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Since 2005, OJJDP, in cooperation with other Federal agencies and partners such as the Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety Program at the National Institute of Justice (also within the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, has been developing the Socioeconomic Mapping and Resource Topography (SMART) system. SMART is a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Web-based mapping application that illustrates (1) specific geographic areas of crime and delinquency, and (2) the nearby governmental and community resources that are available to prevent and control it. Simply put, the system helps decisionmakers at Federal, State, and local levels target areas of greatest need and allocate resources accordingly.

Along with maps, SMART creates tables and graphs to illustrate a wealth of data on socioeconomic factors such as housing, population, crime, health, and mortality. Data sources include the U.S. Census Bureau and OJJDP's Statistical Briefing Book. In addition, data come from other Federal agencies, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development; as well as from KIDS Count, a national initiative tracking the status of children in the United States.

The following examples illustrate how different groups can benefit from using SMART:

• Federal juvenile program managers can use SMART to determine the places of greatest need in a designated geographic area (e.g., highest rates of delinquency; highest degree of risk based on household earnings, number of parents per household, and number of children not enrolled in school). Managers could also pinpoint which Federal programs (e.g., grants for afterschool activities) already exist in that area, as well as which community resources are available (e.g., Boys & Girls Club of America, YMCA). With these facts, managers can make informed decisions about what other resources are needed and where.

• State-level juvenile justice program administrators can use SMART to pinpoint areas of high juvenile crime and delinquency in a community by analyzing county-level delinquency data and then uploading incident-specific data from their State Statistical Analysis Centers. Administrators can view existing area resources and then award grants to high-priority areas that lack program resources.

• With SMART's built-in geocoding capacity, a multijurisdictional gang task force can quickly produce a map displaying the locations of known gang members by entering their home addresses and names into a list. SMART can also help the task force relate the gang member locations to various risk factors.

• Local law enforcement agencies can upload their data on vandalism incidents to SMART and see how vandalism relates to socioeconomic and resource data in the system. The resulting map could provide insights as to whether vandalism is related geographically to factors such as poverty or low high school graduation rates. The map could also provide visual evidence of whether acts of vandalism tend to cluster around schools.

• Grant writers can use SMART maps to make the case for needed resources. With the maps, they can pinpoint areas of high crime, show that Federal and local resources are not available in those areas, and justify the need for grant funding.

• The general public can use SMART to find neighborhood-specific information on socioeconomic characteristics, incidents of crime and delinquency, existing Federal resources, and available youth-serving programs and resources.

Illustrative SMART maps are presented below, in "Working With SMART Maps: Two Examples."

Over the next several months, OJJDP will add more functions and data elements to the SMART system, including the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports for the past 10 years and a comprehensive list of all public juvenile residential facilities. In the next phase, users will be able to upload and label files for their own analysis and develop and maintain individualized databases.