FY 2009 Justice Assistance Grant Program

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act') and by 42 U.S.C. 3751(a). The stated purposes of the Recovery Act are: to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; to assist those most impacted by the recession; to provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; and to stabilize state and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases. The Recovery Act places great emphasis on accountability and transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars.

Among other things, it creates a new Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and a new website ' Recovery.gov ' to provide information to the public, including access to detailed information on grants and contracts made with Recovery Act funds.

The Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program funded under the Recovery Act is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. Recovery JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system, from multi-jurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives. Recovery JAG funded projects may address crime through the provision of services directly to individuals and/or communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice systems, processes, and procedures.

The city and county of San Francisco will use Recovery Act JAG funds to address narcotics and violent crimes. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office will hire three prosecutors to provide vertical prosecution to complex cases created through zone enforcement. The San Francisco Adult Probation Department will hire two probation officers to provide intensive supervision to a reduced case load of probationers in zone neighborhoods. The San Francisco Superior Court ' Office of Court Justice Programs will implement a transitional housing voucher program for adults referred through drug court and will expand case management capacity to high-risk youth referred through juvenile drug court. The Department of Technology will continue IT build-out of the shared criminal justice case management system called JUSTIS. The Mayor's Office of Community Investment will fund two non-profit organizations to provide street outreach and crisis response services.

NCA/NCF