Law Justice and Legal Services Grants

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to fund a training and technical assistance (TTA) provider to build capability and capacity of diversion programs serving justice-involved youth populations with substance use disorder and co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder needs. The successful applicant will lead a national TTA program and administer a subaward program providing subawards to local demonstration sites to improve responses and outcomes for youth with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders who come into contact with the juvenile justice system, or who are at high risk of contact, by diverting these youth toward community-based treatment to address their unique mental and behavioral health needs to prevent them from entering the formal justice system.

With this solicitation, BJA seeks to support the development and testing of new or innovative approaches to improving community safety and trust that are alternatives to traditional enforcement mechanisms for neighborhoods experiencing high rates of less serious and low level criminal offenses. This model will involve coordination with law enforcement entities to improve public safety and community residents perceptions of law enforcement and procedural fairness and legitimacy. This solicitation also supports funding for national training and technical assistance (TTA) to support site-based grants and the field in building capacity and partnerships essential to this work.

This program is authorized by 34 U.S. C. 10441, 10446 10451, 10454. The Services* Training* Officers* Prosecutors (STOP) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program (STOP Formula Grant Program) (Assistance Listing Number 16.588) supports communities, including American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages, in their efforts to develop and strengthen effective responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to fund mentoring organizations to enhance and expand mentoring services for children and youth who are at risk or high risk for delinquency, victimization, and juvenile justice system involvement.

The Healing and Response Teams Special Initiative (Assistance Listing # 16.029) was created in response to recommendations made by the Not Invisible Act Commission (NIAC). This special initiative will support the creation, training, and sustainability of Healing and Response Teams (HRT) using a Tribal-based model of care to respond to Missing or Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) cases related to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking. Within the first nine (9) months of the project, in coordination with OVW, the recipient will identify, make subawards to, and collaborate with three subrecipients acting as pilot sites.

This project seeks to enhance detainees rights in Tunisia by expanding access to legal aid and improving enforcement of detainee rights in Tunisia. In 2016, Tunisia passed wide-ranging reforms of its Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). Act 2016-5 (Law 5) enacting article 13 of the CPC gave arrestees in police custody the right to legal counsel and significantly reduced the duration of legal pre-charge detention from 72 to 48 hours. By the order of public prosecutor and when justified, pre-charge detention could be extended with 48 hours for felonies and 24 hours for misdemeanors. In parallel, the anti-terrorism law of 2015 allows prosecutors and police to hold suspects for the first 48 hours without access to a lawyer and extends the duration of pre-charge custody to five days extendable two times for a total of 15 days. Since Law 5 came into force, its application has been uneven. This project seeks to ensure that the rights granted to civilians in Tunisia by Law 5 and criminal procedures proposing alternatives to detention, inter alia, bail provisions, are enforced consistently during the pre-trial phase.

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) is pleased to invite eligible organizations to submit applications for a grant to conduct explosive hazards survey and clearance operations as well as deliver explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) in Iraq during fiscal year 2024. Specific goals, objectives, and technical requirements for application packages are detailed below. PM/WRA anticipates awarding up to $4,000,000 under this funding opportunity.

The purpose of this award is to help EXBS partners in the Western Hemisphere build capacity to implement and enforce strategic trade controls and related mechanisms (e.g., foreign direct investment screening regimes) to mitigate proliferation risks.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to provide funding to communities to develop coordinated and comprehensive community-based approaches to help children and their families who are exposed to violence build resilience, restore their safety, heal their social and emotional wounds, and prevent future violence and delinquency. Funding can be used to develop and/or enhance support services for children exposed to violence to reduce the adverse impact of violence on youth, families, and communities, and to help family-serving organizations better recognize and help families at risk for exposure to violence.

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a project to increase judicial transparency, independence, and efficiency in Mongolia.

Nigeria is ranked 8th most impacted country by terrorism globally according to the 2023 Global Terrorism index. Groups like ISIS West Africa (ISIS-WA) and Boko Haram have committed horrendous atrocities like massacres and mass killings, use of sexual violence and enslavement, suicide bombings, abductions, and forced conscription. These atrocities, especially in Nigerias northern region, have caused widespread fear among citizens, worsened a humanitarian crisis, and increased gross violations of human rights. To hold the perpetrators of these atrocities accountable, Nigerias Federal Ministry of Justice has assigned the prosecution of terrorism and atrocities cases to the ministrys Complex Case Group. Furthermore, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, which has jurisdiction over terrorism cases, has assigned a number of judges to adjudicate these cases. Nigerias Legal Aid Council (LACON) also provides defense to the persons charged with committing atrocities. In addition to these, the National Human Rights Commission is tasked with the responsibility of promoting and protecting human rights and the investigation of human rights violations. Thousands of terrorism cases in Nigeria remain backlogged. The backlog results from prosecutors and judges limited knowledge of prosecuting atrocities cases. Existing cases languish because of institutional administrative problems, including Nigerian judges transcribing court proceedings by hand, resulting in delays and errors. Lawyers at the Legal Aid Council also have limited specialized training which contributes to delays in the process and lack of proper defense for suspects. Detainees are kept in government detention facilities located at significant distances from the government officials responsible for the prosecution, defense and judgements, creating significant logistical challenges. Poor case management, disorganized court administration, and a lack of coordination between the Complex Case Group, Federal High Court, and the Joint Investigative Center (the unit responsible for investigating terrorism cases comprised of military, police and state security service investigators) further impede progress on atrocity cases.

Through the new Civil Society Activity in the Kyrgyz Republic, USAID/Kyrgyz Republic will support Kyrgyz civil society to build stronger relationships with their constituencies, enhance their resilience in the face of democratic backsliding, strengthen trust-based relationships and networks among diverse civic actors, andgenerate support for promotion of democratic values through value-based messaging.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to provide funding to communities to develop intervention and supervision services for youth with problematic or illegal sexual behavior, and to provide treatment services for their victims and families/caregivers. Under this initiative, successful applicants are expected to have an established multidisciplinary team that (1) supports a comprehensive holistic approach to treating youth with problematic or illegal sexual behavior and (2) provides support services to victims and families/caregivers.

With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to support the development and dissemination of translational tools and resources current knowledge about what works packaged in accessible, comprehensible, actionable form for use by everyday youth serving (nonresearcher) practitioners, and lay persons to effect and sustain positive change on key topics spanning the juvenile justice continuum in order to improve the juvenile justice system and prevent juvenile delinquency.

There are over 3,100 local jails and 80 Indian country jails in the United States with a combined population on any given day of over 660,000 people. While these facilities vary drastically in size and age, the leaders of these facilities have more in common than not. Large or small, rural, or urban, the vast majority face the same challenges: staffing, succession planning, training, culture, resource shortages, data analysis, health care, substance abuse disorders, mental illness, facility design and operations, and early identification of trends and emerging issues within their populations, to name a few. And while there are commonalities among the many, the responsibility to the public for the life, health, and safety of the people in their custody and their employees while administering a constitutionally run jail is considerable and common to all.The Institute for Jail Administration (IJA) provides training to personnel in positions of leadership within local or tribal organizations responsible for operating a jail or that have a nexus to jail operations. The IJA assists them as leaders within their organizations and equips them to manage essential aspects of administering a jail and prepares them for positions of greater responsibility.

The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to create and provide state and local criminal justice policy teams or pretrial services agencies with an implementation toolkit using A Framework for Pretrial Justice: Essential Elements of a Pretrial System and Agency Implementation. Some pretrial essential elements may need revisions based on changes in case law, state statutes, research evidence, standards, and organizational theory/implementation science. This new toolkit will be called Essential Elements of a Pretrial System and Agency Toolkit. The foundation for the development of the Essential Elements of a Pretrial System and Agency Toolkit shall be based on four elements: (1) the law, (2) pretrial standards adopted by the ABA and NAPSA, (3) pretrial system/services research and LEBP, and (4) organizational theory/implementation science. NIC supports the use of policy teams or other collaborative criminal justice teams to achieve meaningful and sustained pretrial system and agency improvements. The awardee is encouraged to leverage NICs Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) and Criminal Justice Coordinating Council resources with the development of the Essential Elements of a Pretrial System and Agency Toolkit.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks applications for formula funding. With this solicitation, BJA seeks to fund improvements to forensic science and medical examiner/coroner services, including services provided by forensic science laboratories operated by states and units of local government. Under the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program (the Coverdell Program), state administering agencies (SAAs) may apply for both formula and competitive funds. This solicitation is ONLY for SAAs applying for the formula funds. An applicant seeking to apply for Coverdell competitive funds (consistent with 34 U.S.C. 10563(a)(2)) available to eligible states and units of local government would need to apply separately under BJAs FY 2024 Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program (Competitive) solicitation.

With this solicitation, BJA seeks to support efforts by state, local, and federally recognized American Indian tribal governments to establish and enhance community courts in their jurisdictions. This program furthers the DOJs mission by providing resources to communities to enhance public safety and build trust between law enforcement and the community.

Open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a project to create a trusted judicial advocacy network, modeled after the American Inns of Court, that furthers professionalism, integrity, and mutual respect among peers in North Macedonias legal community. Through this network, members will learn from one another and through targeted training and other opportunities to promote judicial independence, thereby contributing to strengthening rule of law.

The purpose of the Research and Evaluation (R) Initiative is to research and evaluate approaches to combatting domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (hereafter referred to as VAWA crimes). By generating more knowledge about strategies for serving victims and holding offenders accountable, communities that benefit from VAWA funding will be better equipped to align their work with practices that are known to be effective, and they will be more capable of generating empirical knowledge on the efficacy of new and promising ways of doing things. The initiative is designed to support researcher-practitioner partnerships and a broad range of research and evaluation methods, including qualitative, mixed-method, quasi-experimental, and experimental designs. Because OVW has very limited funds to support research and evaluation, this initiative prioritizes topics for which a stronger evidence base would help OVW grantees use federal funds most effectively.