD event has been greatly enhanced. OSLDPS, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is currently working with the City of New York to develop and test a biological incident response plan. These efforts will continue in 2001. During the past fiscal year, OJP, through a partnership between OSLDPS and the National Institute of Justice's Office of Science and Technology (OST), continued to fund the work of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism and the Dartmouth Institute for Security Technology Studies. Both institutes will be co-managed by OSLDPS and OST and asked to undertake projects to address current and emerging needs in the nation's response to incidents of domestic terrorism. Principal areas of concentration will be in technology testing, equipment standards development, and overall technology research and development. ENGAGING THE FIELD State and local capacity building requires listening to and working with the state and local communities and the entire emergency response community to formulate and guide program activities. OJP/OSLDPS works as a partner with those on the front lines of WMD response. This outreach takes two forms, meetings and conferences and assessments. OSLDPS has held several conferences National Stakeholders Conference (August 1998 and May 1999), State Terrorism Policy Summit, Executive Session Series at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Regional Policy FY 2000 Conferences, and Executive Training meetings for the National Sheriffs' Association. The goal of OSLDPS' efforts is to focus policy makers on WMD issues. In addition to working with the field, OSLDPS is committed to helping states and localities better understand their current states of readiness for a WMD event. Assessments are an essential means for doing this, for gathering information and understanding the current threats and risks, and for helping guide program direction and development, including decisions for prioritizing and allocating the resources (training, equipment, and exercises). Assessments ensure that measures taken to reduce vulnerabilities are justifiable and that resources are appropriately targeted. Formal assessments have been largely absent from most federal programs directed at addressing WMD terrorism. OSLDPS is changing that. During FY 1999, OSLDPS undertook a major, two-phase nationwide needs assessment. Phase I of this assessment entitled, Responding to Incidents of Domestic Terrorism: Assessing the Needs of State and Local Jurisdictions, was released in June 1999. Phase II of the report was released in March 2000. OSLDPS is currently focused on these assessments at the state and local levels. As part of the OSLDPS FY 1999 State Domestic Preparedness Equipment Program, states will be required to conduct individual needs and risk assessments and, using the information gathered, develop individual state strategies addressing issues of training, equipment, and technical assistance needs. These assessments, collectively known as the OSLDPS State Domestic Preparedness Equipment Program Needs Assessment and Strategy Development Initiative, will result in detailed information for each of the 50 states. In FY 1999, to assist states in completing this project, OSLDPS provided both planning grants and technical assistance, including assessment tools and instruments. These OSLDPS state-based needs assessments are intended to provide a national survey of the current WMD response environment. Working closely with other federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FBI, OSLDPS will engage city, county, and state emergency managers, law enforcement officers, and public health officials to help individual jurisdictions pinpoint vulnerabilities and develop plans for countering WMD terrorism. The assessment results will serve, not only as a roadmap for program planning, but also as a benchmark for measuring program effectiveness. Each state, as part of its responsibilities under the OSLDPS FY 1999 Equipment Program, will use the assessments as the basis for developing a Three-Year Strategy, which will be carried out in 2001. To facilitate the process, OSLDPS sponsored a series of regional workshops. PROVIDING TOOLS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM Training and Other Resources in the Field The better state and local emergency response agencies are prepared to do their jobs, the better they can ensure public safety. For instance, evidence found at arson, bombing, and other incident sites is critical in identifying, charging, and ultimately convicting suspected criminals. For this reason, it is absolutely essential that the evidence is collected in a professional manner that will yield successful laboratory analyses. One way to ensure that is to follow sound protocols in investigations. To assist first responders fire fighters, law enforcement officers, and emergency medical technicians in locating, identifying, collecting, and preserving critical bombing and fire scene evidence, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released two guidebooks: A Guide for Explosion and Bombing Scene Investigation and Fire and Arson Scene Evidence: A Guide for Public Safety Personnel. The reports were released in June 2000. Both guides include information on the role of the first responders who arrive on the scene, as well as guidance in: Evaluating and ensuring the integrity of the evidence and the security of the crime scene; Documenting the scene, such as information on photographing, videotaping, and documenting the scene; Processing evidence, including assembling evidence processing teams, establishing and maintaining a chain of custody, and identifying, collecting, preserving, inventorying, packaging, and transporting evidence; and Completing and recording the crime scene investigation, which includes guidance on when to "release" the scene and how to submit reports to the appropriate national databases. In addition, OSLDPS, in partnership with the FBI, is working on developing training courses for state and local emergency response personnel on evidence collection and preservation. Further, OSLDPS has developed two "pocket-sized" field aids, or "job aids," for distribution to emergency response personnel. Identifying and Developing New Tools In its Second Report of the President's Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Gilmore Commission noted that "a national strategy for combating terrorism should emphasize programs and initiatives that build appropriately on existing state and local capabilities for other emergencies and disasters." Pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (P.L. 104- 132), NIJ's Office of Science and Technology has been actively involved in providing public safety agencies with better tools to deal with such incidents, addressing both the unique needs of law enforcement and those shared with other types of public safety agencies. Public safety agencies play a leading role in this effort by defining their requirements and testing the new tools being developed by NIJ and its technology partners. Partnering to take advantage of related research and development efforts is a major part of NIJ's development strategy. NIJ partners include: the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), the Sandia National Laboratory, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the FBI, FEMA, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Other partners include: the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Dartmouth College's Institute for Security Technology Studies (ISTS), the Oklahoma Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), and Eastern Kentucky University. NIJ's efforts are also coordinated with the National Domestic Preparedness Office (NDPO), OSLDPS, and the Interagency Board for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability the responder community's forum for standards-related issues. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit the OJP Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, which includes general information about OJP and its bureaus and program offices, e-mail addresses, downloadable versions of application kits, and links to selected criminal justice Websites. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Website at www.ncjrs.org offers online versions of most OJP publications. OJP publications can also be ordered by calling NCJRS toll-free at 1-800/851-3420. The following publications are available from NCJRS: State Domestic Preparedness Equipment Program Assessment and Strategy Development Tool Kit (OSLDPS) Guidance for the Development of a Three-Year Statewide Domestic Preparedness Strategy (OSLDPS) A Guide for Explosion and Bombing Scene Investigation (NIJ) NCJ 181869 Fire and Arson Scene Evidence: A Guide for Public Safety Personnel (NIJ) NCJ 181584 For More Information The Office of Congressional and Public Affairs (OCPA) is a key point of contact for all of OJP. OCPA is responsible for ensuring effective communication with Congress, the news media, public interest groups, and the public. The telephone number for OCPA is 202/307-0703. OJP maintains a Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov. In addition to general information about OJP and its bureaus, the Website includes downloadable versions of many OJP publications and application kits, as well as useful links to selected criminal justice Websites. Each bureau and office's Website includes an e-mail address where you can write with questions. To be placed on mailing lists to receive grant announcements and application kits, call the Department of Justice Response Center at 1-800/421-6770 or in Washington, DC call 202/307-1480. For ordering and other information about OJP publications, contact the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 1-800/851-3420 or on the Internet at www.ncjrs.org. You may also call one of the OJP clearinghouses listed below. BJA Clearinghouse Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse 1-800/688-4252 1-800/638-8736 BJS Clearinghouse National Victims Resource Center 1-800/732-3277 1-800/627-6872