FY 2009 Recovery Act JAG 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.

Fort Bend County will utilize its Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act JAG award to increase the efficiency of its prosecution, criminal justice courts, and community corrections functions through the creation of additional jobs and continued contractual services. Funds will be allocated among five county departments: the District Attorney's Office, District Clerk's Office, County Clerk's Office, Juvenile Probation Department, and Community Supervision and Corrections Department. The District Attorney's Office will hire one temporary position to capture, via digital format paper, disposed criminal files to expedite the handling of files, create back-up copies, and eliminate expenses associated with contract storage of paper files. The District Clerk's Office will hire two temporary positions to create images of all felony criminal files received in the clerk's office. The County Clerk's Office will hire one temporary position to maintain the workload during transition to a new case management system. The Juvenile Probation Department will pay the current, certified Parent Project Educator as a full-time contractor to provide training under the Parent Project, which is designed for the parents of strong-willed adolescents on probation. The training program provides activity-based instruction, support groups and curricula that addresses truancy, family conflict, violence, and drug use. The Community Supervision and Corrections Department will continue funding consultant services to create a comprehensive plan to improve the local court system's approach to mentally ill offenders. The project scope includes recommendations for improving the local criminal justice system, identifying local gaps in service delivery; reviewing mental health courts; examining best practices, case processing, and sentencing practices; and providing recommendations for implementation.

NCA/NCF