Rural Court Improvement Network

The Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program, administered by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP's) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), furthers the Department's mission by assisting state and local jurisdictions in improving the criminal justice system and assisting communities in preventing drug abuse and crime. In fiscal year 2007, the Edward Byrne Memorial Discretionary Grants Program will focus on funding local, regional, and national efforts within six major categories: 1) targeting violent crime; 2) preventing crime and drug abuse; 3) enhancing local law enforcement; 4) enhancing local courts; 5) enhancing local corrections and offender reentry; and 6) facilitating justice information sharing. All categories combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime.

The Justice Management Institute will implement this project funded under Category 4: Enhancing Local Courts. They will plan and conduct two seminars for key rural court leaders and other justice system policymakers from states in two different regions of the United States. The goal is to strengthen the ability of state court systems and rural court leaders to improve court operations in rural areas, enabling the courts to function more effectively as key components of local and state justice systems.

CA/NCF