State of Hawaii FY 2009 Recovery Act Justice Assistance Grant (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.

The Hawaii Department of the Attorney General will utilize its Recovery Act JAG award funds to address sex crimes, gang violence, property crimes, cyber crimes, court services, specialized courts (e.g. drug and mental health courts), offender treatment services, mental health treatment and case management, youth services, reentry programs and services, substance abuse treatment, drug enforcement, and criminal justice information systems and technological needs. Grant funds will be used to: ensure the availability of continued manpower, equipment, and training for the multi-jurisdictional drug task forces; provide for needed court services; support inmate programs and offender reentry training, education, and employment services; and provide needed hardware and software for the state criminal justice information systems. The project goal is to assist state and local efforts to prevent or reduce crime and violence in the state of Hawaii. Project objectives are to: establish funding priorities, distribute funds, and provide ongoing monitoring and assistance to subrecipients; reduce the violent index crime rate by five percent for the state of Hawaii; reduce the property index crime rate by five percent for the state of Hawaii; preserve or retain an estimated 40 criminal justice-related jobs; and create an estimated 10 criminal justice-related jobs. The Department of the Attorney General is cognizant of the responsibility for the proper administration of the JAG program and will provide BJA with all required deliverables, including reports, as mandated under the grant program.

NCA/NCF