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Chapters:

3.21 Payment Programs

Northern Border Prosecution Initiative and Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative

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Eligibility and Guidelines
Application and Funding Process
Key Points about the NBPI and SWBPI Programs

The NBPI and SWBPI programs were created to reimburse eligible State and local jurisdictions for prosecution and pretrial detention costs for cases that the Federal Government declined and referred to these jurisdictions. While applicant jurisdictions may use funds from NBPI/SWBPI Federal payments for any purpose not otherwise prohibited by Federal law, the programs encourage the jurisdictions to use the funds to support and enhance prosecutorial and detention services.

Note: Beginning in Fiscal Year 2013, BJA will only reimburse prosecution costs and will no longer reimburse detention costs under the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative and the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative.

Eligibility and Guidelines

  • 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.
  • An applicant must be the chief executive or an authorized designee of any eligible jurisdiction.
  • Only employees, such as a sheriff or county prosecutor, of the applicant jurisdiction can serve as an authorized designee for SWBPI or NBPI applications.
  • The following border State and county governments are eligible to receive funding under the border prosecution initiatives:
  • Northern border: Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin
  • Southwest Border: Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas
  • In addition to being an approved border State, submitted cases must meet the following criteria to be considered for NBPI and SWBPI funding:
  • The criminal case was federally initiated.
  • The case was declined or referred to a county or State jurisdiction after October 1, 2005.
  • The case was prosecuted by a State or county prosecutor.
  • The case was disposed of during a designated reporting period.
  • Each defendant listed represents a separate case. If one case has multiple defendants, each defendant should be listed as a separate case.
  • If one defendant was charged in multiple cases and the cases were investigated or prosecuted during concurrent periods of time, all cases are claimed as one case.

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Application and Funding Process

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Key Points about the NBPI and SWBPI Programs
1 Each NBPI/SWBPI reporting period is based on the previous year???s cases and salary. For example, the reporting period for fiscal year 2010 was October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.
2 Court and arrest records for each case submitted for NBPI/SWBPI funding may be requested by BJA for pre- and post-award review. Any cases that do not have the corresponding court and arrest records will not be considered for funding.
3 Documentation must be maintained to support that NBPI/SWBPI funds, when combined with other Federal prosecution funds, do not exceed 100 percent of the prosecution costs for the cases.
4 Time spent by prosecutors on judicial appeals and incarceration time for sentenced offenders are not allowable program costs and should not be reported on the application.

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