National Homicide Closure Demonstration Project

This program is funded under both the Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program (Byrne Competitive Program) and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. Authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-8), the Byrne Competitive Program helps local communities improve the capacity of state and local justice systems and provides for national support efforts including training and technical assistance programs strategically targeted to address local needs. The JAG Program (42 U.S.C. 3751(a)) is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions, and JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system. The JAG Program authorization also states that 'the Attorney General may reserve not more than 5 percent, to be granted to 1 or more States or units of local government, for 1 or more of the purposes specified in section 3751 of this title, pursuant to his determination that the same is necessary'(1) to combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime' (42 U.S.C. 3756). This program is also funded in part by the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Assistance Program (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2009 PUB. L. 111-8), which provides funds to defray the cost of planning, designing, establishing, and operating locally based, proactive programs to protect and locate missing patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and other missing elderly individuals.

The National Initiatives: Enhancing Law Enforcement Program, administered by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), helps improve criminal justice systems and provides national programs and national efforts such as training and technical assistance to strategically address the needs of state and local justice systems and communities.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police, Inc. (IACP) will support three or more law enforcement agencies to develop and demonstrate procedural and investigative innovations that contribute to higher homicide closure rates. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, the national homicide closure rate has hovered in the low sixtieth percentile over the past decade. More recently, many jurisdictions, hard-hit by violent crime spikes, are reporting closure rates as low as 40 percent. IACP will support BJA in selecting the demonstration sites, which must have reported an average of 20 or more homicides annually over the past three years. They will produce a final report that is relevant to a wide national audience and will be published and disseminated by BJA.

CA/NCF