Frequently Asked Questions about the
Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Program
1. Question: What is the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Program?
Answer: This program was initially created under the provisions of the FY 1998 Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act, but it is based on provisions contained in Title III of H.R. 3, the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Act of 1997. Subsequent years funding has continued through the Appropriations process. The JABG program awards grants to states to address the growing problem of juvenile crime by encouraging accountability-based reform at the state and local levels.
2. Question: How does the JABG program differ from the JAIBG program?
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Authorization Act for FY 2003 (Public Law 107-273), signed into law on November 2, 2002, revised and renamed OJJDP's Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program and placed the new JABG program under Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. The new provisions took effect in FY 2004 (beginning October 1, 2003). Whereas JAIBG was funded as an annual appropriation only, JABG is now a program/line item within legislation.
For a comparison of provisions under JABG and JAIBG, see the OJJDP Bulletin Changes to
OJJDP's Juvenile Accountability Program.
3. Question: Who is eligible?
Answer: Grants are awarded to the states, which are, in turn, required to pass through a majority of the funding (75 percent in most states) to eligible units of local government. (In Louisiana, parish sheriffs are considered a unit of local government for the purposes of this program.)
4. Question: What kinds of things can states and localities use the money for?
Answer: Prior to FY03, funds were used for the following 12 purposes:
1) Corrections/detention facilities: Building, expanding, renovating, or operating
temporary or permanent juvenile corrections or detention facilities, including staff
training (see JABG 2);
2) Accountability-based sanctions: Developing and administering accountability-based
sanctions for juvenile offenders (see JABG 11);
3) Court staffing and pretrial services: Hiring additional juvenile court judges,
probation officers, and court-appointed defenders, and funding pre-trial services for
juveniles to ensure the smooth and expeditious administration of the juvenile justice
system (see JABG 3);
4) Prosecution staffing: Hiring additional prosecutors to increase prosecutions of cases
involving violent juvenile offenders and to reduce case backlogs (see JABG 4);
5) Prosecution effectiveness: Providing funding to enable prosecutors to address more
effectively problems related to drugs, gangs, and youth violence (see JABG 5);
6) Prosecution training and technology: Providing funding for technology, equipment, and
training to assist prosecutors in identifying and expediting prosecutions of violent
juvenile offenders (see JABG 5);
7) Juvenile courts and probation: Providing funding to enable juvenile courts and
probation officers to be more effective and efficient in holding juvenile offenders
accountable and reducing recidivism (see JABG 15);
8) Juvenile gun courts: Establishing court-based juvenile justice programs that target
young firearms offenders through the establishment of juvenile gun courts for adjudication
and prosecution of these offenders (see JABG 7);
9) Juvenile drug courts: Establishing drug court programs to provide continuing judicial
supervision over juvenile offenders with substance abuse problems and to integrate
administration of other sanctions and services for such offenders (see JABG 8);
10) Information sharing: Establishing and maintaining interagency information-sharing
programs that enable the juvenile and criminal justice systems, schools, and social
services agencies to make more informed decisions regarding the early identification,
control, supervision, and treatment of juveniles who repeatedly commit serious delinquent
or criminal acts (see JABG 10);
11) Accountability and school safety: Establishing and maintaining accountability-based
programs that work with juvenile offenders referred by law enforcement agencies, or
programs that are designed, in cooperation with law enforcement officials, to protect
students and school personnel from drug, gang, and youth violence (see JABG 11 and 13);
and
12) Controlled substance testing policy: Implementing a policy of controlled substance
testing for appropriate categories of juvenile offenders (see JABG 12).
Beginning in FY04, funds may be used for the following 17 purposes:
1) Graduated sanctions: Developing, implementing, and administering graduated
sanctions for juvenile offenders (new);
2) Corrections/detention facilities: Building, expanding, renovating, or operating
temporary or permanent juvenile corrections or detention facilities, including staff
training (previously JAIBG 1);
3) Court staffing and pretrial services: Hiring juvenile court judges, probation officers,
and court-appointed defenders and special advocates, and funding pretrial services
(including mental health screening and assessment) for juvenile offenders, to promote the
effective and expeditious administration of the juvenile justice system (revises JAIBG 3);
4) Prosecution staffing: Hiring additional prosecutors to increase prosecutions of cases
involving violent juvenile offenders and to reduce case backlogs (previously JAIBG 4);
5) Prosecution funding: Providing funding to enable prosecutors to address drug, gang, and
youth violence problems more effectively and for technology, equipment and training to
assist prosecutors in identifying and expediting the prosecution of violent juvenile
offenders (combines JAIBG 5 and 6);
6) Training for law enforcement and court personnel: Establishing and maintaining training
programs for law enforcement and other court personnel with respect to preventing and
controlling juvenile crime (new);
7) Juvenile gun courts: Establishing juvenile gun courts for the prosecution and
adjudication of juvenile firearms offenders (revises JAIBG 8);
8) Juvenile drug courts: Establishing drug court programs to provide continuing judicial
supervision over juvenile offenders with substance abuse problems and to integrate
administration of other sanctions and services for such offenders (previously JAIBG 9);
9) Juvenile records system: Establishing and maintaining a system of juvenile records
designed to promote public safety (new);
10) Information sharing: Establishing and maintaining interagency information-sharing
programs that enable the juvenile and criminal justice systems, schools, and social
services agencies to make more informed decisions regarding the early identification,
control, supervision, and treatment of juveniles who repeatedly commit serious delinquent
or criminal acts (previously JAIBG 10);
11) Accountability: Establishing and maintaining accountability-based programs designed to
reduce recidivism among juveniles who are referred by law enforcement personnel or
agencies (revises JAIBG 2 and 11);
12) Risk and needs assessment: Establishing and maintaining programs to conduct risk and
needs assessments of juvenile offenders that facilitate effective early intervention and
the provision of comprehensive services, including mental health screening and treatment
and substance abuse testing and treatment, to such offenders (incorporates JAIBG 12 with a
new purpose);
13) School safety: Establishing and maintaining accountability-based programs that are
designed to enhance school safety (revises JAIBG 11);
14) Restorative justice: Establishing and maintaining restorative justice programs (new);
15) Juvenile courts and probation: Establishing and maintaining programs to enable
juvenile courts and juvenile probation officers to be more effective and efficient in
holding juvenile offenders accountable and reducing recidivism (revises JAIBG 7);
16) Detention/corrections personnel: Hiring detention and corrections personnel and
establishing and maintaining training programs for such personnel to improve facility
practices and programming (new) and
17) Reentry: Establishing, improving, and coordinating pre-release and post-release systems and programs to facilitate the successful re-entry of juvenile offenders from state and local custody in the community (new).
5. Question: Who's administering the program in my state?
Answer: The governor of each state has designated a state agency to administer the program. For contact information, please contact JRSA at jabg@jrsa.org.
6. Question: What's the deadline for applications?
Answer: States must submit their funding applications to the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) by March 31 to be eligible for funding in the same fiscal year. Each designated state agency determines when subgrant applications will be due.
7. Question: What does my state have to do to qualify for the money?
Answer: Unlike the former JAIBG program, which had four areas of certification (Prosecution of Juveniles as Adults, Graduated Sanctions, Juvenile Recordkeeping, and Parental Supervision), JABG requires that states provide OJJDP with information about the following:
8. Question: How much money will my state get?
Answer: Each state will receive a base amount of .5 percent of the funds available, with the remainder of the funds divided among the states, based on a state's population under 18 years of age relative to the national population under 18. The total amount available changes for each year of the program.
Each state is required to subgrant not less than 75 percent of the state's allocation to units of local government. However, states may apply to OJJDP for a waiver of this requirement if the state demonstrates that the state government incurs more than 25 percent of the costs of juvenile justice administration. For example, if a state can certify that it bears 90 percent of the financial burden of juvenile justice administration, the state could request a reduction of the required local pass-through from 75 percent to 10 percent.
9. Question: Must states and units of local government spend their funds on
certain things or can they allocate funds among any of the 17 enumerated purpose areas as
they choose?
Answer: Local and state governments can choose to fund any of the purpose areas. Justification for the funding must be provided in the application.
10. Question: How does a unit of local government apply?
Answer: The designated state agency will be responsible for determining local funding allocations and putting in place a procedure for units of local government to apply for funds, including establishing deadlines for the submission of local applications.
11. Question: If a state does not qualify to receive funding, how does a unit of
local government qualify for funding?
Answer: If a state does not qualify or apply for JABG funds in a given fiscal year, OJJDP will distribute up to 75 percent of the state's allocation for that fiscal year and provide grants to specially qualified units that meet state or local eligibility requirements. To date, all states have chosen to participate in the program.
12. Question: How much money is my unit of local government eligible for?
Answer: Each unit of local government's share of the state funds will be determined by calculating the sum of three-fourths of the locality's relative share of criminal justice expenditures (based on the Census Bureau's Census of Government Survey) and one-fourth of the locality's relative share of Part I violent crime offenses (based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports) for the 3 most recent years for which data are available.
13. Question: Is there a minimum level of funding for units of local
government?
Answer: Yes. If an allocation for a unit of local government is less than $10,000 during a fiscal year, the amount is retained by the state and must be expended to provide services to local governments within the 17 purpose areas of the program.
14. Question: Does my unit of local government have to pay any part of the costs
of projects funded by these grants?
Answer: Yes. Overall, the total federal share of a project cannot exceed 90 percent of the total program cost. Consequently, the state or local recipient of an award under this program must contribute a cash match of 10 percent of the total program cost (which is determined by the federal cost plus the cash match). In the case of construction of permanent juvenile corrections facilities, the cash match is 50 percent of the total program cost.
15. Question: What sources can my unit of local government use to pay the cash
match?
Answer: Funds appropriated by states and units of local government can be used for the match. Other sources include private funding, asset forfeiture contributions, and funds obtained through the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, the Appalachian Regional Development Act, and the Equitable Sharing Program (a federal asset forfeiture distribution program).
16. Question: Can any part of the funds be used for administrative costs?
Answer: Yes. A state may use up to 5 percent of the total grant fund award for administrative costs related to the JABG program. A unit of local government may also use up to 5 percent of its JABG grant funds for administrative costs related to the JABG program. All funds used for administrative costs are subject to the matching requirement.
17. Question: If our state or unit of local government has already appropriated
funds for a project, can we use JABG funds instead?
Answer: No. The law requires that federal grant funds be used to supplement existing funds for program activities and not replace or supplant funds that have been appropriated for the same purpose. This nonsupplantation requirement applies to all state and local public agencies.
18. Question: Are there any other requirements for eligibility?
Answer: All grantees and subgrantees (both states and local units of government) must establish Advisory Boards and submit coordinated enforcement plans for activities to be carried out under the purpose areas; include criteria for assessing effectiveness of activities (performance measures); provide assurances about a system of graduated sanctions; document court involvement in the development of the application; and submit annual assessment reports (based on performance measures). Advisory Board membership includes police, sheriff, prosecutor, state or local probation, juvenile court, schools, business, and religious-affiliated, fraternal, nonprofit, or social services organizations that are involved in crime prevention activities.
19. Question: If our unit of local government does not wish to apply for JABG
funds, can we have the county or regional planning unit apply for and administer funds on
our behalf?
Answer: Yes. A unit of local government that otherwise would qualify for an award can waive its right to a direct award and designate a larger governmental unit (within which it is located or is contiguous) or a regional planning unit (which plans for and administers funds on behalf of two or more local units) to receive and administer the award on its behalf.
20. Question: May nonprofit organizations apply for a grant under this program?
Answer: Grants and subgrants may be awarded only to states and units of local government. However, the law encourages states and units of local government to contract with private, nonprofit entities and community-based organizations to develop and administer accountability-based sanctions under all purpose areas.