Weekly News Brief

Nominations for Medal of Valor Starts Tuesday, May 31 - Public safety officers risk their lives to protect America's citizens and communities. To honor that commitment, Congress passed The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Act of 2001, creating the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor, the highest national award for valor by a public safety officer. The medal is awarded annually by the President to public safety officers exhibiting exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect human life. The nomination period for the 2010 - 2011 Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor will begin May 31. All applications are limited to acts of valor that occurred between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011. Nominations must be submitted through the online Medal of Valor Application System. More information, including frequently asked questions, eligibility, and how to nominate someone is available at: https://www.medalofvalor.gov/.

Updated: BJA Posts JAG Solicitation - The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) posted the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 State Solicitation. BJA anticipates releasing the FY 2011 State allocations and the Local JAG solicitation and associated allocations within the next 10 days. For more information visit: https://www.bja.govgrant/jag.html

BJS Releases PREA Data Collection - On Tuesday, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released the Prison Rape Elimination Act Data Collection Activities, 2011, providing selected findings and status updates on five separate data collection efforts in response to the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA; P.L. 108-79). https://bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2198

Upcoming Events:

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), with the support of the nonprofit Pretrial Justice Institute, will convene the 2011 National Symposium on Pretrial Justice, Tuesday, May 31, through Wednesday, June 1, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. The conference is open to the media. Leaders from criminal justice stakeholder organizations and the pretrial community will update the important conversations of the 1964 National Conference on Bail and Criminal Justice and discuss evidence-based tools to ensure a fair, safe and accountable pretrial justice system. Attorney General Eric H. Holder; Deputy Attorney General James Cole; U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ron Machen; OJP's Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson; Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich; and James H. Burch, II, Acting Director, OJP's Bureau of Justice Assistance, will speak. An agenda is available at: http://pretrial.org/symposium.html. For more information contact, Michelle Person at 202-305-7381.

The 2011 National Gang Symposium, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, June 7-10, in Orlando, Fla., is open to the media. For more information, contact Starr Small, 202-514-9870. http://www.gangsymposium.org/

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