Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $18,843,606)
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 Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance (OJA) will use the Recovery Act JAG award to address system-wide improvements in Wisconsin's criminal justice system. The Recovery Act JAG programs funded by this grant will create and/or preserve jobs, invest in projects that will provide long-term economic benefits, and assist those most impacted by the recession. The funds will be invested in strategies to target youthful offenders, develop justice reinvestment, enhance multi-jurisdictional crime enforcement task forces, support correctional and reentry programming, improve justice system technology, enhance local law enforcement initiatives, support performance measurement and evaluation, and reduce racial disparity in Wisconsin.
OJA's strategy includes funding projects that address youth crime and support prevention programs that address issues such as truancy, drug and alcohol use, violence, and gang participation. Local law enforcement projects will be funded through one-year subgrants to include such programs as the Initiate Local Law Enforcement Competitive Program, Small Police Agency Technology Improvement Competitive Program, and Digital Upgrade and Storage Wisconsin Crime Lab program. The strategy also supports justice reinvestment at the local level and will include treatment programs for low-level offenders with alcohol, drug, or mental health problems to divert them from jail and prison. Funds will be sub-awarded to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for programs that support reentry planning and programming, wraparound reentry services, and drivers license recovery. Approximately 20-30 percent of the total Recovery Act JAG grant will be allocated for drug enforcement operations through multi-jurisdictional crime enforcement task forces. Additionally, OJA's Recovery Act JAG grant will be used to address racial disparity in the Wisconsin justice system and support justice system technology enhancements such as interoperability projects, Wisconsin Justice Information Sharing (WIJIS) expansions, and Wisconsin Department of Justice live scan improvements.
NCA/NCF