The Tribal Justice Systems Program provides federally recognized tribes and tribal consortia with funding to help them address critical public safety challenges their tribal justice systems face.

Through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) Purpose Area 3, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) provides funding for tribes to develop, support, and enhance adult tribal justice systems to prevent and respond to tribal justice and public safety, including violent crime and crime related to illicit opioid, alcohol, and other substance use. This can include prevention, law enforcement response, tribal pretrial, court and judicial functions, tribal probation, tribal jails and reentry from corrections.

This program supports tribal justice systems’ priority needs to prevent crime and ensure tribal safety through the development, implementation, and enhancement of strategies, including, but not limited to:

• Enhancing the tools and resources used by tribal prosecutors, courts, and corrections agencies, including tribal probation and tribal jails, and effectively responding to crime to assure tribal safety.
• Implementing enhanced authorities and provisions under the Tribal Law and Order Act and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 and supporting the development of joint jurisdiction courts with state and local courts.
• Through coordinated support, ensuring the safety of returning tribal members from federal or state prison sentences.
• Developing, enhancing, and continuing programs to improve the safety and effectiveness of tribal law enforcement officers such as planning and developing their own law enforcement agency, providing law enforcement support as part of a larger strategy under CTAS Purpose Area #3 (Tribal Justice System Infrastructure Program), or addressing court security issues such as adding an officer at the courthouse to improve court security.
• Developing, implementing, and enhancing crime prevention, interventions, and alternatives to incarceration to address crime related to the opioid epidemic. This may include alcohol- and other substance abuse-related crime prevention and interventions, healing to wellness courts, treatment, and services that address the needs of drug-endangered children.