Title: JRSA Helps States Determine Local JAIBG Allocations Series: Fact Sheet Author: Lisa Walbolt Published: June 2001 Subject: Juvenile delinquency prevention, Alternatives to incarceration, Community justice 5 pages 8,000 bytes ------------------ To view this document in its entirety, download the Adobe Acrobat graphic file available from this Web site or order a print copy from NCJRS at 800-638- 8736. ------------------- JRSA Helps States Determine Local JAIBG Allocations by Lisa Walbolt In fiscal year 1998, Congress established the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) administers the program and awards block grants to States, which, in turn, are required to pass a portion of the funds through to local jurisdictions. JAIBG awards must be used to support programs in 12 purpose areas specified in the JAIBG legislation, each of which is designed to promote greater accountability in the juvenile justice system. To help States and units of local government implement JAIBG programs, OJJDP funds the JAIBG National Training and Technical Assistance Alliance, a group of 18 OJJDP grantees. The alliance, managed by Development Services Group, Inc., provides a single point of contact for training and technical assistance requests. One of the alliance members, the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA), operates the JAIBG Technical Support Center, which assists States in calculating the amount of JAIBG funds to distribute to, or expend for the benefit of, eligible local jurisdictions. This Fact Sheet discusses the JAIBG Technical Support Center. JAIBG Pass-Through Requirements States are required to pass through 75 percent of JAIBG funds to eligible units of local government. A State may receive a waiver of the 75-percent local pass-through requirement by demonstrating that it bears the primary (more than 50 percent) financial burden for the administration of juvenile justice (measured by expenditures for the 12 JAIBG purpose areas). A formula established by Congress governs States' allocation of JAIBG awards to local jurisdictions. According to this formula, the amount a State must allocate to a locality depends on a combination of law enforcement expenditures and the average annual number of Uniform Crime Report Part 1 violent crimes (including murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) reported by the locality for the 3 most recent calendar years for which data are available. The minimum amount for a State subgrant award to a locality is $5,000. If a locality qualifies for an allocation of less than $5,000, that amount must be expended by the State to provide JAIBG-related services to such locality. Assistance Available From JRSA Although most State JAIBG program administrators have access to their State's crime data, few have access to local expenditure data and most lack the time and resources required to calculate local allocations under the JAIBG formula. To help States calculate local allocation amounts, OJJDP, through an interagency agreement with the Bureau of Justice Statistics, established the JAIBG Technical Support Center to provide States with crime and expenditure data collected by the Federal Government (and supporting documentation). The Center also maintains a Web site (www.jrsa.org/jaibg) that provides formula calculations and allocations for each State and its localities. Spreadsheets containing this information can be downloaded from the site. Other resources available from the Technical Support Center include definitions and background information about the JAIBG program; additional expenditure, crime, and tribal data; and documents from various States detailing the administration of their JAIBG programs. Data Sources for JAIBG The JAIBG Technical Support Center analyzes crime and expenditure data collected by the Federal Government from States and localities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program collects crime data, and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census collects expenditure information (through its Census of Governments survey). Although the JAIBG formula requires States to use the 3 most recent years of data in calculating local awards, the Bureau of the Census collects information on units of local government at 5-year intervals. To address this inconsistency and ensure use of the most current data possible, the Technical Support Center uses only the most recent year of expenditure data in its formula calculations. Only direct, current operating expenditures for police, judicial/legal, and corrections programs are considered "expenditure data" for purposes of JAIBG. Although tribal nations are eligible to receive JAIBG funding, neither the FBI nor the Bureau of the Census collects data from tribes. JRSA, however, receives tribal data from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). State administrators also receive these data. State Data Pages Every State and the District of Columbia have their own page on the JRSA Technical Support Center Web site. Each State page lists all units of local government (as defined in the JAIBG legislation) in the State and provides allocation calculations in three formats: an interactive worksheet,spreadsheets, and a list of the localities for which there are no data. The worksheet lists each unit of local government and its allocation/award. States that have received waivers to pass through less than 75 percent of JAIBG grant funds to units of local government may use the worksheet to recalculate award amounts based on their approved pass-through amount. Two spreadsheets--one by locality name and one by award amount--list locality awards of $5,000 (the minimum authorized by statute) or more. JRSA's State Data Page allows users to download both the FBI UCR data files and the Bureau of the Census expenditure data files. A combined data file that matches the data for each unit of local government is also available. Finally, the State Data Page lists federally recognized American Indian tribes in each State and makes tribal law enforcement data from BIA available for use in formula calculations. Allocation amounts are updated annually. Crime and expenditure data are also updated regularly. FBI crime data are added and updated annually, and Bureau of the Census expenditure data and BIA tribal data are updated as new data become available. ------------------ For Further Information For more information about JRSA's JAIBG Technical Support Center, contact: Lisa Walbolt Justice Research and Statistics Association 777 North Capitol Street NE., Suite 801 Washington, DC 20002 202-842-9330 202-842-9329 (fax) www.jrsa.org/jaibg jaibg@jrsa.org To obtain copies of other OJJDP publications, contact: Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse 800-638-8736 301-519-5600 (fax) www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org -------------------- Lisa Walbolt is a Research Associate with JRSA, where she also manages the JAIBG Technical Support Center and the Incident-Based Reporting Resource Center. -------------------- The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office for Victims of Crime. -------------------- FS 200126