FY 2009 Recovery Act 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 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 Office of the Governor will use its Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) award funds to strengthen partnerships for safer communities and enhance the state's capacity to prevent, solve, and control crime. Kansas will award JAG grant funds to state and local agencies that support and implement Recovery JAG objectives of preserving and creating jobs and promoting economic recovery. The JAG funds will address crime though the provision of services directly to individuals and communities and by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice system's processes and procedures. Program deliverables are to preserve jobs for parole officers, community corrections officers, juvenile correctional officers, special agents for criminal investigations, criminal prosecutor, technical specialists for criminal justice systems and others working in the criminal justice field. Funds will be used to maintain services and programs with the least amount of interruption in the areas of community corrections, juvenile supervision and case management, internet safety, criminal investigations and prosecutions, forensic evidence analysis, training, and prevention efforts. Funds will also be used to purchase equipment for information sharing, collaboration, and problem solving at the state and local levels. Funding will preserve an estimated 85 criminal justice-related jobs, create an estimated 13 criminal justice-related jobs, promote economic recovery through the maintenance and enhancement of services among state and local justice initiatives, and assist in the purchase of necessary equipment to facilitate and enhance criminal justice information sharing, collaboration and problem-solving at the state and local level. Coordination of this effort is through the Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (KCJCC). The KCJCC oversees criminal justice issues in the state and coordinates with various criminal justice groups.

NCA/NCF