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 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 state of New Hampshire Department of Justice will use their Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to support the priorities established by the State of New Hampshire. The priorities, as they relate to ARRA funding, include the enhancement of investigative resources in the area of cold case and narcotics, the enhancement of prosecution resources in the area of state consumer protection and county and local district court, victim services in the area of victim witness advocates and Child Advocacy Centers, and recidivism reduction and specialty court programs in the state's northern and lesser-served areas. With this ARRA funding, the NH Department of Justice has been able to broaden the number of program categories for which funding could potentially be made available to state, county, municipal, and non-profit organizations. The ultimate goal of all of these efforts is to increase the efficiency of New Hampshire's service providers and to reduce instances of crime and victimization. The manner in which that goal is pursued dictates the types of programs New Hampshire looks to fund through this program. At the present time, the governor of the state of New Hampshire, the director of the New Hampshire Office of Economic Stimulus and the attorney general for the state of New Hampshire are finalizing plans for the final allocation of the ARRA funds. It is expected that the final funding decisions will include projects in a number, if not all, of these funding categories. Through the state's administration of all of their grant programs from the Office of Justice Programs, and their close working relationship with other state agencies responsible for the administration of other federal funds, the state will be able to put forth a well coordinated and comprehensive system of grant funded services and programs.

NCA/NCF