Announcement for 02/26/09
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
On February 17, 2009, the President signed into law H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This stimulus bill provides nearly $4 billion for criminal justice grant programs, including:
- $2 billion for the Department of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, which provides grants to states and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the criminal justice system. Byrne JAG funds, which are allocated on the basis of a formula, can be used to support a wide variety of purposes, including corrections and community corrections, drug treatment, and prevention and education programs. The stimulus bill provides an additional $225 million for competitive grants to state and local law enforcement to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, to assist victims of crime, and to support youth mentoring programs.
- $1 billion for the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), which awards grants to tribal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to hire and train community policing professionals, acquire and deploy cutting-edge crime-fighting technologies, and develop and test innovative policing strategies. The stimulus bill waives the standard 25 percent local match requirement and $75,000 per officer salary cap.
The bill also provides $225 million for Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Programs, $225 million for assistance to Indian tribes, $125 million for assistance to rural law enforcement, $100 million for crime victims programs, $50 million to fight Internet crimes against children, and $40 million to address drug crime along the southern border.
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administering justice, and assisting victims, will administer $2.76 billion of these monies. For more information about the support the stimulus bill provides for criminal justice programs, please click here.