In this report, the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) briefly describes its programs that support reduction in violent crime.
The Smart Policing Initiative (SPI, formerly Strategies for Policing Innovation) funds police efforts to use evidence-based practices, data, and technology in countering crime, including violent crime. BJA’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program is a $484 million formula grant program that is the leading federal source of criminal justice funding to states, territories, local governments, and tribes. In FY 2021, JAG funding will focus on community violence interventions. BJA’s Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) features a strategic approach to crime-reduction that leverages community knowledge and expertise by providing resources for law enforcement efforts that focus on neighborhoods where crime is concentrated (“hotspots”). BJA’s National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative assists law enforcement and prosecutors in developing more efficient and effective ways for the forensic analysis of potential evidence in sexual assault kits. BJA’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSA) promotes and funds partnerships of local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement that focus on the cooperative analysis of violent crime in each federal district and the design. Implementation, and evaluation of strategies to combat it. BJA’s new violent crime reduction initiative will provide competitive grants and technical assistance to rural law enforcement agencies for the analysis and countering of violent crime distinctive to an agency’s jurisdiction. Other BJA programs described address the prevention of school violence, countering the increase in gun-related crime, the more efficient coordination of training and technical assistance for grantees, and improved training for prosecutors in reducing violent crime.