Funding for state and local jurisdictions is directly impacted by the timely submission of Uniform Crime Reporting data.
Based on the congressional appropriation for the JAG program, BJS calculates the initial allocation funding amounts for the 50 states and U.S. territories. Using the congressionally established formula, BJS allocates half of the available funds based on a state’s or territory’s share of the nation’s violent crime and half of the funds based on its share of the nation’s population.
For FY 2016, the most recent three-year period of official violent crime data for states and territories from the FBI covered the period between 2011 and 2014. The population shares for the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories were determined based on the results of the 2014 midyear population estimates published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
BJS calculates the initial amount of each local award. Each local award amount is equal to the product of a local jurisdiction’s three-year violent crime average and the “dollars per crime” ratio for the state in which it is located.
Other factors that impact Department of Justice funding
Here are two examples of why it is important to work with other criminal justice agencies to ensure that federal compliance standards are being met. Many states have seen reductions in federal funding due to noncompliance issues, outlined below. The good news is that there are grants available to meet the standards, as long as the money is used only to address these specific issues.
REDUCTIONS/PENALTIES: The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, required that the 50 states, District of Columbia, five principal territories, and some federally recognized tribes substantially implement SORNA by July 27, 2009. Two full-year deadline extensions were provided, and a final statutory deadline of July 27, 2011 was established.
SORNA mandates a 10 percent reduction in JAG funding if a state, territory or district failed to substantially implement SORNA by the 2011 deadline. For those jurisdictions, the reduction was first applied in FY 2012 and will continue to be applied in each subsequent year until the JAG funding recipient has substantially implemented SORNA. While the reduction may impact states, territories and DC, it will not be applied to the portion of the JAG award that is reserved for local or tribal jurisdictions.
For additional information regarding SORNA implementation, contact the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART) Policy Advisor Samantha Opong at Samantha.Opong@usdoj.gov or 202-514-9320.
The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 stipulates that a state whose governor does not certify full compliance with the National PREA Standards is subject to the loss of 5 percent of certain DOJ grant funds, including JAG, that it would otherwise receive for prison purposes unless the governor submits an assurance to DOJ that no less than 5 percent of such funds will be used solely for the purpose of enabling the state to achieve and certify full compliance with the standards in future years [1]. A 5 percent JAG reduction will be applied each year a jurisdiction does not certify full compliance. For additional information concerning PREA implementation, send inquiries to the PREA Management Office at PREACompliance@usdoj.gov.
- 42 U.S.C. § 15607 (c)(2).
