Bureau of Justice Assistance Annual Report -- Fiscal Year 1995. Series: BJA Annual Report Published: October 1996 35 pages 70,568 bytes U.S Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance Bureau of Justice Assistance Annual Report -- Fiscal Year 1995 ------------------------------- NOTE: Tables and figures are not included in this ASCII plain- text file. To view the file in its entirety, download the Adobe Acrobat version or order the hard copy. ------------------------------- To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate: Pursuant to The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 as amended by The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-690) in accordance with Section 522, I am pleased to transmit the Bureau of Justice Assistance Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1995. Respectfully submitted, Nancy E. Gist Director Bureau of Justice Assistance Washington, DC October 1996 ------------------------------- Table of Contents From the Director About the Bureau of Justice Assistance Crime Prevention Initiatives Comprehensive Communities Program: Partnership Initiatives To Prevent Violent Crime and Reduce Illegal Drugs Byrne-Funded Law Enforcement Initiatives Show Dramatic Results Improving the Functioning of the Criminal Justice System Corrections Options: Making Best Use of Scarce Resources Systems Improvement: Using Technology To Fight Crime Program Evaluation, Technical Assistance, and Training: Using Promising Programs To Fight Crime BJA Program Planning: From "Needs Assessment" to "Performance Indicators" BJA Special Programs: Assistance for Public Safety Officers' Survivors, Emergency Situations, Prison Industries, and Information Sharing Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) Program Federal Real Surplus Property Transfer Program Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Program Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance (EFLEA) Program State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) Program BJA Legislative Purpose Areas 1995 BJA-Funded Publications Internet Page ------------------------------- From the Director With more than 500 experienced and dedicated criminal justice practitioners in attendance representing our States and Territories, we brought 1995 to a close celebrating BJA's 10th anniversary at our national conference in Atlanta, Georgia. For 3 days in more than 25 workshops and plenary sessions, our Federal, State, and local colleagues evaluated and debated the changes, challenges, and choices facing the criminal justice system as we approach the year 2000. Has a decade of BJA initiatives, demonstrations, expertise, technical assistance, and support made a difference in preventing and reducing crime and illegal drug use? In 1993, violent crime began to decrease for the first time in a decade and, according to the most recent statistics, this trend continued through the first half of 1995. During 1995, BJA administered $2.5 billion supporting almost 8,500 active and ongoing programs--in crime prevention, law enforcement, adjudication, corrections options, technology improvements, comprehensive programs, and forensic sciences. And over the course of 10 years, BJA has disbursed approximately $4.2 billion to fight crime and illegal drugs. BJA works to ensure that these funds are well spent and responsibly managed on behalf of the public and that these dollars have an impact on the criminal justice system. BJA support for task forces underscores this point. For example, in Fiscal Year (FY) 1995, the States invested the largest percentage of funds awarded from BJA's Edward Byrne Formula Grant Program-- approximately 41 percent or $185 million--in multijurisdictional drug and violent crime task forces and other law enforcement related projects. When analyzing the "performance output measures" reported to us by just 44 States, we found that the return on the $185 million investment was an estimated $73 billion in seized cocaine, marijuana, and destroyed marijuana plants. In other words, for every dollar of Byrne Formula Program funds invested in fighting drug trafficking, State and local enforcement and interdiction efforts prevented more than $400 in illegal drugs from reaching the neighborhoods of America. In addition, 337,900 offenders were arrested, and 75,000 firearms and weapons were seized and destroyed. The weapons seized from criminal offenders mean that those weapons can no longer be used to intimidate, hurt, or kill. In a recent study of Byrne-funded projects, we found that 73 percent of these projects that were designed, eligible, and intended to continue, were still running 3 to 4 years after Federal funding ceased, meaning the States picked up the cost of the pilot projects started with Byrne funds. But numbers and dollar amounts do not tell the entire story. Attorney General Janet Reno, keynote speaker at our national conference, put some of BJA's accomplishments in perspective: "It was BJA that helped kick drug courts off and helped to make people understand that drug courts could make a difference. It was BJA that helped make this Nation aware of what can be done about domestic violence. It was BJA that helped this Nation understand how effective community policing could be." It is not enough to rest on our past accomplishments. As we approach the year 2000, the changes, choices, and challenges that face the criminal justice system and BJA are more critical than ever before. How we respond also will make a difference. New threats take the form of increased domestic violence, a dramatic rise in the number of violent youth offenders, new surges in drug use and firearms trafficking, overcrowded prisons, an escalation in crimes against children and the elderly, the increasing burden placed by illegal criminal aliens on State and local criminal justice and correctional systems, and the expanding use of technology to commit crimes in cyberspace. To counter these threats, last year BJA intensified our commitment to comprehensive planning that marshals the coordinated efforts of communities; the private sector; and Federal, State, and local governments against drug abuse and violent crime. We increased our support for initiatives such as TRIAD Programs, which are partnerships to protect senior citizens against fraud, crime, and abuse; tribal court improvement; illegal gun trafficking programs; and youth handgun violence reduction plans. And we have sought to leverage private corporate and foundation funds with Federal awards to add impact to community programs. It is my hope as I continue to meet criminal justice practitioners from around the country that we can increase and expand the power of the partnerships we have built, and that we can continue to think and plan strategically with communities for a safer America. Nancy E. Gist Director ------------------------------ About the Bureau of Justice Assistance The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is a funding source for grants to State and local law enforcement agencies. In addition to funding crime prevention and drug control projects, BJA provides training, technical assistance, evaluation, and comprehensive strategic planning. Mission Statement: To provide leadership and assistance in support of local criminal justice strategies to achieve safe communities. Goals: To promote effective, innovative crime prevention and drug control strategies. . . .To demonstrate and promote replication of effective crime control programs that support public/private partnerships, planning, and criminal justice system improvement. . . .To leverage and efficiently administer available resources. Scale and Scope: In FY 1995 BJA managed $2.5 billion in active grants representing almost 8,500 projects in the 50 States and 6 Territories. These figures represent both new and continuing grant awards. Funding Mandate: The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 3750) established the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program. Under this authorization, Congress appropriates funds to BJA for awards to the States to implement violent crime control and illegal drug reduction strategies. Other BJA discretionary awards are made for innovative programs such as the Tribal Strategies Against Violence, Firearms Trafficking, and a Comprehensive Homicide Initiative. Earmarked funds are used for special programs such as Operation Weed and Seed, National Crime Prevention Council Campaigns (McGruff, The Crime Dog), and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.). BJA also administers line item appropriations for national programs such as the Regional Information Sharing System Program and the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program. A special Crime Act Support Division was established to assist in the implementation of the President's 1994 Crime Act. The Division supports the Violence Against Women Program, Drug Court Program, and Corrections Program. Programming Principles: The Bureau develops programs that are comprehensive in nature and promote partnerships to support local strategic planning and implementation. . . .The Bureau leverages resources by encouraging our applicants to support their proposed initiatives with their own or other resources. Focus of Investment: The Bureau expects, measures, and reports results in the following broad areas of award investment: comprehensive programs, crime prevention, law enforcement, adjudication, corrections options, evaluation, systems improvement, and information dissemination. The following chapters and financial information give a detailed picture of BJA initiatives, program results, planning, and evaluation for FY 1995. ------------------------------- Crime Prevention Initiatives "The problems of crime and violence cannot be solved just by the government and the family. They have to be solved not just by punishment, but by, more importantly, prevention. They have to be solved not just by police, but by schools and police. Not just by public sector, but by private sector as well. " --Attorney General Janet Reno Atlanta, Georgia BJA Annual Conference, 1995 More than a decade ago, BJA began supporting a new concept in crime prevention: programs that were based on coalitions between law enforcement and community residents. Today, these partnerships against crime have expanded to include Federal, State, and local governments; the private and public sectors; schools; and civic and religious organizations. BJA's crime prevention programs are now mature, effective, and helping to keep our youth drug free and jail free. BJA's crime prevention in the form of education of the young has also been widespread. These programs seek to prevent drug abuse among school children and help them develop anti-gang and anti-violence techniques. For example, the National D.A.R.E. Program has trained more than 93,000 community-based law enforcement officers throughout the country since 1989. Also since 1989, D.A.R.E. officers have taught prevention classes to more than 29 million fifth grade school children. In FY 1995, approximately 23,000 law enforcement officers taught D.A.R.E. in 70 percent of all school districts in the country to more than 8 million fifth grade students. The curriculum is designed to be taught to children from kindergarten through 12th grade. There is also a special education and a parent component. BJA's FY 1995 Byrne Discretionary Program funds provided $1.75 million to support five regional D.A.R.E. training centers located in North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, Arizona, and California. Another nationally acclaimed prevention education program, featuring McGruff the Crime Dog, was again supported with BJA Byrne Discretionary funds of $3 million in FY 1995. This campaign, developed by the National Citizens' Crime Prevention Council, has a 97-percent awareness with children; has targeted seniors and tourists with crime prevention education; and has been supported by BJA since 1984. BJA has also worked to help protect the Nation's senior population from crime. In FY 1995, BJA funded TRIAD programs with $200,000. There are now 300 TRIAD communities throughout the United States. TRIAD is a cooperative crime prevention program sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs' Association. "National Night Out," sponsored by The National Association of Town Watch, again was supported with BJA funds of $200,000. In 1995, a record 27 million people took part in this year-long crime and drug prevention campaign, including Attorney General Janet Reno. During 1995, a unique partnership with private nonprofit foundations was formed with the announcement of a $1 million award to the National Funding Collaborative for Violence Prevention. Twelve cities will develop plans focusing on local violence prevention issues from adolescence to the aged. More than $27 million of BJA funds was invested in crime prevention initiatives by the States for FY 1995. In addition to continuing programs, new initiatives included: Florida's S.A.F.E. Program for latchkey children was designed to support and educate children ages 10 to 14 whose parents are out of the home. Also, from FY 1991 through FY 1995, more than 369,000 children received D.A.R.E. instruction. In Kansas, 269 HOPE programs were offered in 22 schools, and more than 5,000 students participated. Prevention officers indicate a 50-percent reduction in juvenile offenses. Colorado awarded $1,274,483 in BJA Byrne Formula funds to support 30 projects in the area of community crime prevention. Through these programs, 178,524 citizen contacts were made; a local police officer has become an expert on issues relating to the elderly; more than 100 blocks were organized in four Neighbor to Neighbor communities; and more than 1,800 households have completed citizen surveys identifying issues of importance and concern. In addition, the Denver Juvenile Curfew Project developed in one year's time a fully functioning program that processed 3,000 youth, resulting in a 30-percent decrease in juvenile crime suspects. Newsletter and Storefront programs in conjunction with the Broomfield Police Department now have more than 6,000 seniors learning TRIAD crime prevention techniques. Georgia awarded $1,153,300 in BJA Byrne Formula funds to support 65 drug and violent crime prevention projects. With this funding Georgia has educated 399,855 youth in the dangers associated with drug abuse though the D.A.R.E. program. Through the School Resource Officer program, more than 19,200 students were in contact with a uniformed police officer who served as a role model, taught students about the law, and dissuaded criminal activity. The WAVE program educated 1,700 young people about the dangers associated with gangs. Idaho's D.A.R.E. program reached 80,798 students in kindergarten through the 12th grade in 159 cities and towns throughout the State. In Indiana, 159,000 students received D.A.R.E. instruction given by 132 law enforcement agencies. In Michigan, 1,675 drug houses were closed as a result of street-level and community crime prevention projects supported by BJA. Of the State's 83 counties, 82 sponsored the D.A.R.E. program through the BJA Byrne Formula Grant Program. A total of 469 officers and instructors were able to reach 1,521 schools teaching more than 130,000 elementary students, 8,705 junior high students, and 3,887 senior high students. Approximately 150,000 core curriculum workbooks were distributed to D.A.R.E. officers as a result of a working relationship between the Michigan State Police and the Michigan National Guard. New Jersey used BJA Byrne Formula funds to hire a community policing specialist to assist the municipal police departments in developing effective community policing strategies and problem-solving techniques. Also, more than 400 officers received 4-day training programs on the fundamentals of community policing. ------------------------------- Comprehensive Communities Program: Partnership Initiatives To Prevent Violent Crime and Reduce Illegal Drugs "There are wonderful partnerships being built across this country between Federal, State, and local governments, between public and private sector, between the citizens themselves, and key to any partnership that is going to make a difference is the involvement of citizens. We, as we develop partnerships, must continue to try to involve the citizens we serve in every possible way we can. They have a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of understanding that is so critical to the solutions and the problems we face." --Attorney General Janet Reno Atlanta, Georgia BJA Annual Conference, 1995 With more cops on the beat and greater community involvement, there has been a 27-percent reduction in major crimes over the last 2 years in New York City. Homicides were down 39 percent. The number of shooting victims has declined 36 percent. Robberies are down 30 percent; burglaries, 25 percent; auto theft, 35 percent; and assaults, 14 percent. At the core of these dramatic decreases, which are replicated across the country, is a commitment to reduce crime and violence by initiating comprehensive planning and improving intergovernmental relationships, with greater citizen involvement. BJA supports the concept that law enforcement should work with community resources in a crime-fighting partnership. For FY 1995, BJA funded its Comprehensive Community Program (CCP) in 16 cities with Byrne Discretionary Grants and other funds from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, for a total of $31 million. A main component of CCP is community policing. As part of the 1994 Crime Bill, 100,000 new officers are to be hired, many of whom will support CCP efforts. Specific FY 1995 CCP funding amounts now in effect in 16 cities are: jurisdiction-wide community policing ($16 million); community mobilization/prevention ($2.15 million); nonviolent dispute resolution ($838,000); Boys and Girls Clubs demonstration ($800,000); comprehensive gang initiative ($1.77 million); community prosecution ($2.15 million); community-based alternatives to incarceration ($2.98 million); drug courts ($2.4 million); and future program planning ($2 million). Early highlights from FY 1995 CCP demonstration cities follow: Atlanta, Georgia: Six Neighborhood Leadership Institutes are training residents to mobilize against crime. Baltimore, Maryland: Eighteen communities are implementing comprehensive strategies. One pilot CCP neighborhood reports a 52-percent drop in incidents of crime. Boston, Massachusetts: More than 400 police and communities have mobilized to engage in strategic planning. Violent crime in Boston is down 10 percent, as compared with 1994. Denver, Colorado: Eighty minigrants have been made to neighborhood/law enforcement partnerships to carry out crime issue problem-solving. East Bay, California: A drug court, a police/citizen youth academy, and an urban gang initiative are being implemented. Fort Worth, Texas: City funds have been acquired to implement aspects of the Gang Intervention Program. Hartford, Connecticut: Seventeen neighborhoods have organized problem-solving committees to fight local crime. Omaha, Nebraska: An innovative teen court has been established to permit peer involvement in sentencing youth convicted of misdemeanors and minor felonies to alternative forms of incarceration, including community service. Phoenix, Arizona: The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Phoenix has conducted its first in a series of training sessions dealing with nonviolent dispute resolution. Salt Lake City, Utah: Mobile watch has been implemented, with more than 600 residents participating; some crimes have been reduced by 50 percent in organized neighborhoods; 3,000 block leaders have been identified and trained; and 100 youth are enrolled in the Job Placement Mentoring Program. Seattle, Washington: The train-the-trainers community policing format will reach all 2,000 law enforcement personnel in the city. Wichita, Kansas: Fifty-six defendants have been diverted into drug court, 5 police officers have been hired to start a 7th community policing target area, and 50 community leaders have combined to support truces in gang violence. Wilmington, Delaware: Fifty meetings were held to inform citizens of CCP. Each of the CCP sites is encouraged to coordinate with and complement other comprehensive Federal, State, and local efforts. For example, the CCP strategies for Atlanta, Denver, Omaha, and Washington, D.C., are tailored specifically to support the Pulling America's Communities Together (PACT) initiative in those jurisdictions. In addition, several of the sites have included in their local strategies enhancement to or expansion of Operation Weed and Seed efforts in selected target neighborhoods. ------------------------------- Byrne-Funded Law Enforcement Initiatives Show Dramatic Results "Even with the general reduction in much of the violence, with some success in the drug area, with the partnerships we are building, there are still some very, very dangerous signals that we all must focus on if we want to move forward in our efforts to do something about crime in this Nation." --Attorney General Janet Reno Atlanta, Georgia BJA Annual Conference, 1995 Nationwide, the overall rate of violent crime has declined for 3 consecutive years and the first 6 months of 1995, according to the latest FBI figures; yet illegal drug use has continued to climb. The primary vehicle for coordinating Federal, State, and local crime and drug enforcement efforts is the multijurisdictional task force. In 1995, 44 States funded 731 task forces using $153,831,662 in Byrne Formula Grant Program funds. When combined with other law enforcement and prosecution efforts, the States and U.S. Territories used $185 million in FY 1995 Byrne Formula Program funds to conduct more than 950 projects and operations against crime and illegal drugs. With 44 States reporting, the following accomplishments are just some of the results of Byrne Formula Program law enforcement activities in FY 95: 337,900 offenders arrested; 75,000 weapons, 39,076 kilos (43 tons) of cocaine, and 177,259 kilos (195 tons) of marijuana seized; and 36,116,000 marijuana plants destroyed. In FY 1995, Byrne Formula-funded law enforcement and prosecution operations also seized $57,622,000 in currency and obtained $37,419,569 in forfeitures of drug-related assets and currency. The estimated value of the seized cocaine and marijuana, including the marijuana plants destroyed, is $73 billion. For every dollar of Byrne Formula Program funds invested in fighting drug trafficking, more than $400 in illegal drugs were diverted before they could reach the neighborhoods of America. Some examples of Byrne-funded State and local efforts include: In Louisiana, 43 multijurisdictional drug and violent crime task forces and other law enforcement operations using BJA Byrne Formula funds made 10,818 arrests, confiscated 342 firearms, seized 1,014 pounds of powder and crack cocaine plus 21,696 pounds of cannabis. Task forces also seized $2,157,099 in drug-related currency, forfeited $1,911,916 in assets, and forfeited $1,757,788 in currency. California, using BJA Byrne Formula funds, supported 51 multijurisdictional task forces. As a result of this funding, 183,160 arrests were made, 69,047 firearms were seized, and 38,078 pounds of powder and crack cocaine and 18,009 pounds of cannabis were confiscated. A total of 730,204 marijuana plants were eradicated, $15,407,875 in currency was seized, and $2,778,501 in assets were forfeited. Also to be noted is the success of the Combined Rural and City Narcotic Enforcement Team (CRACNET) in an investigation that dismantled one of the largest heroin distribution organizations in the Central Valley and Oakland/East Bay area. BJA Byrne Discretionary Program funds were also made available for specific initiatives showing dramatic results and for new approaches in counteracting violent crimes and drug abuse. For example: The Comprehensive Homicide Initiative addresses the underlying causes of homicide, including gang violence, domestic violence, drug-related violence, and gun availability. In FY 1995, the cities of Richmond, California, and Richmond, Virginia, were selected to receive planning grants to develop and implement their own strategies based on 39 recommendations assembled by the International Association of Chiefs of Police in its "Murder in America" report. The Firearms Trafficking Program initiated by BJA in 1993 continues to help State and local governments reduce incidents of violence by reducing the availability of and trafficking in illegal firearms. This program contains several components which preliminary results indicated have been effective or promising: The Firearms Licensee Compliance Program enhances the ability of State and local law enforcement agencies to conduct more complete and comprehensive background investigations on applicants for new or renewed Federal firearms licenses. It also helps law enforcement agencies determine whether applicants are in compliance with State, local, and Federal licensing requirements. In FY 1995, BJA funded two demonstration sites: New York City and the multicity program in Oakland, Richmond, and Berkeley, California. In New York City, there was a reduction of 340 applications for new Federal firearms licenses, a 96.4-percent decrease from FY 1994 to FY 1995. In Oakland, there were 87.7-percent fewer applications by Federal firearm licensees in FY 1995 as compared to FY 1994. Thus, these cities ensured that Federal firearms licensees had met the requirement of Federal and State laws. The Firearms Investigative Task Force Program is designed to identify, target, investigate, and prosecute individuals and to dismantle organizations involved in the illegal use, sale, or acquisition of firearms in violation of Federal and/or State firearms laws. The five states implementing the program are Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Indiana, and North Carolina. Reports from FY 1995 show 525 arrests and 407 illegal firearms seized. The Innovative Firearms Program assists State and local jurisdictions in developing and implementing innovative or enhanced projects designed to control illicit firearms trafficking. The Prison Gang Intelligence System Program was established in FY 1995 to help counter criminal activity by organized gangs in State and Federal prisons and their control over the criminal activity of street gangs outside of prison. This program includes a national prison gang intelligence repository and an information-sharing system to help corrections and law enforcement agencies investigate and prosecute criminal gang activity. In FY 1995, BJA began the Gang Organized Crime Narcotics (OCN) Enforcement Program to provide coordinated, multiagency law enforcement and prosecution agencies with strategies and techniques to dismantle criminal street gangs trafficking in illegal drugs and firearms. The program also uses the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and Continuing Criminal Enterprise (CCE) Acts and other State and Federal laws in a concentrated effort to focus exclusively on one gang at a time. The demonstration sites are Portland, Oregon, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Clandestine Laboratory Model Enforcement Training Program assists State and local law enforcement agencies in developing policies, procedures, and programs to address the substantial environmental, safety, and health threats associated with illegal drug laboratories. Such threats include armed drug traffickers, booby-trapped premises, and contamination from exposure to toxic chemicals. The clandestine lab, because it is a hazardous waste site, requires exacting and careful cleanup procedures. In FY 1995, 11 training sessions were conducted for nearly 400 State and local law enforcement officers. The Clandestine Drug Laboratory Safety Certification Program, funded in part by BJA, enables the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to train State and local law enforcement officers to investigate and raid clandestine lab sites, including the handling of toxic chemicals found in the labs. In FY 1995, BJA Byrne Discretionary funds were used to conduct 5 training sessions across the country that resulted in more than 100 law enforcement officers now certified to lead their agencies safely through the dangerous task of dismantling illegal drug labs. The Statewide Intelligence Sharing Program was continued in FY 1995 to demonstrate ways in which intelligence information on multijurisdictional criminal conspiracies can be collected and exchanged on a statewide basis to support investigations and prosecutions. The program is also designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of shared management decisionmaking among State and local law enforcement agencies. The four demonstration projects are in the Office of the Attorney General of North Dakota, the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the Connecticut State Police. When fully implemented, these projects have the potential of serving nearly 1,000 agencies and approximately 32,000 local (municipal and county), State, and Federal law enforcement officers in the four combined States. Through the Training and Technical Assistance to Rural Areas Program, the Rural Justice Center at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, assists rural areas in the development of approaches and strategies that address the rising rates of crime, drug abuse, and violence. The Program also provides technical assistance and training related to such issues as prevention, intervention, law enforcement, prosecution, courts, corrections, and treatment. ------------------------------- Improving the Functioning of the Criminal Justice System "It makes no sense to arrest somebody for possession of a small amount of cocaine, recognize that they are a first offender, send them to court, after they have served no time in the jail, and have the court give them credit time served because the courts' calendars are totally overwhelmed and they cannot get to it in the course of the calendar. Far better to put them in a drug court, use a carrot-and-stick approach, make sure there is sound treatment, follow through, and that if they do not follow through and if they do not remain drug free, they face an appropriate firm sanction from a supervising judge." --Attorney General Janet Reno Atlanta, Georgia BJA Annual Conference, 1995 In 1975, 6,000 felony cases were filed in the Criminal Division of the Circuit Court, Cook County, Illinois. By 1989, 28,000 felony cases were filed. The great increase was the result of the growing surge in narcotics arrests. The caseload-to-judge ratio was an unwieldy 500 to 1. Public defenders in Florida have reported that their caseloads doubled from 150 to 300 per year, plus 50 appeals. Most of the increase stems from drug-related offenses. In 1994, U.S. residents 12 years of age and older experienced approximately 42.4 million crimes. Thirty-one million were victims of property crimes; 10.9 million, victims of violent crimes; and 0.5 million, victims of personal thefts. By the end of June 1995, more than 1.58 million offenders were adjudicated and sentenced to be incarcerated in the Nation's jails and prisons. BJA has been at the forefront in helping the criminal justice system become more efficient and productive through innovative programs such as drug courts, court care, standards reform, and differentiated case management. In many districts, these BJA-supported programs have helped ease the caseloads and streamline the process of justice. During 1995, $12.8 million in BJA Byrne Formula funds were awarded for court programs improvement. Additional discretionary funds were awarded for innovative programs, such as adjudication partnerships ($250,000) to foster better coordinated efforts among all the components of the criminal justice system; improving the interaction among State, tribal, and Federal courts ($200,000); health care fraud investigation and prosecution ($850,000); and drug-related legal education for judges ($100,000). California's Los Angeles Early Disposition Project has eliminated severe court congestion by attaining the maximum number of felony dispositions at the earliest stages. For 1994 and 1995, 5,032 certified pleas resulted in a total savings of almost $19 million in fewer court days and jail beds as well as less overtime for police officers. More than 2,000 court hours were saved in Hawaii through the use of video hearings. This BJA-supported program will be replicated in many rural jurisdictions, saving time, travel, and making the scheduling of witnesses more efficient. A BJA Byrne Formula Grant to New Jersey resulted in a dramatic reduction in court system delays. Essex County reported a 43-percent reduction in preindictment caseload and backlog and 12 percent for postindictment. This court program initiative was cited by the Justice Management Institute as "...one of the most dramatic improvements in the handling of serious criminal cases that has taken place anywhere in the U.S. in the past 30 years." Colorado: More than 1,800 felony drug cases, representing 35 percent of all felony cases being filed in Denver District Court, were diverted from other courtrooms to the city's BJA-funded drug court for processing. The average time between arrest and disposition was reduced from 165 days to 90 days. Iowa: With a BJA grant to the State public defender's office, 6 of 12 regional offices were automated, resulting in the handling of 3,000 more cases than in the previous year. Minnesota: BJA funds were used to support a fast-track program that expedites targeted drug-related offenders through the court system within approximately 45 days of their first appearance. Nebraska: BJA funds were used to improve the State's indigent defense system. ------------------------------- Corrections Options: Making Best Use of Scarce Resources "We have got to make sure that we provide the treatment in the institutions and that it is treatment designed and tailored to the problem, whether it be drug treatment and/or alcohol treatment. We have got to make sure that we address that person. But not only that person, that person and his or her family and see what we can do to give them the tools as they leave prison to be better equipped to deal with the problems. We have to engage in the aftercare debate because we have a whole group of young men and an increasing number of young women in the age group of 18 to 30 who are going to continue to commit crimes unless we develop aftercare programs." --Attorney General Janet Reno Atlanta, Georgia BJA Annual Conference, 1995 According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, by the end of June 1995, there were 1,587,791 men and women incarcerated in the Nation's prisons and jails. State prison populations grew by 9.1 percent and Federal prison populations by 6.1 percent--the equivalent of 1,719 new prison beds every week. BJA has been committed to funding innovative programs that take the pressure off prison crowding through alternative methods of handling nonviolent and first-time offenders. The California Department of Corrections is the largest correctional agency in the Nation. It houses more than 121,000 inmates and supervises more than 85,000 parolees. A recent survey by the California Department of Corrections found that 78 percent of all new admissions had histories of drug abuse. Working with California State agencies, BJA Byrne Formula Funds were used to develop and support the Continuity of Care Project. This is a treatment program in which medium-security inmates would serve their last year of incarceration in a therapeutic community setting. Other BJA-supported programs such as the Iowa Statewide Substance Abuse Program Coordination in Corrections, the Delaware Mentor Program, and Oregon's Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Program have shown that treatment can reduce the percent of recidivism in drug offenders. Florida invested $8.2 million in BJA funds on 46 programs dealing with correctional and community-based treatment for 15,000 offenders during FY 1995. St. Joseph County public defender's office in Indiana used BJA funds for an alternative sentencing project. Twenty-seven nonviolent adult offenders participated in treatment and community restitution instead of incarceration, saving the county approximately $19,000 per person in corrections costs. Boot camps are another correctional option supported by BJA funds. The concept is designed to incarcerate nonviolent, less serious juvenile offenders in a militarily disciplined environment rather than in traditional prisons with hard-core inmates. Upon completion of boot camp, a graduate has learned educational and employment skills; has undergone drug or substance abuse treatment; and, through rigorous physical training, has regained self-esteem, discipline, and rehabilitative qualities while serving a reduced sentence. An aftercare component is an important part of the program. It focuses on finding employment and continued counseling for the boot camp graduate. The Colorado Department of Corrections established a Therapeutic Community within the State prison to provide long-term treatment to sex offenders and substance abusers. In FY 1995, BJA's Correctional Options Program received a congressional line-item appropriation of $12 million. This three-part program authorizes demonstration grants to public agencies for projects that provide both alternatives to traditional modes of incarceration and offender release programs; grants to private nonprofit organizations to provide training and technical assistance; and grants to public agencies to establish, operate, and support correctional boot camps. ------------------------------- Systems Improvement: Using Technology To Fight Crime "We have got to join together in a partnership between Federal, State, and local governments, between local police, to develop the capacity on the part of all law enforcement to deal with those sophisticated criminals that will use the automation of tomorrow to damage so much of what we love." --Attorney General Janet Reno Atlanta, Georgia BJA Annual Conference, 1995 Tracking criminal activity through technology is a major BJA priority. For FY 1995, BJA invested $14.5 million in updating the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) Program. The RISS Program is the only multijurisdictional criminal intelligence system operated by and for State and local law enforcement agencies. It now serves more than 4,500 Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Canadian Provinces. More than 600 Federal agencies and offices are included. To date, regional RISS projects have helped make more than 66,000 arrests and seize more than $11 billion in narcotics and $16 million in civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act violations. BJA FY 1995 Byrne Discretionary Grant Program funds were used to support the SEARCH National Training and Technical Assistance Program, which offers assistance to criminal justice agencies across the country in the development, improvement, acquisition, and integration of their computer systems. The training center, located in Sacramento, California, serves as a no-cost, onsite, hands-on resource for criminal justice practitioners to learn about and evaluate computer technology. With the alarming growth of "cybercrimes" and the use of technology to defraud, BJA continued its support of the National White Collar Crime Center, located in Richmond, Virginia, with a FY 1995 award of $1.4 million. As of June 30, 1995, the Center had helped State and local agencies recover $29 million in assessed fines, $349 million in ordered restitution, $4 million in recovered property, and $330 million in indictable offenses referred to the IRS from tax fraud cases. On the State level, Byrne Memorial Formula Grant funds were used by the Territory of Guam to establish an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS), modernize its forensic crime laboratory, and automate the Territory's criminal justice system. Indiana used a BJA grant to set up a database for the Schedule II Electronic Monitoring System, which was designed to combat the problem of illegal prescription drug distribution. Additional BJA funds were used to improve the capabilities of the Indiana State Police forensic laboratory and improve the criminal history record system. Massachusetts used BJA funds for hotspot crime mapping and for the State homicide tracking system. Oregon received BJA funds to improve information systems and to continue the DNA profiling database of sex offenders and murderers. Tennessee, with the support of BJA funding, was able to reestablish its Criminal History Records Improvement (CHRI) task force. The CHRI task force revised the Tennessee criminal fingerprint card, which now contains flags for capturing offenses required by the Brady Law, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, the Child Abuse Act, and the Violence Against Women Act. BJA funds enabled Virginia to implement LiveScan fingerprint and record check technology at two pilot sites. ------------------------------- Program Evaluation, Technical Assistance, and Training: Using Promising Programs To Fight Crime "We are dedicated to doing everything we can to develop programs for evaluation that measure what works, what doesn't work, how it can be corrected, and whether it should be discarded. All of us pull the dollars out of our pocket to send to Washington as taxes, and we want to make sure we have a return on those dollars. We have got to show why the dollars were spent and that they were spent for something that can make this a better world and a better Nation." --Attorney General Janet Reno Atlanta, Georgia BJA Annual Conference, 1995 BJA's evaluation program staff identifies promising, cost-efficient programs that work to suppress crime, reduce recidivism, and improve the operation of the criminal justice system. When programs are identified, BJA disseminates them for consideration and replication by other jurisdictions across the Nation. One universal characteristic found in the design and implementation of promising criminal justice programs is a systematic, disciplined framework that allows performance and results, both quantitative and qualitative, to be measured and evaluated. BJA's evaluation program also carries the responsibility of building the capacity of State and local governments to design and conduct their own assessments of the effectiveness of criminal justice programs. BJA's evaluation program and capacity-building roles are consistent with the intent of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. The goals of this act include making Federal agencies accountable for program results, improving delivery of program services to citizens, and providing Congress with objective information on the relative effectiveness and efficiency of Federal programs and spending. In FY 1995, approximately $3.1 million in Byrne Discretionary Grant Program funds were dedicated to assessing BJA-funded programs. In early FY 1995, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) began an 18-month study of BJA's Comprehensive Communities Program (CCP). On the basis of a blend of qualitative and quantitative measures, NIJ will produce for BJA a succinct case study of 12 CCP sites as well as a multisite analysis of salient patterns and lessons. The CCP case studies are structured around an analytic framework that tracks the resources, elements, implementation measures, context, and data sources for evaluating program impacts. The case studies used as a basis for the evaluation will allow BJA to "tell the story" of what worked at each site. BJA's intention is to provide the criminal justice community not only with case studies but also with analyses, supported by examples, of why and how particular strategies were or were not successfully implemented under differing circumstances at the CCP sites. To date, the evaluation team has conducted visits to six CCP sites (Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Columbia, SC, Fort Worth, TX, Salt Lake City, UT, and Seattle, WA). In addition, the evaluation team has visited the other six sites for more general assessment. (These sites are Phoenix, AZ, East Bay, CA, Hartford, CT, Wilmington, DE, Gary, IN, and Wichita, KS.) These visits, along with surveys conducted of the sites in the areas of community policing and coalition-building, indicate that the CCP approach is promising. In FY 1995, BJA also started the State Evaluation Development (SED) Program to assist the States with developing their yearly violent crime and drug control strategies for Byrne Formula Grant Program funds. The SED Program also provides State and local practitioners with technical assistance and training workshops on program monitoring, assessment, and evaluation; and publishes reports on programs by special topic and area. In FY 1995, SED issued the following 7 evaluation publications: Documenting the Extent and Nature of Drug and Violent Crime Handbook; Treatment and Rehabilitation (225 programs operating in 47 States); Prosecutorial Response to Drug Abuse and Violent Crime (118 programs in 39 States); Successful Collaborative Programs (21 programs in 20 States); Youth, Drugs and Violence (22 programs in 21 States); Innovative Court Programs (20 programs in 17 States); and Reinforcing Government and Community Partnerships (conference proceedings). In addition, BJA's SED Program convened 8 training workshops attended by more than 300 practitioners representing 34 States and Territories and conducted technical assistance visits to 24 States. BJA's Byrne Formula Grant Program is an important source of funding for State and local governments to conduct evaluations. In FY 1995, 17 States and Territories had approximately $3.5 million in Byrne Formula funds invested in 40 active, ongoing research and evaluation projects. BJA also plays an important supporting role in the substantive and methodological research and evaluation projects undertaken by the States' Statistical Analysis Centers (SAC's). In FY 1994 and 1995, SAC's conducted 818 research projects on topical issues ranging from alternatives to incarceration to white collar crime. BJA supported every project, either directly or indirectly, with funding, technical assistance, or dissemination of reports. The topics most frequently researched by the SAC's were sentencing (37 States), policing (37 States), corrections (35 States), controlled substances (33 States), juvenile delinquency (32 States), prisons (31 States), courts (31 States), and probation (30 States). The State SAC's initiating the most research and evaluation projects were Kansas (39 projects), Oklahoma (31 projects), New York (30 projects), and Ohio (25 projects). Also in FY 1995, BJA cosponsored the Annual Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation, with NIJ and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The conference brought together more than 500 criminal justice practitioners concerned with research and evaluation techniques focused on the general theme, "What To Do About Crime." Fifty sessions and workshops dealt with issues ranging from "Predicting Offender Recidivism" to "Evaluating Collaborative Criminal Justice System Treatment Programming" and "Conducting Impact Evaluations." BJA's technical assistance and training program staff identifies needs and develops appropriate responses to improve management and capabilities at both the national and State levels relating to program development, performance, and reporting. Training and technical assistance is accomplished through special topic workshops, national and regional conferences, and onsite sessions. ------------------------------- BJA Program Planning: From "Needs Assessment" to "Performance Indicators" BJA is in business to serve citizens by designing, testing, identifying, and promoting criminal justice programs that reduce and prevent crime and illegal drug abuse. Because the types of crime and trends in illegal drug use are constantly changing, BJA's program planning process is designed to produce a flexible plan for testing strategies that counter both long- and short-term threats to public safety. BJA's anti-crime and anti-drug abuse strategy is then implemented through the Byrne Discretionary and Formula Grant Programs. How BJA develops its program plan is critically important. The planning process draws on a variety of sources and information. It is influenced by the priorities of the Attorney General; consultations with Federal, State, and local criminal justice practitioners and policymakers; analysis of individual State strategies used to disburse Byrne Formula Grant Program funds; and the results and findings from internal studies, demonstrations, and research projects of BJA and its sister agencies in the Office of Justice Programs. The planning process has evolved since the Byrne Program inception so that in FY 1995, BJA focused more on local (urban and rural) crime; technology and automation; assessing gaps in funding in the criminal justice system; and leveraging Federal, State, local, and private resources into comprehensive partnerships against crime and illegal drug use. For example, BJA expanded the role of State and local criminal justice policymakers involved in the Byrne Formula Grant Program by making them more prominent partners in determining the priorities to be addressed by the Byrne Discretionary Grant Program--a step that made the States fuller partners in ensuring funds were responsive to local crime and drug abuse problems. Another important step in the planning process centers on BJA's State and Local Assistance Division, which administers the Formula Grant Program. This division designed and implemented a "needs assessment" capability to identify gaps between and in criminal justice systems. The methodology of the needs assessment identifies problems common across the Nation and analyzes subjective information reported by State and local practitioners, which is provided in annual applications for funding. The value of the needs assessment is considerable as an early warning system to detect emerging national and regional problems. It is used to feed information back to the States, to plan national programs, and to create a link between State anti-drug and anti-crime strategies and BJA goals. The conclusions drawn from the needs assessment were also used by the Discretionary Grant Program Division. For example, State agencies identified substance abuse treatment and alternatives to detention as priority areas for BJA support. Consequently, through the cooperative relationships and suggestions from working partnerships, the Discretionary Grant Program Division's corrections option initiative will devote resources to providing training and technical assistance to States in the coming fiscal year. Overall, discretionary grant programs will be driven by and respond more directly to State and local needs for training, technical assistance, technology, and information systems in law enforcement, prosecution, and crime prevention. Also, individual Discretionary Grant-funded projects will be clearer in their purposes and goals, specifications and anticipated results, publications, and other tangible achievements. To foster the development of clearly focused strategies on priority issues and to coordinate these with Byrne-funded State strategies, the Byrne Formula Grant Program Division conducted 8 training sessions for the administrators and staff of all 56 States and Territories that administer Byrne Formula funds. Also in FY 1995, BJA continued development of quantitative "program performance indicators" for Byrne Formula and Discretionary Grant programs. The quantitative indicators will supplement the traditional criteria of qualitative measures used to gauge BJA's role in suppressing crime, reducing recidivism, and improving the operational elements of the criminal justice system. Just as important, these quantitative performance indicators (numbers and percentages of arrests, convictions, seizures of drugs and weapons, etc.) show citizens a hard yield, or return, on their tax dollars invested by BJA against crime and illegal drug use. When the quantitative indicators are combined with qualitative measures and the needs assessment, BJA will have improved its ability to identify which practices have made the most significant impact. ------------------------------- BJA Special Programs: Assistance for Public Safety Officers' Survivors, Emergency Situations, Prison Industries, and Information Sharing Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) Program The PSOB Program is designed to compensate spouses and children or parents of public safety officers killed or disabled in the line of duty. In 1995, the PSOB Program paid $19.2 million to survivors for 148 in-the-line-of-duty death benefit claims. BJA also funds Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS), a 7,200-member national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing emotional support, grief counseling, and immediate response to other family needs. COPS also provides law enforcement agencies with model guidelines for handling line-of-duty deaths, critical-incident stress debriefing, media inquiries, and community concerns. COPS conducts summer camps for the children of fallen law enforcement officers and offers grief seminars for survivors in conjunction with National Peace Officers' Memorial Day, held in May each year in Washington, D.C. Federal Real Surplus Property Transfer Program The Justice Assistance Act of 1984 enables the Attorney General to make surplus Federal land and buildings available to State and local governments, at no cost, for use as correctional facilities. BJA announces the availabilities and provides training and technical assistance for those seeking to acquire Federal real property. In FY 1995, BJA assisted Alabama, Indiana, and Ohio in the application process so each could acquire a Federal property for correctional purposes. Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Program The PIE Program was created by Congress to encourage joint ventures between private industry and State prisons to make goods and services using inmate labor. From 1979 through June 1995, the PIE Program has generated $6,111,453 in taxes and $10,458,796 in deductions from prisoners' wages to offset incarceration costs. Another $3,449,218 went to family support and $3,644,557 for victims of inmate crimes. Currently, 36 jurisdictions in 34 States have been certified under the PIE Program. Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance (EFLEA) Program EFLEA awards can be made to law enforcement agencies to address uncommon situations that have placed the community at peril and overwhelmed the State or local government's ability to respond. In FY 1995, the following situation met the statutory criteria to qualify for an EFLEA award. The State of Indiana requested funds to assist in the investigation of 165 suspicious deaths occurring over a 22-month period in the intensive care unit of the Vermillion County Hospital in Clinton. The State was awarded $330,578 to support the task force's efforts in conducting a homicide investigation, exhuming dozens of bodies buried in cemeteries in several States, conducting autopsies and forensic analysis, and securing medical experts needed to identify whether any of the deaths in question merited further investigation. State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) Starting in FY 1995, BJA awarded $130 million to 45 States to help pay the costs of incarcerating almost 38,000 criminal alien felons who are in the United States illegally. The largest SCAAP grants went to California ($30.5 million), Texas ($14.8 million), New York ($9.4 million), Florida ($5.5 million), Illinois ($3.8 million), Arizona ($2.7 million), New Jersey ($2.2 million), and the State of Washington ($2.1 million). Massachusetts, Michigan, and Oregon also received awards of more than $1 million. Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) Program Through electronic sharing of information with more than 4,500 law enforcement agencies, the RISS Program supports law enforcement efforts against narcotics trafficking, organized criminal activity, and violent crime. From 1974 through September 1995, the program contributed to more than 66,000 arrests, seizures, and recoveries of controlled substances valued at more than $11 billion; assets valued at more than $465 million; and civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act recoveries of $16 million. BJA supported this program during FY 1995 with a congressional appropriation of $14.5 million. Each of the six RISS projects publishes a monthly bulletin containing information on trends, court decisions, training opportunities, and fugitives. In FY 1995, the program trained 27,000 law enforcement officers through project training and information conferences. ------------------------------- BJA Legislative Purpose Areas The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 established 21 purpose areas which define the nature and scope of programs and projects which might be funded under the Byrne Formula Grant Program (recently expanded to 26 purpose areas). These areas in toto provide substantial authorization for programs which address drug control, violent and serious crime, all aspects of criminal justice processing including incarceration and treatment of offenders, and general improvements in the justice system operations. 1. Demand-reduction education programs in which law enforcement officers participate. 2. Multijurisdictional task force programs that integrate Federal, State, and local drug law enforcement agencies and prosecutors for the purpose of enhancing interagency coordination and intelligence and facilitating multijurisdictional investigations. 3. Programs that target the domestic sources of controlled and illegal substances, such as precursor chemicals, diverted pharmaceuticals, clandestine laboratories, and cannabis cultivations. 4. Community and neighborhood programs that assist citizens in preventing and controlling crime, including special programs that address the problems of crimes committed against the elderly and special programs for rural jurisdictions. 5. Disrupting illicit commerce in stolen goods and property. 6. Improving the investigation and prosecution of white-collar crime, organized crime, public corruption crime, and fraud against the Federal Government, with priority attention to cases involving drug-related official corruption. 7. a. Improving the operational effectiveness of law enforcement through the use of crime analysis techniques, street sales enforcement, schoolyard violator programs, and gang-related and low-income housing drug control programs. b. Developing and implementing anti-terrorism plans for deep draft ports, international airports, and other important facilities. 8. Career criminal prosecution programs, including the development of model drug control legislation. 9. Financial investigative programs that target the identification of money laundering operations and assets obtained through illegal drug trafficking, including the development of proposed model legislation, financial investigative training, and financial information-sharing systems. 10. Improving the operational effectiveness of the court process by expanding prosecutorial, defender, and judicial resources and implementing court delay reduction programs. 11. Programs designed to provide additional public correctional resources and to improve the corrections system, including treatment in prisons and jails, intensive supervision programs, and long-range corrections and sentencing strategies. 12. Prison industry projects designed to place inmates in a realistic working and training environment that will enable them to acquire marketable skills and to make financial payments for restitution to their victims, for support of their own families, and for support of themselves in the institution. 13. Providing programs that identify and meet the treatment needs of adult and juvenile drug-dependent and alcohol-dependent offenders. 14. Developing and implementing programs to provide assistance to jurors and witnesses and assistance (other than compensation) to victims of crime. 15. a. Developing programs to improve drug control technology, such as pretrial drug testing programs; programs to provide for the identification, assessment, referral to treatment, case management, and monitoring of drug-dependent offenders; and enhancement of State and local forensic laboratories. b. Criminal justice information systems to assist law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and corrections organizations (including automated fingerprint identification systems). 16. Innovative programs that demonstrate new and different approaches to enforcement, prosecution, and adjudication of drug offenses and other serious crimes. 17. Addressing the problems of drug trafficking and the illegal manufacture of controlled substances in public housing. 18. Improving the criminal and juvenile justice system's response to domestic and family violence, including spousal abuse, child abuse, and abuse of the elderly. 19. Drug control evaluation programs that State and local units of government may utilize to evaluate programs and projects directed at State drug control activities. 20. Providing alternatives to prevent detention, jail, and prison for persons who pose no danger to the community. 21. Programs in which the primary goal is to strengthen urban enforcement and prosecution efforts targeted at street drug sales. 22. Programs for the prosecution of driving-while-intoxicated charges and the enforcement of other laws relating to alcohol use and the operation of motor vehicles. 23. Programs that address the need for effective bindover systems for the prosecution of violent 16- and 17-year-old juveniles in courts with jurisdiction over adults. [Certain violent crimes, including murder and felonies committed with firearms, are specified.] 24. Law enforcement and prevention programs that relate to gangs, or to youth who are involved or are at risk of involvement in gangs. 25. Developing or improving in a forensic laboratory a capability to analyze DNA for identification purposes. [Funding in this area requires adherence to (or the promise to adhere to) regulations that will be developed and disseminated by the Attorney General with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Institute of Justice over the next year.] 26. Programs to assist States in the litigation processing of death penalty Federal habeas corpus petitions. [Added by the Appropriations Act of 1995.] ------------------------------- 1995 BJA-Funded Publications Boys and Girls Clubs of America Fact Sheet (FS000106) Bureau of Justice Assistance Annual Report Fiscal Year 1994 (NCJ 157663) Business Alliance Program: Creating Business and Community Partnerships Fact Sheet (FS000119) Center for Task Force Training Fact Sheet (FS000115) Children in the Halls of Justice: A Report on Child Care in the Courts (Center for the Study of Social Policy, NCJ 157142) Comprehensive Gang Initiative Program Fact Sheet (FS000116) Community Policing and D.A.R.E.: A Practitioner's Perspective (NCJ 154275) Correctional Options Grant Program Fact Sheet (Updated) (FS000056) Crime Prevention Starts at Home: Setting the Stage for Community Action (National Crime Prevention Council, NCJ 156819) Defense Procurement Fraud Debarment Clearinghouse Fact Sheet (FS000103) Denial of Federal Benefits Program and Clearinghouse Fact Sheet (FS000102) Differentiated Case Management Fact Sheet (Updated) (FS000061) Documenting and Assessing Selected Private Sector/Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Programs (NCJ 150483) Domestic and Family Violence: Highlighted Programs from the State Annual Reports (Justice Research and Statistics Association, NCJ 151549) Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) Fact Sheet (Updated) (FS000039) Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance FY 1995 Fact Sheet (FS000071) Federal Surplus Real Property Transfer Program Fact Sheet (Updated) (FS000045) Financial Investigations (Finvest) Program Fact Sheet (FS000112) Fiscal Year 1994 Review of State Formula Grant Strategies Fact Sheet (FS000110) FY 1995 Discretionary Program Announcement & Application Kit (SL000117) Granting Children a Court Recess: A Program Operations Manual for Child Care in the Courts (Center for the Study of Social Policy, NCJ 157640) Innovative State and Local Programs, Volume II (Justice Research and Statistics Association, NCJ 156390) Keeping Drug Activity Out of Rental Property: Establishing Landlord Training Programs Fact Sheet (FS000117) Model State Drug Statutes Fact Sheet (Updated) (FS000047) Money Laundering: A Practice Manual for State Prosecutors (National Association of Attorneys General, NCJ 155129) Money Laundering Forfeitures--Landmark Structuring Case Provides Guidance (NCJ 152056) Multiagency Response to Clandestine Drug Laboratories Fact Sheet (FS000114) National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign Fact Sheet (FS000121) National Night Out: A Community-Police Partnership Program Fact Sheet (FS000122) National White Collar Crime Center Fact Sheet (FS000120) New Jersey Enforcement Court Pilot Programs: A Case Study (The American University, NCJ 157646) Organized Crime Narcotics Trafficking Enforcement Program Fact Sheet (FS000115) Part of the Solution: Creative Alternatives for Youth (NCJ 152982) Partner With the Media to Build Safer Communities: An Action Kit (National Crime Prevention Council, NCJ 156820) Police Hiring Supplement Program Fact Sheet (FS000111) Preventing Violence Against Women: Not Just A Woman's Issue (National Crime Prevention Council, NCJ 157773) Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (Update) (FS000046) Prosecutorial Response to Drug Abuse and Violent Crime: Highlighted Programs from the State Annual Reports (Justice Research and Statistics Association, NCJ 151758) Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program Fact Sheet (Update) (FS000066) Regional Information Sharing Systems Fact Sheet (Update) (FS000037) SEARCH National Training and Technical Assistance Program Fact Sheet (FS000107) Social Impact of the National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign: The Evaluation Process (NCJ 151524) State Annual Reports 1994, Executive Summaries (Justice Research and Statistics Association, NCJ 153035) Structured Fines: Day Fines as Fair and Collectable Punishment in American Courts (Vera Institute of Justice, NCJ 157141) Training Law Enforcement Officers in Criminal Activities Involving Illegal Aliens Fact Sheet (FS000109) Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities Fact Sheet (Update) (FS000044) Trial Court Performance Standards and Measurement System Fact Sheet (Update) (FS000059) ------------------------------- http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/ In late FY 1995, BJA staff created a home page on the Internet and offered nearly 30 million users of the graphics-based World Wide Web (WWW) unrestricted, 24-hour-a-day access to information on how to fight crime and illegal drug use. Updated on a weekly basis, users can quickly search and download monographs, bulletins, fact sheets, State annual reports, and other documents. Also available are grant applications, statutes, speeches, weekly briefings, scheduled conferences and training sessions, and BJA's Annual Report to Congress. BJA's home page is designed to do more than just give access to documents and information about BJA's grant programs and funding. A staff directory allows users to learn how BJA is organized or to determine who is handling which programs or projects. The home page also contains gateways, or links, to a variety of other criminal justice information home pages--from Federal, State, and local agencies to private, nonprofit organizations. BJA's home page, like the number of WWW users, will continue to grow as it becomes the primary medium for easily accessible information.