Navajo Nation Tribal Court Assistance Grant Program

This award is made under the FY 2006 Tribal Courts Assistance Program and it supports the development, implementation, enhancement, and continuing operation of tribal justice systems. Allowable elements under the program may include, but are not limited to: establishing a core structure for a tribal court, improving case management, training court personnel, acquiring additional equipment and/or software, enhancing prosecution and indigent defense, supporting probation diversion and alternative sentencing programs, accessing services, focusing on juvenile services and multi disciplinary protocols for child physical and sexual abuse, and structuring intertribal or tribal appellate systems.

The Tribal Court Assistance 2006 grant will be used to assist the Navajo Nation with 3 goals: Goal 1- Improve case management system. The new automated case management system will be implemented during the first year of the project. Tasks to complete this goal will include network preparation, installation and training, software customization, system testing, and report/documentation preparation.

Goal 2 - Improve information sharing among agencies. Once the case management system is operating successfully, the project will begin to focus on improving information sharing among different agencies in the Navajo Nation. Information will be shared through a direct data exchange between the Police Department and the Prosecutor office and web-based reports providing information from both the Prosecutor and Public Defender offices.

Goal 3 - Improve statistical reporting. As the case management system develops and more cases are entered, statistics will be available for reports. Because the system will start from a single case, the statistics will continue to accumulate. Reports at the end of year one will contain different information than reports at the end of year two.

CA/NCF