President's FY 2009 Budget Includes $1 Billion to Assist States, Communities, and Tribes
March 2008
On February 4, President Bush sent Congress his Fiscal Year 2009 Budget request, outlining the Administration's spending priorities for the coming year. His request reflects an adaptable and flexible approach to fighting crime and targets resources to the areas that need it the most. In addition, it streamlines the number of Department of Justice discretionary grant programs from more than 70 to 4 competitive programs. These four programs will give states, localities, and tribes considerable flexibility in addressing their most challenging problems, including gun and gang violence, drug-related crimes, and the exploitation of children.
Included in the President's Budget request for the Department of Justice is more than $1 billion in discretionary grant assistance for state, local, and tribal governments. Of this total, $200 million will go toward continuing the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership Initiative. Last year, OJP awarded $75 million under this initiative to support state and local violent crime task forces. The value of this approach is that it allows communities to tackle their violent crime problems immediately, rather than delaying a response by waiting for personnel to be hired, trained, and equipped. And these funds will allow law enforcement to address problems that they have identified as pressing, such as drug trafficking and gang activity.
Because there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problems facing communities, the President's Budget request will allow us to maximize our resources by targeting them to areas where they can do the most good. This approach will depend on the development of strong partnerships between local officials, community organizations, and citizens, all of whom must be involved in designing effective crime-fighting strategies.
Other highlights of the President's Budget related to OJP programs include:
Byrne Public Safety and Protection (Byrne) Program: $200 million in total funding for this new program. This initiative will consolidate OJP's most successful discretionary grant program to help state, local, and tribal governments develop programs appropriate to the particular needs of their jurisdictions. Through a competitive grant process, OJP will assist state, local, and tribal governments in addressing a number of high-priority concerns, such as: (1) reducing violent crime at the local levels through the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative; (2) addressing the criminal justice issues surrounding substance abuse through drug courts, residential treatment for prison inmates, prescription drug monitoring programs, methamphetamine enforcement and lab cleanup, and cannabis eradication efforts; (3) promoting and enhancing law enforcement information sharing efforts through improved and more accurate criminal history records; (4) improving the capacity of state and local law enforcement and justice system personnel to make use of forensic evidence and reducing DNA evidence analysis backlogs; (5) addressing domestic trafficking in persons; (6) improving and expanding prisoner re-entry initiatives; (7) improving services to victims of crime to facilitate their participation in the legal process; and others. Non-governmental entities will also be eligible for funding under this program.
Child Safety and Juvenile Justice Program: $185 million in total funding for this new program. This initiative consolidates existing juvenile justice and exploited children programs, such as the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program, into a single, flexible grant program. Through a competitive discretionary grant process, OJP will assist state, local, and tribal governments in addressing multiple child safety and juvenile justice needs. These include reducing incidents of child exploitation and abuse, including those facilitated by the Internet, improving juvenile justice outcomes, and addressing school safety needs.
Regional Information Sharing System (RISS): $34.2 million in total funding for RISS. This funding will be used to provide increased intelligence and forensic services for state and local law enforcement. RISS is comprised of six regional intelligence centers operating in geographic regions that include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. These regional centers facilitate and encourage information sharing and communications to support member agencies' investigative and prosecution efforts by providing state-of-the-art investigative support and training, analytical services, specialized equipment, secure information sharing technology, and secure encrypted e-mail and communication capabilities to more than 6,000 municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies nationwide. RISS' ATIX (Anti-terrorism Information Exchange) is designed to provide limited access to RISS.net to non-traditional groups of users in order to secure interagency communication, information sharing, and dissemination of threat information.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS): $53 million in total funding for this OJP bureau which collects and analyzes statistical data on crime, criminal offenders, and the operations of justice systems at all levels of government. BJS also provides financial and technical support to state governments to develop capabilities in criminal justice statistics, improve criminal history records, and implement crime identification technology systems.
National Institute of Justice: $34.7 million in total funding for this OJP bureau, which supports research and development programs, conducts demonstrations of innovative approaches to improve criminal justice, develops and tests new criminal justice technologies, evaluates the effectiveness of justice programs, conducts research on crime and justice issues, and disseminates research findings to practitioners and policymakers.
Crime Victims Fund: $590 million for the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to continue to provide federal leadership in assisting victims of crime and their families. This OJP office provides formula grants to the states to support victim compensation and assistance programs across the nation. OVC also provides training for diverse professionals who work with victims, develops and disseminates publications, supports projects to enhance victims' rights and services, and educates the public about victim issues. OVC also enables victims of federal crimes to participate fully in the criminal justice process. It distributes funds to nonprofit organizations, federal and military criminal justice agencies, and American Indians and Alaska Natives to support both training for service providers and direct services for victims, including crisis counseling, temporary shelter, and travel expenses incurred in going to court.
More details about the President's FY 2009 budget are available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/.