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Grants 101

Section 7

Supporting Innovation in Adjudication

Overview

Increasing fairness and public trust in the justice system is an OJP priority. Special efforts must be made throughout the court system nationwide to address its challenging and diverse problems. Through investments in innovative initiatives such as problem-solving courts, effective case flow management, community prosecution, indigent defense, and reentry efforts, OJP has helped jurisdictions realize measurable gains in public trust while also increasing capacity and reducing crime.

OJP’s integrated approach to justice reform engages the community and promotes multidisciplinary collaboration and training on issues that fuel recidivism and advance public safety. This approach, especially with regard to policy decisions and resource allocation, ensures that communities are able to effectively utilize a limited pool of available resources to address the inherent social and economic issues related to incarceration. While local court personnel will decide how to meet the community’s specific needs, OJP is committed to providing the resources, tools, and support to help them test their ideas.

Adjudication programs and initiatives address each phase of the criminal justice cycle, from pretrial risk assessments and pre-adjudication diversion initiatives to community oriented justice to effectively addressing reentry. These efforts are aimed at shifting the policy making paradigm towards community-strengthening investments instead of increased incarceration. Through close partnerships with stakeholders and national organizations, OJP provides jurisdictions with support via training and technical assistance, enabling them to address inefficiencies in their programs during various stages of the adjudication process. OJP also relies on field practitioners to provide valuable insight for developing targeted, sustainable solutions nationwide.

In addition to the initiatives listed in this chapter, OJP is addressing training and technical assistance needs for indigent defense, providing training and technical assistance for criminal courts to improve their management and operations, and providing training on the "CSI effect" and other issues surrounding juror bias. As we look forward, OJP will target emerging issues that courts need to address, including the increasing numbers of senior citizens in the court process, mortgage fraud, and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Discretionary Programs

Program Name Wrongful Conviction Review Program
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $3,000,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/10WrongfulConvictionSol.pdf
Point of Contact Danica Szarvas-Kidd, (202) 305-7416, Danica.Szarvas-Kidd@usdoj.gov
Program Description
After consulting with those in the field who work to exonerate potentially wrongfully convicted defendants, BJA created a new grant program based on the needs of the field as well as Congressional intent. The result is a grant program that seeks to provide high quality representation for defendants with post-conviction claims of innocence. Post-conviction innocence claims are likely to include complex challenges to the reliability and accuracy of evidence presented at trial. Problematic evidence falls into three categories—eyewitness identification evidence, confession evidence, and forensic evidence. In some cases, post-conviction DNA testing alone can prove innocence, but the majority of cases require other, more costly forms of proof, including DNA testing and expert testimony. The goals of this initiative are to provide quality representation to the wrongfully convicted; alleviate burdens placed on the criminal justice system through costly and prolonged post-conviction litigation; and identify, when possible, the actual perpetrator of the crime. In addition to providing grant funds to public defender offices and nonprofit organizations that handle post-conviction claims of innocence, this initiative also provides funding for the National Association of Criminal Defense lawyers to provide support and assistance to grantees.

Program Name Rural and Urban Court Managers Networks
Grantee Justice Management Institute (Continuation)
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link http://www.jmijustice.org/current-projects/urban-courts/the-urban-court-managers-network#meetings
Point of Contact: Preeti Menon, (202) 353-3511, Preeti.Menon@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The Rural and Urban Court Managers Networks (RCMN and UCMN) strengthen the ability of rural and urban court managers to work effectively with practitioners in their own jurisdictions, with key justice system policy makers and with each other, to improve criminal justice operations in their jurisdictions. There are two unique networks that allow the chief administrators and presiding judges to candidly examine problems that are unique to the administration of criminal justice and develop practical solutions. Both networks focus on improving criminal case processing from beginning to end. Issues that the group has addressed in the past include criminal case processing; community issues; technology issues; problem solving courts; courthouse facility and security issues; court research; family law issues; customer service issues; strategic planning; leadership; continuity of operations; pretrial services; and probation and parole.

Program Name Failures and Innovation in Criminal Justice Reform
Grantee Center for Court Innovation (Continuation)
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.courtinnovation.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=640&documentTopicID=41
Point of Contact Kim Norris, (202) 307-2076, Kim.Norris@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This initiative promotes conversation about failure, thereby creating an atmosphere that fosters innovation and encourages criminal justice officials to test meaningful new ideas. BJA, in partnership with the Center for Court Innovation, has embarked on a multifaceted inquiry designed to analyze failure in criminal justice reform. This initiative examines efforts to improve the criminal justice system that did not achieve the intended results to promote innovation going forward. In addition, this initiative strives to shift the way criminal justice agencies perceive failure, from a stigmatizing and wholly negative force, to a necessary companion and contributor to success.

Program Name Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative (SWBPI)
Grantee Eligible jurisdictions in four southwest border states
FY 2010 Funding $31,000,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/southwest.html
Program Contact Joe Husted, (202) 353-4411, Joseph.Husted@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This initiative provides funds to eligible jurisdictions in the four southwest border states (i.e., Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas) using a uniform payment-per-case basis for qualifying federally initiated and declined-referred criminal cases that were disposed of after October 1, 2004. Successful applicants may use their federal funds for any lawful purpose. A federally initiated and referred criminal case is eligible if it was prosecuted by a state or county prosecutor and disposed of during one of the eligibility periods. Jurisdictions providing pretrial detention for eligible case defendants are also eligible for funds. Each defendant represents a separate case. Federally referred cases that are declined and not prosecuted by state or county prosecutors are ineligible. Applicants participating in the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program are permitted to apply.

Program Name Northern Border Prosecution Initiative (NBPI)
Grantee Eligible jurisdictions in 14 northern border states
FY 2010 Funding $3,000,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/northernborder.html
Program Contact Joe Husted, (202) 353-4411, Joseph.Husted@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This initiative provides funds to eligible jurisdictions in the 14 northern border states (i.e., Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin) using a uniform payment-per-case basis for qualifying federally initiated and declined-referred criminal cases that were disposed of after October 1, 2005. Although reimbursements from NBPI federal payments may be used by applicant jurisdictions for any purpose not otherwise prohibited by federal law, using funds to support and enhance additional prosecutorial and detention services is encouraged. A federally initiated and referred criminal case is eligible if it was prosecuted by a state or county prosecutor and disposed of during one of the eligibility periods. Jurisdictions providing pretrial detention for eligible case defendants are also eligible for funds. Each defendant represents a separate case. Federally referred cases that are declined and not prosecuted by state or county prosecutors are ineligible. Applicants participating in the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program are permitted to apply.

Training and Technical Assistance

Program Name Capital Case Litigation Initiative (CCLI)
Grantee Competitive and Solicited
FY 2010 Funding $2,500,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/CCLI.html
Program Contact Danica Szarvas-Kidd, (202) 305-7416, Danica.Szarvas-Kidd@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This initiative is designed to provide high quality training and technical assistance on death penalty issues to judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors. Program goals are to increase the number of court officials trained in capital case procedures and strategies and to ensure that defense attorneys and prosecutors have the most up-to-date and comprehensive information available on death penalty litigation. In FY 2010, BJA will continue to improve the quality of capital case litigation training by requiring states to utilize curricula that have been developed and piloted specifically for prosecutors and defense attorneys. BJA also will solicit applications from national organizations to provide support to state and local grantees.

Program Name Problem-Solving Courts Training and Technical Assistance
Grantee Center for Court Innovation
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/cb_problem_solving.html; www.courtinnovation.org
Point of Contact Preeti Menon, (202) 353-3511, Preeti.Menon@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This initiative aims to broaden the scope of problem-solving justice by testing this approach with new defendant populations and applying key problem-solving principles (e.g., links to social services, rigorous judicial monitoring, and aggressive community outreach) outside of the specialized court context. Research has demonstrated that, if implemented properly, the problem-solving approach can reduce crime, improve coordination among justice agencies, enhance services to victims, and increase public trust in justice. Problem-solving justice adapts to local conditions. The problem-solving courts initiative emphasizes collaboration, engagement with local stakeholders, and individualization of sanctions—strategies that shun "cookie-cutter"approaches and encourage justice practitioners to embrace local priorities, resources, and circumstances. The national training and technical assistance partner facilitates peer to peer mentoring of community courts and a national conference for community court leaders.

Program Name Criminal Courts Technical Assistance Program (CCTAP)
Grantee American University (Continuation)
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www1.spa.american.edu/justice/project.php?ID=2
Point of Contact Preeti Menon, (202) 353-351, Preeti.Menon@usdoj.gov
Program Description
CCTAP provides technical assistance services to courts throughout the country. Senior practitioners deliver these services, which include the following:

Promoting the coordinated and efficient administration of justice at the state and local level.
Enhancing public confidence in the criminal adjudication system and its components.
Stimulating networking among criminal courts and related agencies to increase awareness of promising approaches to matters of common concern or emerging relevance to judicial system operations.
Facilitating the development and conduct of accessible, fair, and accountable criminal adjudication system processes.

CCTAP also develops subject-specific services and publications based on periodic surveys of practitioners and national membership organizations related to the courts, corrections, and law enforcement fields.

Program Name Indigent Defense Technical Assistance
Grantee American Bar Association (ABA) (Continuation)
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bja
Point of Contact Preeti Menon, (202) 353-3511, Preeti.Menon@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This initiative will provide training and technical assistance to public defender services in the United States. ABA will develop and deliver a training curriculum at four regional trainings for public defenders, conduct two focus groups, facilitate the identification of mentor public defender agencies, and provide paid internship opportunities for individuals who have passed the bar and are newly working as public defenders.

Program Name Community Prosecution Technical Assistance
Grantee Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Inc. (APA) (Continuation)
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link http://www.ndaa.org/nccp_ta.html; www.apainc.org
Point of Contact Kim Norris, (202) 307-2076, Kim.Norris@usdoj.gov
Program Description
Community prosecution provides prosecutors with additional tools to pursue justice. By strengthening links to the community, promoting partnerships, and encouraging the development of problem-solving strategies, community prosecution helps prosecutors achieve their most important goals: ensuring that the guilty are held accountable, the innocent are protected from unwarranted harm, and the rights of victims are respected. Community prosecution involves a long-term, proactive partnership among county and city prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, law enforcement officials, the community, and public and private organizations, whereby the authority of the prosecutor’s office is used to solve problems, improve public safety, and enhance the quality of life of community members.

APA will develop and deliver a training curriculum at two national trainings for community prosecutors; deliver technical assistance to the field, including assisting programs in developing performance measures; conduct approximately four to five onsite technical assistance visits to provide hands-on assistance to new community prosecution programs; convene a steering group; develop quarterly newsletters; and develop and maintain a BJA-supported community prosecution Web site.

Program Name Judicial Training
Grantee National Judicial College (NJC) (Continuation)
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.judges.org
Point of Contact Preeti Menon, (202) 353-3511, Preeti.Menon@usdoj.gov
Program Description
BJA partners with NJC to provide judges the opportunity to enhance their judicial skills through courses and programs designed specifically to meet the needs of our changing judiciary. BJA and NJC work with chief justices, state court administrators, and state judicial educators to ensure that judges have scholarship opportunities to participate in these educational experiences. The courses offered range from the 2-week "General Jurisdiction" course for new judges, to courses for experienced judges, like "Advanced Evidence and Decision Making"; and from specialized training, such as "Practical Approaches to Substance Abuse Issues and Co-occurring Mental and Substance Abuse Disorders", to skills-based courses like "Judicial Writing and Enhancing Judicial Bench Skills."

Program Name Pretrial Training and Assessment
Grantee Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI) (Continuation)
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.pretrial.org
Point of Contact Preeti Menon, (202) 353-3511, Preeti.Menon@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This program will reach pretrial practitioners, judges, prosecutors, defenders, corrections officials, and county governments with training and technical assistance services tailored to their needs. Criminal justice systems can become invested in safer, more transparent, and less racially biased alternatives to pretrial detention by utilizing evidence-based practices such as risk assessment instruments and cross-disciplinary training, and by creating consistent and clear outcome measures within the confines of local law. The goal of this project is to raise state and local pretrial justice policies and practices to be aligned with national standards. Under this initiative, PJI will provide training and technical assistance on bail issues and pretrial release; conduct followup on research findings and lessons learned regarding effective pretrial risk assessment processes; catalog risk assessment tools being used throughout the United States in partnership with National Association of Pretrial Services agencies; and continue to maintain the pretrial services online resources center.

Research and Statistical Programs

Program Name Research on Sentencing and Community-Based Alternatives to Incarceration
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $1,000,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij;
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/sl000890.pdf
Program Contact Linda Truitt, (202) 353-9081, Linda.Truitt@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ is seeking applications for funding to research sentencing and community corrections policies and practices that promote effective and cost-efficient community-based alternatives to jail and prison without jeopardizing public safety. Priority research questions include what policies and practices promote effective and cost-efficient alternatives to incarceration for alcohol and other drug involved offenders, including those with mental health (i.e., comorbid) issues, and what technological applications and protocols for assessment or monitoring support effective and cost-efficient alternatives to incarceration? The target population must include adult offenders in federal, state, or local jurisdictions who are convicted on criminal charges and may be sentenced to jail or prison.

Program Name Court Statistics Project
Grantee National Center for State Courts (Continuation)
FY 2010 Funding $400,000
OJP Sponsor BJS
Web Link bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Point of Contact Duren Banks, (202) 305-1355, Duren.Banks@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This project provides data on state appellate and trial court caseloads for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Information is reported on case type, case filings, case processing, disposition, and appellate opinions. Data on state appellate caseloads are divided into mandatory and discretionary cases. Data on trial court caseloads include information about criminal cases, civil cases, domestic cases, juvenile cases, and cases involving traffic and other violations of local ordinances.

Program Name 2009 Survey of Juveniles Charged in Adult Criminal Courts
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $500,000
OJP Sponsor BJS
Web Link bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Point of Contact Duren Banks, (202) 305-1355, Duren.Banks@usdoj.gov
Program Description

This program seeks assistance in designing, developing, and conducting a data collection for the 2009 BJS Survey of Juveniles Charged in Adult Criminal Courts. The goal of this survey is to generate accurate and reliable case processing statistics for juveniles charged as adults in a national or sub-national sample of counties. The survey is designed to collect information about the criminal case processing of juveniles in adult courts. BJS previously conducted a survey of juveniles in adult courts in the nation's 75 most populous counties in 1998, from which BJS authored two reports, Juvenile Felony Defendants in Criminal Courts (1998) and Juvenile Felony Defendants in Criminal Courts (2003). The 2009 survey will provide information on cases filed in adult courts where the defendant was under the age of 18 at the time of the crime. The sample will be drawn from all such felony and misdemeanor cases arraigned in adult criminal courts in 2009 in a national or sub-national sample. This project will involve both a design and data collection component and will track juvenile defendants for one year, or up to two years for murder.

Program Name 2010 National Survey of Prosecutors
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $450,000
OJP Sponsor BJS
Web Link bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Point of Contact Duren Banks, (202) 305-1355, Duren.Banks@usdoj.gov
Program Description

This program seeks a data collection agent for the 2010 National Survey of Prosecutors (NSP-10). The NSP-10, will focus on the administration of prosecution activities and the emerging types of cases and knowledge from a nationally representative sample of approximately 475 prosecutor offices that handle felony cases in state court. The survey will obtain basic information on staffing, salaries, and budgets, and may also include measures of emerging prosecution techniques and issues, such as community prosecution, computer and internet related crimes, sex offenders, and use of forensic and DNA evidence, plea bargaining, and more.

Program Name 2010 Survey of State Court Criminal Appeals
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $750,000
OJP Sponsor BJS
Web Link bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Point of Contact Duren Banks, (202) 305-1355, Duren.Banks@usdoj.gov
Program Description

This program seeks proposals to administer the Survey of State Court Criminal Appeals (SSCCA). In fiscal year 2008, BJS awarded funds to design and develop a survey capable of obtaining statistical information on criminal appeals in state intermediate appellate courts and courts of last resort. The purpose of this award is to provide funding to finalize the sampling design and survey development, and to administer the criminal appeals survey. The survey will focus on criminal appeals disposed in calendar year 2010 with the aim of obtaining information on certain key case characteristics including the types of criminal cases appealed to state intermediate appellate courts and courts of last resort, the disposition of criminal appeals, appellate case processing time, and the impact of appellate litigation on trial court outcomes. The objective is to identify a data collection agent to finalize and administer the survey in two phases over a 42 month period.

Program Name 2009 Census of Problem-Solving Courts
Grantee Competitive
FY 2010 Funding $350,000
OJP Sponsor BJS
Web Link bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Point of Contact Duren Banks, (202) 305-1355, Duren.Banks@usdoj.gov
Program Description

This program seeks proposals to field the 2009 BJS Census of Problem-Solving Courts. The goal of the census is to generate accurate and reliable national statistics regarding adult offenders who enter problem-solving court programs. The information collected through this census will support a sampling framework to examine case processing information and case dispositions of adults in problem-solving courts. The census will collect information on (1) court operations and staffing, (2) the number of offenders who enter the court, and (3) the characteristics of offenders who enter these programs. The goal is to collect information on court operations during calendar year 2009, including aggregate information on offenders who entered the problem-solving court program during that time.