Almost two decades ago, long before I would become Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), I had my first encounter with BJA. It’s fair to say the encounter changed the course of my career.
I was a young lawyer in my home state of Ohio, leading a government agency called the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, when I experienced firsthand the work that BJA does. I learned how BJA makes our citizens and communities safer by changing the way our criminal justice system works. It was during this time that I first felt the passion that drives the people of BJA—a passion that I now feel every day.
In Ohio, we’d developed an innovative approach to reentry from incarceration. Impressed by our work, the then-acting Director of BJA, Jim Burch, invited me to speak about our reentry efforts at a conference in Washington, D.C. I had a chance to share our initiative with criminal justice leaders from across the country. What truly amazed me, however, was watching BJA use its national platform to amplify our work in Ohio.
Director Inspired by BJA’s Mission
I was impressed by BJA’s scale and reach. And at some point, I came home and told my wife, “You know what? I think I‘d like to be Director of BJA someday.” She was somewhat skeptical, to say the least.
But in 2022, I was given the honor of leading the very agency that inspired me all those years ago. It is a responsibility that energizes and humbles me every day. As we celebrate BJA's 40th anniversary, I often find myself reflecting on where we began, where we are now, and where we are determined to go.
When I first encountered BJA, the agency was more than 20 years old and its mission well-established. Though based in Washington, BJA leaders understood that some of the most impactful innovations originated in the field, where criminal justice practitioners were finding new ways to make their communities safer and our criminal justice system more just.
BJA’s strength lies in identifying, supporting, and scaling these innovative ideas. Many transformative elements of our country’s criminal justice system—such as treatment courts and the National Crime Gun Intelligence Center Initiative—might not exist in their current form without BJA’s support.
Spotlighting and Supporting Great Ideas
That critical work continues today. For example, I’m particularly proud of my role in organizing and convening the national Violent Crime Reduction Summit in Indianapolis. This event brought together over 1,100 accomplished leaders in law enforcement and criminal justice to address this urgent challenge. We spotlighted innovative programs like one in Omaha, Nebraska, that helped reduce homicides by 40 percent over 7 years and Place Network Investigations that are reducing violence around problematic locations.
There are far too many examples of BJA’s groundbreaking work to list them all here, but two stand out to me. The new Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative fundamentally changes how we reduce violence by supporting and recognizing community members as an integral partner in the public safety infrastructure. Additionally, BJA’s Public Safety Partnership Program provides local criminal justice agencies with tailored plans to tackle their most challenging issues. I’m proud that we’ve recently expanded this initiative to equip agencies with the resources they need to make these plans a reality.
As I look ahead to BJA’s next 40 years, I see many opportunities to not just sustain BJA’s mission but accelerate it. We can do so much more.
Transforming Criminal Justice
Our goal at BJA is nothing less than transforming people and places, agencies and organizations, policy and practice, to reduce violence and create safer and healthier communities. To do this, we must focus not just on improving policing or making our corrections systems safer but also on the underlying, deeply complex societal issues that contribute to crime.
As I travel the country and talk to criminal justice leaders about these problems, I often wish that my peers from other federal agencies were there with me to share their expertise with leaders working to solve local problems. I believe BJA can lead the way in aggressively bringing together the full spectrum of resources—not just to fight crime, but to prevent it.
We also know that technology is changing our lives at an astonishing pace, and as anyone who has ever watched a TV police show knows, technology is also revolutionizing the criminal justice system. More changes are sure to come, and BJA must support our partners’ efforts to select and implement new and emerging technologies.
And yet, while many things will evolve, there’s one thing about BJA that I hope never changes: its people. Nothing we do would be possible without the knowledge, dedication, intelligence, passion, and professionalism of our staff. They are the heart of BJA, and their efforts make me better, our criminal justice partners more successful, and our communities safer.
As BJA celebrates its 40th anniversary, we are taking this moment to look back and reflect on what we have accomplished and the impact we’ve made. But as we look forward together with our partners, we remain committed to transforming the criminal justice system and making all of our communities safer. I’m excited to see what the next 40 years will bring.
Learn More
To hear more from Director Moore, listen to the following Justice Today Podcast episode: