Proposed Comprehensive Plan for Fiscal Year 1996

SUMMARY: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is

publishing this notice of its Proposed Comprehensive Plan for fiscal

year 1996.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 5, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Shay Bilchik, Administrator,

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Room 742, 633

Indiana Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20531.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eileen M. Garry, Special Assistant to

the Administrator, (202) 307-6226. [This is not a toll-free number.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is a component of the Office of Justice

Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice. Pursuant to the provisions

of Section 204(b)(5)(A), of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5601 et seq. ( JJDP

Act), the Administrator of OJJDP is publishing for public comment a

Proposed Comprehensive Plan describing the program activities that

OJJDP proposes to carry out during fiscal year 1996. The Proposed

Comprehensive Plan includes activities authorized in Parts C and D of

Title II of the JJDP Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5651-5665a, 5667,

5667a. Taking into consideration comments received on this Proposed

Comprehensive Plan, the Administrator will develop and publish a Final

Comprehensive Plan describing the particular program activities that

OJJDP intends to fund during fiscal year 1996, using in whole or in

part funds appropriated under Parts C and D of Title II of the JJDP

Act.

At the time of publication, OJJDP's fiscal year 1996 appropriation

level has not been determined. Consequently, OJJDP has not provided

dollar amounts for programs included in the proposed plan. Both the

final decision to fund new and continuation programs and the amount of

funds provided will depend, in part, on the level of Part C and Part D

funds available for fiscal year 1996.

By receiving public comment at this point in time, the Office will

be able to make appropriate modifications in the final program plan, if

necessitated by a lower appropriation, that reflect priorities in the

field.

Notice of the official solicitation of grant or cooperative

agreement applications under the Final Comprehensive Plan will be

published at a later date in the Federal Register. No proposals,

concept papers, or other forms of application should be submitted at

this time.

Overview

OJJDP was established by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5601 et seq. to

provide a comprehensive, coordinated approach to prevent and control

juvenile crime and improve the juvenile justice system. OJJDP

administers a State Formula Grants Program in 57 States and

territories, funds more than 100 projects through its Special Emphasis

Discretionary Grant Program and its National Institute for Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and coordinates Federal activities

related to juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.

OJJDP serves as the staff agency for the Coordinating Council on

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; coordinates the

Concentration of Federal Efforts Program; and administers the Title IV

Missing and Exploited Children's Program, the Title V Prevention

Incentive Grants Program, and programs under the Victims of Child Abuse

Act of 1990, as amended Sec. 42 U.S.C. 13001 et seq.

Fiscal Year 1996 Program Planning Activities

The OJJDP program planning process for fiscal year 1996 is

coordinated with the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice

Programs (OJP), and the four other OJP Program Bureaus: the Bureau of

Justice Assistance (BJA); the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS); the

National Institute of Justice (NIJ); and the Office for Victims of

Crime (OVC). The program planning process involves the following steps:

Internal review of existing programs by OJJDP staff.

Internal review of proposed programs by OJP bureaus and

selected Department of Justice components.

Review of information and data from OJJDP grantees and

contractors.

Review of information contained in State comprehensive

plans.

Review of comments made by youth service providers,

juvenile justice practitioners, and researchers, including focus group

sessions held during fiscal year 1995 to receive input in proposed new

program areas.

Consideration of suggestions made by juvenile justice

policy makers concerning State and local needs.

Consideration of all comments received during the period

of public comment on the Proposed Comprehensive Plan.

Discretionary Program Activities

Discretionary Grant Continuation Policy

OJJDP has listed on the following pages continuation projects

currently funded in whole or in part with Part C and Part D funds and

eligible for continuation funding in fiscal year 1996, either within an

existing project period or through an extension for an additional

project period. A grantee's eligibility for continued funding for an

additional budget period within an existing project period depends on

the grantee's compliance with funding eligibility requirements and

achievement of the prior year's objectives. The amount of award is

based on prior projections, demonstrated need, and fund availability.

Consideration for continuation funding for an additional project

period for previously funded discretionary grant programs will be based

upon several factors, including:

The extent to which the project responds to the applicable

requirements of the JJDP Act.

Responsiveness to OJJDP and Department of Justice fiscal

year 1996 program priorities.

Compliance with performance requirements of prior grant

years.

Compliance with fiscal and regulatory requirements.

Compliance with any special conditions of the award.

Availability of funds (based on program priority

determinations).

In accordance with Section 262 (d)(1)(B) of the JJDP Act, as

amended, U.S.C. Sec. 5665a, the competitive process for the award of

Part C funds shall not be required if the Administrator makes a written

determination waiving the competitive process:

1. With respect to programs to be carried out in areas in which the

President declares under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and

Emergency Assistance Act codified at 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5121 et seq. that a

major disaster or emergency exists, or

2. With respect to a particular program described in part C that is

uniquely qualified.

[[Page 6457]]

OJJDP Funding Policy

OJJDP seeks to focus its assistance on the development and

implementation of programs with the greatest potential for reducing

juvenile delinquency and improving the juvenile justice system by

establishing partnerships with State and local governments and public

and private organizations. To that end, OJJDP has set three goals that

constitute the major elements of a sound policy for juvenile justice

and delinquency prevention:

To promote delinquency prevention and early intervention

efforts that reduce the flow of juvenile offenders into the juvenile

justice system, the numbers of serious and violent offenders, and the

development of chronic delinquent careers.

To foster the use of community-based programs and services

for juvenile offenders, consistent with preserving the public safety,

and in a manner that serves the appropriate development and best use of

secure detention and corrections options.

To improve the juvenile justice system and the response of

the system to juvenile delinquents, status offenders, and dependent,

neglected, and abused children.

Underlying each of the three goals is the overarching premise that

achievement of these goals is vital to protecting the long-term safety

of the public from increased juvenile delinquency and violence. In

pursuing these goals, we divide our programs into the key categories

you will find in the program plan: public safety and law enforcement,

strengthening the juvenile justice system, delinquency prevention and

intervention, and child abuse and neglect and dependency courts. The

following discussion, however, addresses the broader goals of OJJDP.

Delinquency Prevention and Early Intervention

A primary goal of OJJDP is to identify and promote programs that

prevent or reduce the occurrence of juvenile offenses, both criminal

and non-criminal, and to intervene immediately and effectively when

delinquent or status offense conduct first occurs. A sound policy for

juvenile delinquency prevention seeks to strengthen the most powerful

contributing factor to socially acceptable behavior--a productive place

for young people in a law-abiding society. Delinquency prevention

programs can operate on a broad scale, providing for positive youth

development, or can target juveniles identified as being at high risk

for delinquency, with programs designed to reduce future juvenile

offending. OJJDP prevention programs take a risk-focused delinquency

prevention approach based on public health and social development

models.

Early interventions are designed to provide services to juveniles

whose non-criminal misbehavior indicates that they are on a delinquent

pathway, or for first time non-violent delinquent offenders or non-

serious repeat offenders who do not respond to initial system

intervention. These interventions are generally non-punitive but serve

to hold a juvenile accountable while providing services tailored to the

individual needs of the juvenile and the juvenile's family. They are

designed to both deter future misconduct and ameliorate risk or enhance

protective factors.

Community-Based Alternatives

A second OJJDP goal is to identify and promote effective community-

based programs and services for juveniles who have formal contact with

the juvenile justice system, emphasizing options that maintain the

safety of the public, are appropriately restrictive, and promote and

preserve positive ties with the child's family, school, and community.

Communities cannot afford to place responsibility for juvenile

delinquency entirely on publicly operated juvenile justice system

programs. A sound policy for combating juvenile delinquency and

reducing the threat of youth violence makes maximum use of a full range

of public and private programs and services, most of which operate in

the juvenile's home community, including those provided by the health

and mental health, child welfare, social service, and educational

systems.

Coordination of the development of community-based programs and

services with the development and use of a secure detention and

correctional system capability for those juveniles who require a secure

option is cost effective, will protect the public, reduce facility

crowding, and result in better services for both institutionalized

juveniles and those who can be served while remaining in their

community environment.

Improvement of the Juvenile Justice System

A third goal of OJJDP is to promote improvements in the juvenile

justice system and facilitate the most effective allocation of system

resources. This goal is necessary for holding juveniles who commit

crimes accountable for their conduct, particularly serious and violent

offenders who sometimes slip through the cracks of the system or are

inappropriately diverted. This includes assisting law enforcement

officers in their efforts to prevent and control delinquency and the

victimization of children through community policing programs and

coordination and collaboration with other system components and with

child caring systems. It involves helping juvenile and family courts

and the prosecutors and public defenders who practice in those courts,

to provide individualized justice that maintains due process

protections. It requires trying innovative programs and carefully

evaluating those programs to determine what works and what does not

work. It includes a commitment to involving crime victims in the

juvenile justice system and ensuring that their rights are considered.

OJJDP will continue to work closely with the Office for Victims of

Crime to further cooperative programming, including the provision of

services to juveniles who are crime victims or when the provision of

victims services improves the operation of the juvenile justice system.

It also calls for building an appropriate juvenile detention and

corrections capacity and for intensified efforts to use juvenile

detention and correctional facilities when necessary and under

conditions that maximize public safety, while providing effective

rehabilitation services. It requires encouraging states to carefully

consider the use of expanded transfer authority that sends the most

serious, violent, and intractable juvenile offenders to the criminal

justice system, while preserving individualized justice. It

necessitates conducting research and gathering statistical information

in order to understand how the juvenile justice system works in serving

children and families. And finally, the system can only be improved if

information and knowledge is communicated, understood, and applied for

the purpose of juvenile justice system improvement.

Introduction to Fiscal Year 1996 Proposed Program Plan

Unprecedented rates of juvenile violence and delinquency,

victimization, school drop out, teen pregnancy, illegal drug use, and

child abuse and neglect are plaguing our country. In jurisdictions

across the Nation, over-burdened juvenile justice and dependency court

systems are too often responsible for redressing the results of

unstable families lacking parenting skills and communities with

inadequate health and mental health support networks, fragmented social

service delivery systems, a shortage of constructive activities for

young people, and easy access to guns and drugs. They

[[Page 6458]]

lack the resources necessary to respond to serious, violent, and

chronic delinquency, to hold juveniles accountable, and to turn back

the tide of increasing violent delinquency by providing early

intervention services for at-risk juveniles and their families.

The OJJDP fiscal year 1996 Proposed Comprehensive Plan seeks to

support programming that is built on sound research and strengthens

collaborations needed to empower the juvenile justice and dependency

court systems to work effectively with communities in preventing and

controlling delinquency and reducing juvenile victimization.

In 1993, OJJDP published a Comprehensive Strategy for Serious,

Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders (Comprehensive Strategy).

Designed to provide a response to the social crisis we are facing, the

Comprehensive Strategy utilizes statistics, research, and program

evaluations as the basis for a set of sound principles for establishing

a continuum of care for our children. The Comprehensive Strategy

emphasizes the importance of local planning teams assessing the factors

which put youth at risk for delinquency, determining available

resources, and putting in place prevention programs that either reduce

those risk factors or provide protective factors that buffer juveniles

from the impact of risk factors. The Comprehensive Strategy also

stresses the importance of early intervention for juveniles whose

behavior puts them on one or more pathways to delinquency and of having

a system of graduated sanctions that can ensure immediate and

appropriate accountability and treatment for juvenile offenders.

During Fiscal Year 1995 OJJDP published a Guide for Implementing

the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile

Offenders (Guide). The Guide provides information on the process of

identifying risk and protective factors in the community and offers

detailed information about programs known to prevent delinquency or

reduce recidivism. By providing a foundation and framework for each

community's individualized strategy, the Guide can serve as a powerful

tool for states, cities, counties, and neighborhoods that are

mobilizing to address the problem of juvenile violence and delinquency.

The Comprehensive Strategy also served as the foundation for the

development of the National Juvenile Justice Action Plan (Action Plan),

due to be published by the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention in March. The Action Plan provides an additional

resource to communities that seek to balance vigorous enforcement of

the law and prevention services in order to reduce juvenile delinquency

and violence. The Action Plan prioritizes Federal activities and

resources under eight critical objectives, each of which needs to be

addressed in order to effectively combat delinquency and violence. The

Action Plan describes grants, training, technical assistance,

information dissemination, and research and evaluation activities that

will assist jurisdictions to: (1) Strengthen their juvenile justice

systems; (2) prosecute certain serious, violent and chronic juvenile

offenders in the criminal justice system; (3) target youth gun, gang

and drug violence through comprehensive policing and prevention

techniques; (4) create positive opportunities for youth; (5) break the

cycle of violence by addressing child victimization, abuse and neglect;

(6) mobilize communities into effective partnerships for change; (7)

conduct research and evaluate programs; and (8) develop a public

education campaign in order to both get the message out about successes

in addressing juvenile delinquency and violence and rebuild confidence

in every community's ability to impact this serious problem. These are

the activities that the research, as well as numerous expert

commissions on at-risk children, youth, families, and communities,

indicates are necessary to make a lasting difference. It is these

activities, coupled with the Comprehensive Strategy implementation,

that form the basis of OJJDP's 1996 Proposed Program Plan.

The Program Plan supports a balanced approach to aggressively

addressing juvenile delinquency and violence through graduated

sanctions, improving the juvenile justice system's ability to respond,

and preventing the onset of delinquency. It takes into account the

short term need to ensure public safety and the long term imperative of

supporting children's development into healthy, productive citizens

through a range of prevention, early intervention, and graduated

sanctions programs.

Three major new program areas were identified through a process of

engaging OJJDP staff, other Federal agencies, and juvenile justice

practitioners in an examination of existing programs, research

findings, and the needs of the field. They are: (1) Developing one-

stop, community-based intake, assessment and case referral centers and

programs for juveniles who may require services or juvenile justice

system interventions; (2) supporting the linkage between community and

law enforcement responses to youth gun violence; and (3) improving the

dependency and criminal court system's and the community's response to

child abuse and neglect. In addition, a range of proposed research and

evaluation projects that will expand our knowledge about juvenile

offenders, the effectiveness of prevention, intervention, and treatment

programs, and the operation of the juvenile justice system have been

identified for fiscal year 1996 funding consideration. Enhanced program

support in the area of disproportionate minority confinement, gender-

specific services, and technical assistance to Native American Tribes,

would also be provided. Combined with OJJDP programs being continued in

fiscal year 1996, these new demonstration and support programs form a

continuum of programming that supports the objectives of the Action

Plan and mirrors the foundation and framework of the Comprehensive

Strategy.

These continuation activities and programs, as complemented by

proposed new programs, are at the heart of OJJDP's categorical funding

efforts. For example, while focusing on the possible development of

assessment centers as a new area of programming, OJJDP will continue to

offer training seminars in the Comprehensive Strategy and look to the

SafeFutures program to implement the Comprehensive Strategy model under

existing grants and contracts. Combined, these activities provide a

holistic approach to prevention and early intervention programs while

enhancing the juvenile justice system's capacity to provide immediate

and appropriate accountability and treatment for juvenile offenders.

OJJDP's Part D Gang Program will continue to support a range of

comprehensive prevention, intervention, and suppression activities at

the local level, evaluate those activities, and inform communities

about the nature and extent of gang activities and effective and

innovative programs through OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center.

Similarly, the proposed demonstration program focusing on juvenile gun

violence would complement existing law enforcement and prosecutorial

training programs by supporting grassroots community organization's

efforts to address juvenile access, carriage, and use of guns. This

programming would build upon OJJDP's youth-focused community policing,

mentoring, and conflict resolution initiatives, as well as programming

in the area of drug abuse prevention, such as funding to the Congress

of National Black Churches and the National Center for Neighborhood

Enterprise for local

[[Page 6459]]

church and neighborhood-based drug abuse prevention programs.

In support of the need to break the cycle of violence, OJJDP's new

demonstration program to improve linkages between the dependency and

criminal court systems, child welfare and social service providers, and

family strengthening programs will complement ongoing support of Court

Appointed Special Advocates, Child Advocacy Centers, and prosecutor and

judicial training in the dependency field that is funded under the

Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, as amended.

The Plan's proposed research and evaluation programming would

support many of the above activities by filling in critical gaps in our

knowledge about the level and seriousness of juvenile crime and

victimization, its causes and correlates, and effective programs in

preventing delinquency and violence. At the same time, OJJDP's research

efforts will also be geared toward efforts that monitor and evaluate

the ways juveniles are treated by the juvenile and criminal justice

systems and any trends in this response, particularly as they relate to

juvenile violence and its impact.

OJJDP is also utilizing the national perspective afforded it, to

disseminate information to those at the grassroots level--

practitioners, policy makers, community leaders, and service providers

who are directly responsible for planning and implementing policies and

programs that impact on juvenile crime and violence.

OJJDP will continue to fund longitudinal research on the causes and

correlates of delinquency, the findings of which are shared regularly

with the field through OJJDP publications, utilize state-of-the-art

technology to develop and disseminate an interactive CD-ROM on programs

that work to prevent delinquency and reduce recidivism, air national

satellite teleconferences on key topics of relevance to practitioners,

and publish new reports and documents on timely topics such as school-

based conflict resolution, curfews, the Federal Educational Records

Privacy Act, confidentiality of juvenile court records, innovative

sentencing options, and strategies to reduce youth gun violence.

The various contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and

interagency fund transfers described in the Program Plan form a

continuum of activity designed to address the crisis of youth violence

and delinquency in our Nation. In isolation, this programming can do

little. However, the emphasis of OJJDP's programming is on

collaboration. It is through collaboration that Federal, State, and

local agencies, Native American Tribes, national organizations, private

philanthropies, the corporate and business sector, health, mental

health and social service agencies, schools, youth, families, and

clergy can come together to form partnerships and leverage additional

resources, identify needs and priorities, and implement innovative

strategies. Together, we can make a difference.

Fiscal Year 1996 Proposed Programs

The following are brief summaries of each of the proposed new and

continuation programs for fiscal year 1996. As indicated above, the

program categories are public safety and law enforcement, strengthening

the juvenile justice system, delinquency prevention and intervention,

and child abuse and neglect and dependency courts. However, because

many programs have significant elements of more than one of these

program categories, or generally support all of OJJDP's programs, they

are listed in an initial program category called ``Overarching

Programs''. The specific program priorities proposed within each

category are subject to change with regard to their priority status,

sites for implementation, and other descriptive data and information

based on the review and comment process, grantee performance,

application quality, fund availability, and other factors.

A number of programs contained in this document have been

identified for funding by Congress with regard to the grantee(s), the

amount of funds, or both. Such programs are indicated by an asterisk

(*). The 1996 Appropriations Act Conference Report for the Departments

of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies

Programs identified six programs for OJJDP to examine and fund if

warranted. One of these programs is included in the Plan for

continuation funding. The remaining five will receive careful

consideration for funding in fiscal year 1996.

Fiscal Year 1996 Program Listing

Overarching

Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency

Field-Initiated Research

Evaluation of SafeFutures

OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract

Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development

Research Program on Juveniles Taken into Custody--NCCD

Juveniles Taken into Custody--Interagency Agreement

Children in Custody--Census

Juvenile Justice Data Resources

National Juvenile Court Data Archive*

National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Training and

Technical Assistance Center

Technical Assistance for State Legislatures

OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract--JJRC

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse

Telecommunications Assistance

Coalition for Juvenile Justice

Insular Area Support *

Public Safety and Law Enforcement

Kids and Guns: Reducing Youth Gun Violence

Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention,

Intervention, and Suppression Program

Targeted Outreach with a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component

(Boys and Girls Clubs)

National Youth Gang Center

Child-Centered Community-Oriented Policing

Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Program

Violence Studies *

Hate Crimes

Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

Development of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent,

and Chronic Juvenile Offenders

Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offender Treatment Program

Community Assessment Centers

Juvenile Restitution: A Balanced Approach

Training and Technical Assistance Program to Promote Gender-Specific

Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders

Technical Assistance to Native American Programs

National Indicators of Juvenile Violence and Delinquent Behavior and

Related Risk Factors

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang

Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression

Evaluation of Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and

Technical Assistance Program

Evaluation of Statewide DMC Projects

Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) Evaluation

Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court Studies

Technical Assistance to Juvenile Courts *

Juvenile Court Judges Training *

The Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit

Due Process Advocacy Program Development

Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical

Assistance Program

Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations to Reduce

Disproportionate Minority Confinement (The Deborah Wysinger Memorial

Program)

Juvenile Probation Survey Research

Improvements in Correctional Education for Juvenile Offenders

Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile Detention and Corrections

Facilities

Technical Assistance to Juvenile Corrections and Detention (The

James E. Gould Memorial Program)

Training for Juvenile Corrections and Detention Staff

Training for Line Staff in Juvenile Detention and Corrections

[[Page 6460]]

Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional

Teams to Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding

National Program Directory

Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

Training In Risk-Focused Prevention Strategies

Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution

Pathways to Success

Teens, Crime, and the Community: Teens in Action in the 90s *

Law-Related Education

Cities in Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership

Race Against Drugs

The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/

Violence Campaign (NADVC)

Community Anti-Drug Abuse Technical Assistance Voucher Project

Training and Technical Assistance for Family Strengthening Services

Henry Ford Health System *

Jackie Robinson Center *

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

A Community-Based Approach to Combating Child Victimization

Permanent Families for Abused and Neglected Children *

Parents Anonymous, Inc.*

Lowcountry Children's Center, Inc.*

Overarching

Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency

Three projects sites comprise the Program of Research on the Causes

and Correlates of Delinquency: The University of Colorado at Boulder,

the University of Pittsburgh, and the State University of New York at

Albany. The main purpose of fiscal year 1996 funding would be to

support additional data analyses in support of OJJDP program

development. Results from this program have been used extensively in

the development of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent,

and Chronic Juvenile Offenders and other program initiatives.

OJJDP began funding this program in 1986 and has invested

approximately $10 million to date. The program has addressed many

issues of juvenile violence and delinquency. These include developing

and testing causal models for chronic violent offending and examining

interrelationships among gang involvement, drug selling, and gun

ownership/use. To date, the Program has produced a massive amount of

information on the causes and correlates of delinquent behavior.

Although there is great commonality across the projects, each has

unique design features. Additionally, each project has disseminated the

results of its research through a variety of publications, reports, and

presentations.

With proposed fiscal year 1996 funding, each site of the Causes and

Correlates Program would be provided additional funds to further

analyze the longitudinal data. New publications, including two joint

publications, would be developed in fiscal year 1996 and both the role

of mental health in delinquency and pathways to delinquency would be

the subject of further analyses.

This program would be implemented by the current grantees,

Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder;

Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh; and

Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, State University of New

York at Albany. No additional applications would be solicited in fiscal

year 1996.

Field-Initiated Research

Through the fiscal year 1996 Field-Initiated Research program,

OJJDP would solicit innovative programs that address critical research

and evaluation needs of the juvenile justice field. Priority research

topics include: youth gangs in residential facilities; mental health

issues; waiver and transfer to the juvenile justice system; reporting

of child victimization; improving data collaboration efforts between

juvenile justice, child welfare, child protective services, and mental

health; institutional crowding; and topics related to OJJDP's

Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile

Offenders. In addition to research topics, this program would also

entertain proposals from State and local agencies wishing to conduct

evaluations of programs initiated with OJJDP Formula, Title V, and

discretionary funds that appear to be having significant impact and

offer a possibility for national replication.

OJJDP proposes to issue a competitive solicitation for this

initiative in fiscal year 1996.

Evaluation of SafeFutures

In fiscal year 1995, OJJDP funded six communities under the

SafeFutures: Partnerships to Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency

Program. The program sites are: Contra Costa County, California; Fort

Belknap Indian Community, Montana; Boston, Massachusetts; St. Louis,

Missouri; Seattle, Washington; and Imperial County, California. The

SafeFutures Program provides support for a comprehensive prevention,

intervention, and treatment program to meet the needs of at-risk

juveniles and their families.

Approximately $8 million per year will be made available over a 5-

year project period to support the efforts of these jurisdictions to

enhance existing partnerships, integrate juvenile justice and social

services, and provide a continuum of care that is designed to reduce

the number of serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders.

The Urban Institute received a competitive 3-year Phase I

cooperative agreement award in fiscal year 1995. The national

evaluation of the SafeFutures program will consist of both process and

impact components for each funded site. The evaluation process includes

an examination of planning procedures and the extent to which each

sites'' implementation plan is consistent with the principles of a

continuum of care/graduated sanctions model. The evaluation will

identify the obstacles and key factors contributing to the successful

implementation of the SafeFutures continuum of care model. The

evaluator is responsible for developing a cross-site monograph

documenting the process of program implementation for use by other

communities that want to develop and implement a comprehensive

community-based strategy to address serious, violent, and chronic

delinquency.

A fiscal year 1996 supplemental award will be made to the current

grantee, the Urban Institute, to complete first year funding. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

OJJDP Management Evaluation Contract

The purpose of this contract, competitively awarded in fiscal year

1995 to Caliber Associates, is to provide to OJJDP an expert resource

capable of performing independent, management-oriented evaluations of

selected OJJDP programs. These evaluations are designed to determine

the effectiveness and efficiency of either individual projects or

groups of projects. The contractor also assists OJJDP in determining

how to make the best use of limited evaluation resources and how best

to design and implement evaluations. Work plans that have been

requested or will be requested from the contractor in fiscal year 1996

include: continuing the evaluation of three OJJDP-funded bootcamps;

continuing to support the evaluation of Title V delinquency prevention

programs at the local level; preparation of OJJDP's Title V Program

report to Congress; providing assistance to OJJDP program development

working groups; assisting

[[Page 6461]]

OJJDP in the creation of an ``evaluation partnership for juvenile

justice'' designed to improve the number and quality of evaluations

conducted by Formula Grants Program grantees, other Federal agencies,

private foundations that fund evaluations, and State and local

governments; and conducting other short- or long-term evaluations as

required. The contract will be performed by the current contractor,

Caliber Associates. No additional applications will be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development

The Juvenile Justice Statistics and Systems Development (SSD)

Program was competitively awarded to the National Center for Juvenile

Justice (NCJJ) in fiscal year 1990 to improve national, state, and

local statistics on juveniles as victims and offenders. The project has

focused on three major functions: (1) Assessment of how current

information needs are being met with existing data collection efforts

and recommending options for improving national level statistics; (2)

analyzing data and disseminating information gathered from existing

Federal statistical series and national studies. Based on this work,

OJJDP released the first ``Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National

Report'' in September 1995; and (3) provision of training and technical

assistance for local agencies in developing or enhancing management

information systems. A training curriculum, ``Improving Information for

Rational Decision making in Juvenile Justice,'' was drafted for pilot

testing.

In this final phase of the SSD project, NCJJ will complete a long-

term plan for improving national statistics on juveniles as victims and

offenders, including constructing core data elements for a national

reporting program for juveniles waived or transferred to criminal

court, an implementation plan for integrating data collection on

juveniles by juvenile justice, mental health, and child welfare

agencies, and a report on standardized measures and instruments for

self-reported delinquency surveys. The project will also make

recommendations to fill information gaps in the areas of juvenile

probation, juvenile court and law enforcement responses to juvenile

delinquency, violent delinquency, and child abuse and neglect. In

addition, the SSD Project will provide an update of Juvenile Offenders

and Victims: A National Report, and work with the Office of Justice

Programs Crime Statistics Working Group and other Federal interagency

working groups on statistics. The project will be implemented by the

current grantee, NCJJ. No additional applications will be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

Research Program on Juveniles Taken Into Custody--NCCD

The Research Program on Juveniles Taken into Custody was designed

and implemented in fiscal year 1989 in response to a growing need for

comprehensive juvenile custody data. The project now has the

participation of all State juvenile corrections agencies. Each year the

project produces a report on juveniles taken into custody. In fiscal

year 1996, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) will

continue to refine the State Juvenile Correctional System Reporting

Program. It is anticipated that individual-level data for 1996 will be

representative of more than 85 percent of the at-risk juvenile

population. In addition, NCCD will prepare reports providing a detailed

summary and analysis of the most recent data regarding: (1) The number

and characteristics of juveniles taken into custody; (2) the rate at

which juveniles are taken into custody; and (3) the trends demonstrated

by the data.

This program will be implemented by the current grantee, NCCD. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Juveniles Taken Into Custody (JTIC)--Interagency Agreement

OJJDP would continue its program to improve the collection of

juvenile custody data through an interagency agreement with the Bureau

of the Census. This agreement provides for the collection and

processing of individual-level data on juveniles under State

correctional custody. The Census Bureau and OJJDP have developed close

working relationships with State juvenile corrections agencies. Through

these relationships, OJJDP has developed a program to collect data on

each juvenile in State custody and the Census Bureau has developed an

understanding of the State data that allows for ``translation'' of

State information to a national format. Each year since 1990, the

Census Bureau has collected this information and processed it for

analysis by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD).

The resulting analyses are published by OJJDP in annual Juveniles

Taken Into Custody reports that are disseminated to practitioners and

planners and used to meet statutory information requirements in OJJDP's

Annual Report to the President and Congress.

The program would be implemented in fiscal year 1996 by the Bureau

of the Census under an interagency agreement.

Children in Custody--Census

Under this ongoing collaborative program between OJJDP and the U.S.

Bureau of the Census, OJJDP proposes to transfer funds to the Census

Bureau to complete the 1995 biennial census of public and private

juvenile detention, correctional, and shelter facilities. The Census

describes juvenile custody facilities in terms of their resident

population, programs, and physical characteristics. It also provides

information on trends in the use of juvenile custody facilities for

delinquent juveniles and status offenders. The Census Bureau's Center

for Survey Methods Research would also continue to develop and test a

roster-based data collection system designed to enhance information

collected on juveniles in custody beginning with the 1997 biennial

census. Finally, the Bureau's Governments Division would continue its

efforts to develop a complete directory of juvenile justice facilities

and programs. This directory would serve as the frame for conducting

the 1997 census and other future surveys. It would contain basic

information on each facility that is necessary for creating

representative samples. It would also contain basic administrative

information to be used in conducting the census. The program would be

implemented by the U.S. Bureau of the Census under an existing

interagency agreement.

Juvenile Justice Data Resources

OJJDP has entered into an agreement with the Inter-University

Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University

of Michigan to make OJJDP data sets routinely available to researchers.

Under this agreement, ICPSR assures the technical integrity and

develops a universal format for the data. The codebooks, along with the

data, provide clear guidance for additional analyses. Once prepared,

ICPSR provides access to these data sets to member institutions and the

public. Among the data sets previously processed and available through

ICPSR are the Children in Custody Census (1971-1991); the Conditions of

Confinement Study; and the National Incidence Studies of Missing,

Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART).

This program would be implemented under an interagency agreement

with ICPSR. No additional applications would be solicited in fiscal

year 1996.

[[Page 6462]]

National Juvenile Court Data Archive*

The National Juvenile Court Data Archive collects, processes,

analyzes, and disseminates automated data and published reports from

the Nation's juvenile courts. The Archive's reports examine referrals,

offenses, intake, and dispositions, in addition to providing

specialized topics such as minorities in juvenile courts and

information on specific offense categories. The Archive also provides

assistance to jurisdictions in analyzing their juvenile court data. In

1995, this project produced a bulletin, Offenders in Juvenile Court

1992, and a report, Juvenile Court Statistics 1992, along with a number

of OJJDP Fact Sheets and special analyses.

In fiscal year 1996, the Archive will enhance the collection,

reporting, and analysis of more detailed data on detention,

dispositions, risk factors, and treatment data using offender-based

data sets from a sample of juvenile courts.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Center for Juvenile Justice. No additional applications will

be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Training and

Technical Assistance Center

The National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Training

and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) was competitively funded in

fiscal year 1995 for a 3-year project period to develop a national

training and technical assistance clearinghouse, inventory juvenile

justice training/technical assistance resources, and establish a data

base with respect to these resources.

In fiscal year 1995, work involved organization and staffing of the

Center, providing an orientation for OJJDP training and technical

assistance providers regarding their role in the Center's activities,

and initial data base development.

In fiscal year 1996, NTTAC will conduct needs assessments, support

training/technical assistance program development, promote

collaboration between OJJDP training/technical assistance providers,

develop training/technical assistance materials, and promote evaluation

of OJJDP-supported training and technical assistance. In addition,

NTTAC will prepare program materials and implement specialized

training, including training-of-trainers programs, and develop

standards and procedures for academic/professional accreditation/

certification of OJJDP training and trainers. NTTAC provides a single,

central source for information pertaining to the availability of OJJDP

supported training/technical assistance programs and will publish and

maintain an up-to-date catalog of such programs.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, Community

Research Associates. No additional applications will be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

Technical Assistance for State Legislatures

State legislatures are being pressed to respond to public fear of

juvenile crime and a loss of confidence in the capability of the

juvenile justice system to respond effectively. For the most part,

State legislatures have had insufficient information to properly

address juvenile justice issues. In fiscal year 1995, OJJDP awarded a

two-year grant to the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL)

to provide relevant, timely information on comprehensive approaches in

juvenile justice that are geared to the legislative environment. In

fiscal year 1995, NCSL convened a Leadership Forum with invited

legislators; convened several focus groups; and established an

information clearinghouse function. In fiscal year 1996, OJJDP will

award second-year funding to the NCSL to further identify, analyze, and

disseminate information to help State legislatures make more informed

decisions about legislation affecting the juvenile justice system. A

complementary task will involve supporting increased communication

between State legislators and State and local leaders who influence

Decision making regarding juvenile justice issues. NCSL will provide

technical assistance to four states, will continue outreach activities

and maintain its clearinghouse function.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, NCSL. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

OJJDP Technical Assistance Support Contract: Juvenile Justice Resource

Center

This 3-year contract, competitively awarded in fiscal year 1994,

provides technical assistance and support to OJJDP, its grantees, and

the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

in the areas of program development, evaluation, training, and

research. This program support contract will be supplemented in fiscal

year 1996. The contract will be implemented by the current contractor,

Aspen Systems Corporation. No additional applications will be solicited

in fiscal year 1996.

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse

A component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service

(NCJRS), the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC) is OJJDP's central

source for the collection, synthesis, and dissemination of information

on all aspects of juvenile justice, including research and evaluation

findings, State and local juvenile delinquency prevention and treatment

programs and plans, availability of resources, training and educational

programs, and statistics. JJC serves the entire juvenile justice

community, including researchers, law enforcement officials, judges,

prosecutors, probation and corrections staff, youth-service personnel,

legislators, the media, and the public.

Among its many support services, JJC offers toll-free telephone

access to information, prepares specialized responses to information

requests, produces, warehouses, and distributes OJJDP publications,

exhibits at national conferences, maintains a comprehensive juvenile

justice library and database, and administers several electronic

information resources. Recognizing the critical need to inform juvenile

justice practitioners and policy makers on promising program

approaches, JJC continually develops and recommends new products and

strategies to communicate more effectively the research findings and

program activities of OJJDP and the field. The entire NCJRS, of which

the OJJDP-funded JJC is a part, is administered by the National

Institute of Justice under a competitively awarded contract . The

project will be implemented by the current grantee, Aspen Systems

Corporation. No additional applications will be solicited in fiscal

year 1996.

Telecommunications Assistance

Developments in information technology and distance training can

expand and enhance OJJDP's capacity to disseminate information and

provide training and technical assistance. These technologies have the

following advantages when used properly: increased access to

information and training for persons in the juvenile justice system;

reduced travel costs to conferences; and reduced time attending

meetings requiring one or more nights away from one's home or office.

Additionally, the successful use of ``live'' satellite teleconferences

by OJJDP during the past year has generated an enthusiastic response

from the field.

During the past twelve months the grantee has produced four live

satellite teleconferences on the following topics: Community

Collaboration for

[[Page 6463]]

Delinquency Prevention; Model Juvenile Correctional Programs for

Serious, Violent, Chronic Offenders; Youth Focused Community Policing;

and Juvenile Boot Camps.

OJJDP proposes to continue the competitive cooperative agreement

award to Eastern Kentucky University in 1994 to provide program support

and technical assistance for a variety of information technologies,

including audio-graphics, satellite teleconferences, and fiber optics.

The grantee would also continue to provide limited technical assistance

to other grantees interested in using this technology and explore

linkages with key constituent groups to advance mutual goals and

objectives. This project would be implemented by the current grantee,

Eastern Kentucky University. No additional applications would be

solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Coalition for Juvenile Justice

The Coalition for Juvenile Justice supports and facilitates the

purposes and functions of each State's Juvenile Justice State Advisory

Group (SAG). The Coalition, acting as a statutorily authorized, duly

chartered Federal advisory committee, reviews Federal policies and

practices regarding juvenile justice and delinquency prevention, and

prepares and submits an annual report and recommendations to the

President, Congress, and the Administrator of OJJDP. The Coalition also

serves as an information center for the SAGs and conducts an annual

conference to provide training for SAG members. The program would be

implemented by the current grantee, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice.

No additional applications would be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Insular Area Support*

The purpose of this program is to provide supplemental financial

support to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Trust

Territory of the Pacific Islands (Palau), and the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands. Funds are available to address the special

needs and problems of juvenile delinquency in these insular areas, as

specified by Section 261(e) of the JJDP Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C.

Sec. 5665(e).

Public Safety and Law Enforcement

Kids and Guns: Reducing Youth Gun Violence

This project is intended to enhance the effectiveness of

comprehensive youth gun violence reduction efforts by supporting

innovative local community-generated strategies. Under a competitive

announcement, OJJDP proposes funding community-based organizations and

local units of government to strengthen their linkages to broader youth

gun violence reduction efforts.

Applicants would be encouraged to: be creative in designing

initiatives for the prevention, intervention, and reduction of youth

gun violence in targeted neighborhoods; coordinate their efforts with

other community-based law enforcement initiatives, youth-serving

organizations, crime victim organizations, and the juvenile justice

system; and collaborate with these agencies to evaluate program

effectiveness. Applicants would also be required to show that their

proposed initiative reflects current youth gun violence research and a

local assessment of youth access to guns, why young people carry guns,

and why they use them.

OJJDP also proposes to support an independent evaluation of this

project that focuses on collecting and analyzing data on the program

implementation process. The evaluator would also design an impact

evaluation in collaboration with OJJDP and an approved advisory board.

The Reducing Youth Gun Violence project would be competitively

funded in up to three sites with a 2-year project period. The

evaluation would be competitively funded under a cooperative agreement

to a single grantee for a 3-year project period.

Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention,

and Suppression Program

This program supports the implementation of a comprehensive gang

program model in five jurisdictions. The program was competitively

awarded with fiscal year 1994 funds under a 3-year project period. The

demonstration sites implementing the model, developed with OJJDP

funding support by the University of Chicago, are: Mesa, Arizona;

Tucson, Arizona; Riverside, California; Bloomington, Illinois; and San

Antonio, Texas. Implementation of the comprehensive gang program model

requires the mobilization of the community to address gang-related

violence by making available social interventions, providing social/

academic/vocational and other types of opportunities, supporting gang

suppression through law enforcement, prosecution and other community

control mechanisms, and supporting organizational change and

development in community agencies to more effectively address gang

violence prone youth.

During the past year, the demonstration sites began an ongoing

problem assessment process to identify the full nature and extent of

the gang problem in the community and its potential causes. The

assessment process will also help communities to understand what may

cause gang violence in their community and to identify benchmarks by

which program success may be measured. The demonstration sites also

participated in training and technical assistance activities, including

two cluster conferences sponsored by OJJDP. In addition, the

demonstration sites began strategy implementation and service provision

and made progress in community mobilization, either through existing

planning structures or by creating new structures.

In fiscal year 1996, demonstration sites will receive second year

funding to continue implementation of the model program and build upon

the sustained mobilization, planning and assessment processes.

Additionally, the demonstration sites will continue to target youth

prone to gang violence through continuing implementation of the program

model and work with the independent evaluator of this demonstration

program. No additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year

1996.

Targeted Outreach With a Gang Prevention and Intervention Component

(Boys and Girls Clubs)

This program is designed to enable local Boys and Girls Clubs to

prevent youth from entering gangs and to intervene with gang members in

the early stages of gang involvement to divert them from gang

activities into more constructive programs. In fiscal year 1996, Boys

and Girls Clubs of America would provide training and technical

assistance to existing gang prevention and intervention sites and

expand the gang prevention and intervention program to 30 additional

Boys and Girls Clubs, including those in SafeFutures sites. This

program would be implemented by the current grantee, the Boys and Girls

Clubs of America. No additional applications would be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

National Youth Gang Center

The proliferation of gang problems ranging from large inner cities

to smaller cities, suburbs, and even rural areas over the past two

decades led to the development by OJJDP of a comprehensive, coordinated

response to America's gang problem. This response

[[Page 6464]]

involves five program components, one of which is the implementation

and operation of the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC). The NYGC was

competitively funded with fiscal year 1994 funds for a three-year

project period. The purpose of the NYGC is to expand and maintain the

body of critical knowledge about youth gangs and effective responses to

them. NYGC assists State and local jurisdictions in the collection,

analysis, and exchange of information on gang-related demographics,

legislation, research, and promising program strategies. The Center

also coordinates activities of the OJJDP Gang Consortium--a group of

Federal agencies, gang program representatives, and service providers.

Other major tasks include statistical data collection and analysis on

gangs, analysis of gang legislation, gang literature review,

identification of promising gang program strategies, and gang

consortium coordination activities.

Fiscal year 1996 funds will support second year funding of the NYGC

cooperative agreement to the current grantee, the Institute for

Intergovernmental Research. No additional applications will be

solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Child Centered Community-Oriented Policing

In fiscal year 1993, OJJDP provided support to the New Haven,

Connecticut Police Department and the Yale University Child Development

Center to document a child-centered, community-oriented policing model

being implemented in New Haven, Connecticut. The basic elements of the

model are a 10-week training course in child development for all new

police officers and child development fellowships for all community-

based district commanders who direct neighborhood police teams. The

fellowships provide 4 to 6 hours of training each week over a 3-month

period at Yale's Child Study Center. The program also includes: (1) a

24-hour consultation from a clinical professional and a police

supervisor to patrol officers who assist children who have been exposed

to violence; (2) weekly case conferences with police officers,

educators, and child study center staff; and (3) open police stations,

located in neighborhoods and accessible to residents for police and

related services, community liaison, and neighborhood foot patrols.

In fiscal year 1994, BJA community policing funds helped support

the first year of a 3-year training and technical assistance grant to

replicate the program nationwide. These funds supported the development

of criteria for a request for proposals, protocols for consultation,

train-the-trainer sessions for New Haven police and clinical faculty,

and the development of a multi-model strategy for data collection and

program evaluation. Fiscal year 1995 OJJDP funds supported continuation

of the project's expansion in up to four replication sites.

Fiscal year 1996 funds will support the implementation of the five-

phase replication protocol in the four selected sites, replication site

data collection and analysis activities, and development of a detailed

casebook about the model and program.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, the Yale

University School of Medicine. No additional applications will be

solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Program

This continuation award will supplement the 3-year law enforcement

and technical assistance support contract, competitively awarded in

fiscal year 1994 to Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton,

Wisconsin. Fiscal year 1996 funds will be used to continue to provide

services under the nationwide training and technical assistance program

designed to improve law enforcement's capability to respond to juvenile

delinquency, to contribute to delinquency prevention, and to address

issues of missing and exploited children and child abuse and neglect.

Technical assistance under this contract is provided in response to a

wide variety of requests from Federal, State, county, and local

agencies with responsibility for the prevention and control of juvenile

delinquency and juvenile victimization. The contract supports

continuation of the Gang, Gun, and Drug Policy Training Program, the

Police Operations Leading to Improved Children and Youth Services

series of training programs, a Native American Law Enforcement Training

Program, and a variety of other law enforcement training programs

offered by OJJDP.

This contract will be implemented by the current contractor, Fox

Valley Technical College. No additional applications will be solicited

in fiscal year 1996.

Violence Studies*

The 1992 Amendments to the JJDP Act required OJJDP to fund two-year

studies on violence in three urban and one rural jurisdiction. Building

on the results of OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and

Correlates of Delinquency, these studies were to examine the incidence

of violence committed by or against juveniles in urban and rural areas

of the United States. In fiscal year 1994, OJJDP initiated this program

by supporting studies of homicides by and of youth in Milwaukee,

Wisconsin and a cross-site study in rural areas in South Carolina,

Georgia, and Florida. The grantees are the University of Wisconsin and

the University of South Carolina. In fiscal year 1995, OJJDP provided

funding for the second year of these studies and initiated two new

violence studies in Los Angeles, California, and Washington, D.C. The

grantees are the University of Southern California and the Institute

for Law and Justice.

These four studies will provide valuable information regarding

community violence patterns, with a particular focus on homicide and

firearm use involving juveniles. They will also improve the juvenile

justice system by identifying strategic law enforcement responses to

juvenile violence and by identifying diversion, prevention, and control

programs that ameliorate juvenile violence.

During fiscal year 1996, the University of Wisconsin and the

University of South Carolina will analyze their data and issue their

findings with prior year funds. The University of Southern California

will receive fiscal year 1996 funds to identify violence prevention

programs and conduct a household survey and interview adolescents and

their care givers in Los Angeles County. The Institute for Law and

Justice will receive fiscal year 1996 funds to collect and analyze

aggregate data from various juvenile justice providers and from a

series of interviews with agency staff serving adjudicated juveniles.

This will be followed by analysis and the preparation of a

comprehensive report.

The program will be continued by the current project grantees. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Hate Crimes

In fiscal year 1993, OJJDP competitively awarded a grant to

Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), to assess existing curriculum

materials and develop a multi-purpose curriculum for use in educational

and institutional settings. In fiscal years 1994 and 1995, EDC

developed a multipurpose curriculum for hate crime prevention in school

and other classroom settings and the curriculum was pilot tested in the

eighth grade of the Collins Middle School in Salem, Massachusetts.

Information received in the pilot test was evaluated and the

[[Page 6465]]

curriculum redesigned. EDC then tested the curriculum in additional

sites in New York and Florida to ensure that it was geographically and

demographically representative. In consultation with the Office for

Victims of Crime, EDC also developed a dissemination strategy for the

curriculum and other products, including a judges guide on sanctions

for juveniles who commit hate crimes.

In fiscal year 1996, EDC would identify school districts and

juvenile justice agencies across the country who are interested in

receiving training in the curriculum. EDC would also provide training

to education and juvenile justice personnel in order to foster adoption

of the curriculum. The project would be implemented by the current

grantee, EDC. No additional applications would be solicited in fiscal

year 1996.

Strengthening the Juvenile Justice System

Development of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and

Chronic Juvenile Offenders

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency, in collaboration

with Developmental Research and Programs, Inc., has completed Phase I

and II of a collaborative effort to support development and

implementation of OJJDP's Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent,

and Chronic Juvenile Offenders. Phase I involved assessing existing and

previously researched programs in order to identify effective and

promising programs that can be used in implementing the Comprehensive

Strategy. In Phase II, a series of reports were combined into a Guide

for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and

Chronic Juvenile Offenders. Phase II also included convening of a

forum, ``Guaranteeing Safe Passage: A National Forum on Youth

Violence,'' and holding two regional training seminars for key leaders

on implementing the Comprehensive Strategy.

In fiscal year 1996, Phase III of the project will be funded to

provide: targeted dissemination of the Comprehensive Strategy at

national conferences; intensive training for selected States to

implement the Comprehensive Strategy in up to six local jurisdictions;

individualized technical assistance for the five Serious, Violent, and

Chronic Juvenile Offender Program sites and the six SafeFutures sites;

technical assistance to a limited number of individual jurisdictions

interested in implementing the Comprehensive Strategy; and continued

development of Comprehensive Strategy implementation materials.

The program will be implemented by the current grantees, the

National Council on Crime and Delinquency and Developmental Research

and Programs, Inc., under third-year funding of this 3-year program. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offender Treatment Program

The Serious, Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offender Treatment

Program is designed to assist local jurisdictions in the development

and implementation of a comprehensive strategy for the intervention,

treatment, and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. The program is an

extension of an initial effort, funded by OJJDP in 1993, entitled

``Accountability-Based Community Intervention (ABC) Program.'' Under

the ABC initiative, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. were

competitively funded to plan and implement a comprehensive graduated

sanctions strategy.

In fiscal year 1994, under a competitive announcement, OJJDP

awarded funds under the Serious, Violent, and Chronic Offender

Treatment Program to three additional jurisdictions (Boston,

Massachusetts; Richmond, Virginia; and Jefferson Parish, Louisiana) to

develop and implement a graduated sanctions plan. The plan's basic

elements include: (1) assess the existing continuum of secure and

nonsecure intervention, treatment, and rehabilitation services in each

jurisdiction; (2) define the juvenile offender population; (3) develop

and implement a program strategy; (4) develop and implement an

evaluation; (5) integrate private nonprofit, community-based

organizations into the provision of offender services; (6) incorporate

an aftercare program as an integral component of all residential

placements; (7) develop a resource plan to enlist the financial and

technical support of other Federal, State, and local agencies, private

foundations, or other funding sources; and (8) develop a victim

assistance component using local organizations.

In fiscal year 1995, the ABC Program jurisdictions completed

program funding and in fiscal year 1996, each of the three fiscal year

1994 grantees will receive awards to continue implementation

activities. No additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year

1996.

Community Assessment Centers

In fiscal year 1996, OJJDP proposes to identify jurisdictions that

have developed assessment programs for juveniles and established

linkages to integrated service delivery systems through the use of

assessment centers. The concept of community assessment centers,

reflecting the use of community input in a center's development and

operations, offers many advantages, including comprehensive needs

assessments of at-risk, dependent, or delinquent youth; improved access

to integrated services; the promotion of alternatives to incarceration;

and an enhanced ability to monitor racial and gender disparities in

juvenile justice processing through automated information systems.

OJJDP will examine current efforts across the Nation in order to

identify replicable components or models that meet, or could be adapted

to meet, the following goals:

Ensuring positive outcomes for youth through the provision

of comprehensive, community-based assessments that result in the

development of an integrated treatment plan while avoiding unnecessary

detention.

Promoting and increasing the use of alternatives to

detention and a system of graduated sanctions for delinquent offenders.

Providing for more accurate and timely monitoring of the

processing of at-risk, dependent, or delinquent juveniles to ensure

fair and equitable treatment and outcomes in all phases of the juvenile

justice system.

Enhancing access to data or records across disciplines and

integrating assessment, case management, and community-based services

through the use of automated information systems, consistent with the

principles of confidentiality.

If it is determined through this initial survey that a replicable

model exists or can be developed, OJJDP intends to issue a competitive

solicitation, late in fiscal year 1996, for the replication or

development of the model, including an evaluation component. OJJDP

seeks comment on the proposed program and funding process at this time.

Juvenile Restitution: A Balanced Approach

OJJDP proposes to continue support of the juvenile restitution

training and technical assistance program in fiscal year 1996. The

project design is based on practitioner recommendations regarding

program needs and on how best to integrate and institutionalize

[[Page 6466]]

restitution and community service as key components of juvenile justice

dispositions. In 1992, a working group was convened to help map out a

plan for optimum development of the components of restitution programs.

Plan components include community service, victim reparation, victim-

offender mediation, offender employment and supervision, employment

development, and other program elements designed to establish

restitution as an important element to improving the juvenile justice

system. This project is guided by balanced and restorative justice

principles, which include the need to provide a balance of community

protection, offender competency development, and accountability in

programs for sanctioning and controlling juvenile offenders.

In fiscal year 1995, the project assisted three local jurisdictions

to implement the ``balanced approach,'' participated in presenting

regional ``round tables'' for States interested in adopting the

balanced and restorative justice model, and provided ad hoc technical

assistance. In fiscal year 1996 the project will continue this work and

also develop guideline materials on the balanced and restorative

justice program. This project will be implemented by the current

grantee, Florida Atlantic University. No additional applications will

be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Training and Technical Assistance Program To Promote Gender-Specific

Programming for Female Juvenile Offenders

The 1992 Amendments to the JJDP Act, Public Law 102-586, 106 Stat.

4982, addressed for the first time the issue of gender specific

services. The Amendments required States participating in OJJDP's State

Formula Grants Program to conduct an analysis of gender-specific

services for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency,

including the types of services available, the need for such services,

and a plan for providing needed gender-specific services for the

prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency.

In fiscal year 1995, the OJJDP Gender Specific Services Program

effort focused on providing training and technical assistance directly

to States and on providing and promoting the establishment of State

level gender-specific programs. Training and technical assistance have

been provided to a broad spectrum of policymakers and service providers

regarding services for juvenile female offenders.

In addition, OJJDP, in conjunction with the American Correctional

Association (ACA), sponsored a National Juvenile Female Offender

Conference. The purpose of the Conference was to provide juvenile

corrections agency staff with an increased awareness of the unique

problems and rehabilitative needs of female offenders and improve

skills in working effectively with these offenders. Innovative juvenile

female corrections programs were presented, including new approaches

and strategies for operating facility-based programs for female

offenders.

OJJDP also awarded discretionary grants to implement programs for

female juvenile offenders and at-risk girls. Under the competitive

Program to Promote Alternative Programs for Juvenile Female Offenders,

OJJDP funded programs in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Illinois. In

addition, OJJDP has funded expansion of the Practical and Cultural

Education Center for Girls, Inc. (P.A.C.E.) Program in Miami, Florida.

Also, in order to provide the field with information regarding existent

projects and current research, OJJDP funded Girls, Incorporated to

conduct a national gender-specific services forum, which will be held

during fiscal year 1996. Finally, OJJDP's six SafeFutures Program sites

will implement components designed to establish services for at-risk

and delinquent girls.

In fiscal year 1996, OJJDP proposes to award a competitive grant to

support a training and technical assistance program designed to build

upon the work of these multiple efforts. It would transfer lessons

learned, stimulate formulation of State and local policies based upon

research findings and statistical trend data, and assist community-

based youth serving agencies and juvenile detention and correctional

programs to initiate, refine, and expand gender-specific programming

that utilizes the strengths and capabilities unique to females.

In fiscal year 1996, one two-year project period award would be

made based upon a competitive solicitation.

Technical Assistance to Native American Programs

Native American programs for juveniles are facing increasing

pressures because of the increasing numbers of youth who are involved

in drug abuse, gang activity and delinquency. Many reservations are

experiencing the problems that plague communities nationwide: gang

activity; violent crime; use of weapons; and increasing drug and

alcohol abuse.

From fiscal years 1992 to 1995, OJJDP funded four Native American

sites to support the development of programs to impact these problems.

These sites are Gila River, Pueblo Jemez, the Navajo Nation and the Red

Lake Band of Chippewas. Each of these sites has been implementing

programs specifically designed to meet the needs of the tribe. In Gila

River an alternative school has been developed and implemented. The

Navajo Nation has expanded the Peace Maker program to accommodate

additional delinquent offenders and this approach has been adapted to

the Red Lake and Pueblo Jemez communities. Additional programing, such

as job skills development, has also been developed in some of the sites

to meet the needs of their youth.

Although these programs have been successful, there is a need at

these sites to expand programing options such as gang prevention and

intervention programs. Other Native American Tribes have similar

problems and needs, as do programs for Native Americans in many major

metropolitan areas.

OJJDP proposes to fund a national technical assistance program to

support the development of additional programing for the four sites

that OJJDP currently funds and to extend programing support to Tribes

and urban tribal programs across the country. OJJDP would fund a

technical assistance provider to provide direct technical assistance

and to coordinate the delivery of technical assistance by other

experts. It is anticipated that this would be a three-year technical

assistance program.

National Indicators of Juvenile Violent and Delinquent Behavior and

Related Risk Factors

The difficulty of using juvenile arrests as a reliable measure of

the level and nature of juvenile crime is well known. While juvenile

arrest statistics have been useful as a barometer of juvenile

involvement in crime, there are many critical dimensions in measuring

this phenomenon that cannot be captured by any method other than direct

measures of self-reported delinquency. The Department of Labor's Bureau

of Labor Statistics is launching a 12,000-subject survey of 12-17-year-

old juveniles that provides an opportunity to supplement the data

collection by asking relevant questions about delinquency, guns, and

violence. This longitudinal survey also provides an unprecedented

opportunity to determine the generalizability of the findings from

OJJDP's Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency

across a broad range of juvenile populations. A transfer of funds

[[Page 6467]]

to the Department of Labor is anticipated.

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang

Prevention, Intervention and Suppression Program

The University of Chicago, School of Social Services

Administration, received a competitive cooperative agreement award in

fiscal year 1994. This four-year project period award supports an

evaluation of OJJDP's Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang

Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program. The evaluation will

assist the five program sites in establishing realistic and measurable

objectives, to document program implementation, and to measure the

impact of a variety of gang program strategies. It will also provide

interim feedback to the program implementors. The five sites are

Bloomington, Illinois; Mesa, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona; Riverside,

California; and San Antonio, Texas.

In fiscal year 1996, the grantee will: design and implement

organizational surveys and youth interviews; develop and implement

program tracking and worker questionnaires and interviews; gather and

track aggregate level offense/offender client data from police,

prosecutor, probation, school, and social service program sources;

develop and implement uniform individual level criminal justice data

collection efforts; consult with local evaluators on development and

implementation of local site parent/community resident surveys; and

coordinate ongoing efforts with local researchers conducting special

surveys of gang youth in the program.

This project will be continued by the current grantee, the

University of Chicago, School of Social Services Administration. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Evaluation of Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and

Technical Assistance Program

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) received a 3-

year competitive fiscal year 1994 grant to conduct a process evaluation

and design an impact evaluation of the Intensive Community-Based

Aftercare Demonstration and Technical Assistance Program at sites in

Colorado, New Jersey, Nevada, and Virginia. NCCD's initial award funded

the design and implementation of the process evaluation, the design of

an impact evaluation, and start-up data collection. A report on the

process evaluation will be submitted in the spring of 1996. Fiscal year

1996 funding will enable NCCD to begin the impact evaluation. Because

of the excellent progress made during the first two years on the

process evaluation, OJJDP intends to extend this program for three

additional years to allow sufficient time for completion of an impact

evaluation.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, NCCD. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Evaluation of Statewide DMC Projects

This program would include completion of a process evaluation begun

by OJJDP's Management Evaluation Program contractor, Caliber

Associates, and would be continued with an impact evaluation following

approval of an impact evaluation design. A 3-year program is

anticipated.

This program would supplement evaluation efforts of OJJDP directed

at State and local programs designed to impact disproportionate

minority confinement (DMC). Caliber Associates has conducted

evaluations of the five DMC pilot sites funded from OJJDP discretionary

funds to formulate and test programs designed to reduce DMC. The pilot

site evaluations were, for the most part, process evaluations because

it was difficult to identify specific impacts of small programs at the

local level. This State-level evaluation will be expected to measure

changes in disproportionate minority confinement and test assumptions

about the reasons for these changes.

Michigan has been tentatively selected as the site for this study

through a State application process. To prepare for this evaluation,

Caliber Associates will complete an evaluability assessment and a

preliminary process evaluation. The grantee would have full access to

the Caliber data, complete the process evaluation, and design and

implement an outcome evaluation. The grantee would complete a process

evaluation report at the end of the first year, incorporating the

earlier data collection and analysis conducted by Caliber Associates. A

single competitive agreement would be awarded under this program in

fiscal year 1996.

Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) Evaluation

The Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP) was funded at 41 sites by

OJJDP in fiscal year 1995. In compliance with Part G, Section 288 H of

the JJDP Act, all JUMP sites are participating in a national evaluation

designed to determine the success and effectiveness of JUMP in reducing

delinquency and gang participation, improving academic performance, and

reducing the dropout rate. Each program participant has been provided

with a JUMP Evaluation Workbook containing data collection instruments

and instructions on their use. It provides for the collection of data

on delinquency, school performance, family functioning, and project

operations. Grantees are responsible for collecting and analyzing site

data and preparing periodic evaluation reports for OJJDP.

The evaluation grantee would be expected to: assist the sites in

implementing the JUMP Evaluation Workbook; provide other evaluation

technical assistance to the funded sites; and complete a cross-site

evaluation of results from the 41 sites at the end of the JUMP program

grants. A draft report to Congress would be prepared based on the

cross-site evaluation.

It is anticipated that one two-year cooperative agreement would be

competitively awarded to carry out this program.

Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court Studies

States are increasingly enacting juvenile code revisions broadening

judicial waiver authority, providing prosecutor direct file authority,

and mandating transfer of older, more violent juveniles to criminal

court. Many States are also developing innovative procedures, such as

blending traditional features of juvenile and criminal justice

sentencing practices, through statutes that categorize juvenile

offenders into different classes according to the seriousness of the

offense, designating juvenile or criminal court for each class, or

providing judges with discretion to make these judgments at sentencing.

Studies of the impact of criminal court prosecution of juveniles have

yielded mixed conclusions. Solid research on the intended and

unintended consequences of transfer of juveniles to criminal court will

enable policy makers and legislatures to develop statutory provisions

and policies and improve judicial and prosecutorial waiver and transfer

decisions.

To address this shortage of research programs, OJJDP competitively

funded two juvenile waiver and transfer research projects in fiscal

year 1995. The first, awarded to the National Center for Juvenile

Justice, compares juvenile and criminal court handling of juveniles in

four States that authorize judicial waiver of serious and violent

juvenile offenders and mandate criminal court handling for specified

categories of juvenile offenders. The second study,

[[Page 6468]]

awarded to the Florida Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, evaluates

Florida's system of blending the option of criminal and juvenile

justice system sentencing to handle serious or violent juvenile

offenders. Additional funding is proposed in fiscal year 1996 to enable

the projects to collect case specific information on sentence

completion and recidivism data to provide a more definitive assessment

of the impact of criminal versus juvenile justice system handling of

serious and violent offender cases.

The projects would be implemented by the current grantees, the

National Center for Juvenile Justice and the Florida Juvenile Justice

Advisory Board. No additional applications would be solicited in fiscal

year 1996.

Technical Assistance to Juvenile Courts*

The National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), the research

division of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges,

provides technical assistance under this grant for juvenile court

practitioners. The focus of the technical assistance is on court

administration and management, program development, and special legal

issues. During fiscal year 1995, NCJJ responded to over 830 requests

for technical assistance.

In fiscal year 1996, special emphasis will be placed on appropriate

sanctions for handling serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders

and other emerging issues confronting the juvenile court, such as the

increased use of waivers and transfers. The program will be implemented

by the current grantee, NCJJ. No additional applications will be

solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Juvenile Court Judges Training*

The primary focus of this project in fiscal year 1996 will be to

continue and refine the training and technical assistance program

offered by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

The objectives of the training are to supplement law school curriculums

by providing basic training to new juvenile court judges and to provide

experienced judges with state-of-the-art training on developments in

juvenile and family case law and effective dispositional options.

Emphasis is also placed on alcohol and substance abuse, child abuse and

neglect, gangs and violence, disproportionate incarceration of minority

youth, and intermediate sanctions. Training is also provided to other

court personnel, including juvenile probation officers, aftercare

workers, and child protection and community treatment providers. In

fiscal year 1995, over 13,000 judges and court personnel received

training through some 80 different programs. In addition, over 800

training related technical assistance requests were completed.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. No additional

applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

The Juvenile Justice Prosecution Unit

OJJDP has historically supported prosecutor training activities

through the National District Attorneys' Association (NDAA). To

continue that work, OJJDP awarded a 3-year project period grant in

fiscal year 1995 to enable NDAA to establish a Juvenile Justice

Prosecution Unit to provide prosecutor training, implement workshops on

juvenile justice related executive policy, leadership, and management

for chief prosecutors and juvenile unit chiefs, and provide background

information to prosecutors on juvenile justice issues and programs.

The project is implemented by the American Prosecutors Research

Institute (APRI), based on planning and input by prosecutors familiar

with juvenile justice needs. APRI is the research and technical

assistance affiliate of NDAA. The project utilizes a working group of

chief prosecutors and juvenile unit chiefs to support project staff in

providing training, technical assistance, and juvenile justice-related

research and program information to practitioners nationwide. Start-up

activities focused on the collection of information regarding juvenile

programs in prosecutor offices. In fiscal year 1996, the project will

convene a symposium of prosecutor coordinators from all 50 States in

order to refine prosecutor training and technical assistance needs.

APRI will also conduct three workshops for elected and appointed

prosecutors and juvenile unit chiefs to help improve prosecutor

handling of juvenile cases.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, APRI. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Due Process Advocacy Program Development

In fiscal year 1993, OJJDP funded the American Bar Association

(ABA), in partnership with the Juvenile Law Center (JLC) of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Youth Law Center (YLC) of San

Francisco, California, to develop strategies to improve due process and

the quality of legal representation. The goals of the program are to

increase juvenile offenders' access to legal services and to improve

the quality of preadjudication, adjudication, and dispositional

advocacy for juvenile offenders. The strategies developed will be made

available to State and local bar associations and other relevant

organizations so that they can develop approaches to increase the

availability and quality of counsel for juveniles.

In fiscal years 1994 and 1995, the ABA, JLC, and YLC conducted an

assessment of the current state of the art with regard to legal

services, training, and education. This survey included a review of

literature, case law, State statutes, and a survey of public defenders,

court appointed lawyers, law school clinical programs, and judges. A

report, entitled ``A Call for Justice, An Assessment of the Access to

Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings'' was

developed and published by the ABA. It has been widely distributed to

State and local bar associations, Chairs of State Juvenile Justice

Advisory Committees, participants in the ABA survey, the National

Association of Child Advocates, and others.

In fiscal year 1996, training is scheduled to begin with the first

training being provided to the States of Tennessee, Maryland, and

Virginia. The structure and scope of the training will be tailored to

fit the needs of each site. A training manual, under development, will

cover training on key issues such as detention, transfer or waiver, and

dispositions. It is designed to fill gaps in existing training

programs. The ABA and its partners will also establish networks with

public defenders offices, children's law centers, and others through

the HANDSNET system and mailings that provide program updates.

This program will be implemented by the current grantee, ABA. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Intensive Community-Based Aftercare Demonstration and Technical

Assistance Program

This initiative is designed to support implementation, training and

technical assistance, and evaluation of an intensive community-based

aftercare model in four jurisdictions that were competitively selected

to participate in this demonstration program. The overall goal of this

intensive aftercare model is to identify and assist high-risk juvenile

offenders to make a gradual transition from secure confinement back

into the community. The Intensive Aftercare Program (IAP) model can be

viewed as having three distinct, yet overlapping

[[Page 6469]]

segments: (1) Pre-release and preparatory planning activities during

incarceration; (2) structured transitioning involving the participation

of institutional and aftercare staffs both prior to and following

community reentry; and (3) long-term reintegrative activities to insure

adequate service delivery and the required level of social control.

In fiscal year 1994, The Johns Hopkins University received a grant

to test an intensive community-based aftercare model in four

demonstration sites: Denver (Metro), Colorado; Clark County (Las

Vegas), Nevada; Camden and Newark, New Jersey; and Norfolk, Virginia.

Each of the four sites received additional funds to support program

implementation in fiscal year 1995. The Johns Hopkins University

contracts with California State University at Sacramento to assist in

the implementation process by providing training and technical

assistance and by making funds available through contracts to each of

the four demonstration sites. Each of the sites have developed risk

assessment instruments for use in selecting specific youth who need

this type of intensive aftercare intervention, hired and trained staff

in the intensive aftercare model, identified existing and needed

community support (intervention) services, and identified data

necessary for an accurate evaluation of the intensive community-based

aftercare program. In addition, each of the sites has begun random

assignment of clients to the program. The Johns Hopkins University and

its sub-contractor, California State University at Sacramento, have

provided continuous training and technical assistance to both

administrators/managers and line staff in the intensive community-based

aftercare sites. Staff have been trained in the theoretical

underpinnings of the IAP model as well as in the practical applications

of the model, such as techniques for identifying juveniles appropriate

for the program. Training and technical assistance in this model have

also been available to other states and OJJDP grantees on a limited

basis.

In fiscal year 1996, the sites will continue to implement and test

the aftercare model. An independent evaluation contractor is performing

a process evaluation and has designed an impact evaluation to be

implemented under a separate grant. The Johns Hopkins University will

provide continuing training and technical assistance to the four

selected sites and will initiate aftercare technical assistance

services to jurisdictions participating in the OJJDP/Department of the

Interior Youth Environmental Services (YES) Program and to OJJDP's six

SafeFutures Program sites. This funding supports the third budget

period of a 3-year project period.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, The Johns

Hopkins University. No additional applications will be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

Training and Technical Assistance for National Innovations To Reduce

Disproportionate Minority Confinement (The Deborah Wysinger Memorial

Program)

National data and studies have shown that minority children are

over represented in juvenile and criminal justice facilities across the

country. Accordingly, Congress, in the 1988 reauthorization of the JJDP

Act, amended the Formula Grants Program State plan requirements to

include addressing disproportionate confinement of minority juveniles.

This is accomplished by gathering data, analyzing it to determine the

extent to which minority juveniles are disproportionately confined, and

designing strategies to address this issue. A Special Emphasis

discretionary grant program was developed to demonstrate model

approaches to addressing disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) in

five State pilot sites (Arizona, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, and

Oregon). Funds were also awarded to a national contractor to provide

technical assistance to assist both the pilot sites and other States,

to evaluate their efforts, and share relevant information.

In fiscal years 1994 and 1995, OJJDP made additional Special

Emphasis discretionary funds available to non-pilot States that had

completed data gathering and assessment in order to provide initial

funding for innovative projects designed to address DMC.

These efforts to impact DMC have yielded an important lesson: that

systemic, broad-based interventions are necessary to reduce DMC. OJJDP

recognizes the need to foster the development and documentation of

effective strategies using training, technical assistance, information

dissemination, provision of practical and targeted resource tools, and

public education. In order to further these strategies, OJJDP proposes

to competitively solicit innovative proposals to implement a 3-year

national training, technical assistance, and information dissemination

initiative focused on the disproportionate confinement of minority

youth. The selected grantee would: (1) review and synthesize current

State and local practices and policies designed to reduce DMC; (2)

develop and deliver training to juvenile justice specialists, SAG

Chairs, and selected grantees to inform them of DMC requirements, best

practices and issues; (3) assist key OJJDP grantees to incorporate DMC

issues, practices and policies into their training and education

programs (key grantees are those training and technical assistance

providers working with police, the courts and juvenile detention staff,

SafeFutures sites, Title V, and some State Challenge Program grant

recipients); (4) assist the eight current DMC grantees to manage and

institutionalize their programs; (5) support the Formula Grants Program

technical assistance contractor and OJJDP staff in reviewing State DMC

plans; and (6) develop and carry out a national dissemination and

public education program on DMC and help States and localities develop

similar local education programs.

The selected DMC grantee would coordinate with OJJDP's National

Training and Technical Assistance Center and other OJJDP contractors to

identify OJJDP program areas where DMC policies and practices can be

integrated into ongoing program activities. The DMC grantee and the

National Training and Technical Assistance Center would also

collaborate in the development of toolkits and resource products--

screening tools, assessment, and training components--to be used by

jurisdictions at each stage of their DMC data gathering, assessment and

program response cycle. Other resource products would include

educational curricula, technical assistance protocols for working with

courts, police, intake services, probation and prosecutor's offices,

assessment and screening tools, and planning and analysis tools for

juvenile justice specialists.

OJJDP proposes to competitively award a single grant to implement a

3-year national training, technical assistance, and information

dissemination initiative focused on the disproportionate confinement of

minority youth.

Juvenile Probation Survey Research

Juvenile probation is one of the most critical areas of the

juvenile justice system. However, there is presently very little

information available on juveniles on probation. We do not know how

many juveniles are on probation, their demographic characteristics,

their offenses, or the conditions of their probation, including length,

residential confinement, electronic monitoring, restitution, etc. This

project would

[[Page 6470]]

conduct survey research and develop a questionnaire to collect this

important information. As States operate their juvenile probation

systems in very different manners, this project would also examine how

these differences will affect the information collected.

It is anticipated that one 2-year cooperative agreement would be

competitively awarded to carry out this program.

Improvements in Correctional Education for Juvenile Offenders

The Improvements in Correctional Education for Juvenile Offenders

Program, a program development and demonstration initiative, was

awarded to the National Organization for Social Responsibility (NOSR)

in fiscal year 1992. It is being implemented in three phases:

identification, assessment, and testing and dissemination. The purpose

of the Program is to assist juvenile corrections administrators in

planning and implementing improved educational services for detained

and incarcerated juvenile offenders.

During the 3-year project period, the grantee implemented the first

two phases of the program. An extensive literature search of effective

education practices was undertaken and a report on effective practices

in juvenile corrections education was published and a training and

technical assistance manual were published. In addition, three State

juvenile corrections facilities were selected as model sites for

testing effective educational practices. The sites are: Adobe Mountain

School, Arizona; Lookout Mountain Youth Center, Colorado; and Sauk

Centre, Minnesota.

In fiscal year 1995, NOSR received funding to implement Phase III,

testing and dissemination. The three model test sites are receiving

site specific technical assistance in the assessment of their

educational programs and in the development and implementation of

effective educational practices, including reintegration of appropriate

juveniles back into the mainstream education system.

Fiscal year 1996 funds would be used to assist each site to enhance

its curriculum and implementation strategy to better address the needs

of the juveniles they serve.

The project would be implemented by the current grantee, NOSR. No

additional applications would be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Performance-Based Standards for Juvenile Detention and Correctional

Facilities

There is a need to increase the accountability of detention and

correctional agencies, facilities, and staff in performing their basic

functions. The development of performance-based standards has emerged

as a primary strategy for improving conditions of confinement. This

program supports the development and implementation of performance-

based standards for juvenile detention and corrections. The performance

measures and standards being developed will address both services and

the quality of life for confined juveniles. They will reflect the

consensus of a broadly representative group of national organizations

on the mission, goals, and objectives of juvenile detention and

corrections. OJJDP plans to promote nationwide adoption and

implementation of the measures and standards through a future training

and technical assistance program.

In fiscal year 1995, OJJDP awarded a competitive 18-month

cooperative agreement to the Council of Juvenile Corrections

Administrators (CJCA) to develop national performance-based standards

for juvenile detention and correctional facilities. A National

Consortium of major professional and advocacy organizations is

providing technical advice and support in all aspects of the

development and implementation of the standards. The project will focus

on standards in the areas of: safety; security; order; programming/

treatment/education; health; and justice.

During fiscal year 1996, the working groups will complete the

drafting of performance criteria and measures, as well as assessment

tools for monitoring performance in all substantive areas. In addition,

all materials will be field tested and revised as needed. A plan for

implementation will also be submitted.

By 1997, initial performance standards and a measurement system

will be developed along with specific plans for an 18-month period of

intensive demonstration and testing of the performance-based standards

and their impact on juvenile corrections and detention programming.

The program will be implemented by the current grantee, CJCA. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Technical Assistance to Juvenile Corrections and Detention (The James

E. Gould Memorial Program)

The primary purpose of the Technical Assistance to Juvenile

Corrections and Detention project is to provide specialized technical

assistance to juvenile corrections, detention, and community

residential service providers. The grantee, the American Correctional

Association (ACA), also plans and convenes an annual Juvenile

Corrections and Detention Forum. The Forum provides an opportunity for

juvenile corrections and detention leaders to meet and discuss issues,

problems, and solutions to emerging corrections and detention problems.

The ACA also provides workshops and conferences on current and emerging

national issues in the field of juvenile corrections and detention and

offers technical assistance through document dissemination. OJJDP

awarded a fiscal year 1995 competitive grant to ACA to provide these

services over a 3-year project period. The project will be implemented

by the current grantee, ACA. No additional applications will be

solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Training for Juvenile Corrections and Detention Staff

In fiscal year 1996, OJJDP will continue to support the development

and implementation of a comprehensive training program for juvenile

corrections and detention management staff through an interagency

agreement with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). The program

is designed to offer a core curriculum for juvenile corrections and

detention administrators and mid-level management personnel in such

areas as leadership development, management, training of trainers,

legal issues, cultural diversity, the role of the victim in juvenile

corrections, juvenile programming for specialized needs of offenders,

and managing the violent or disruptive offender. The training is

conducted at the NIC Academy and regionally. This program is a

continuation activity, initiated in fiscal year 1991 under an

interagency agreement with NIC that was renewed in fiscal year 1994. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Training for Line Staff in Juvenile Detention and Corrections

In fiscal year 1994, the National Juvenile Detention Association

(NJDA) was awarded a competitive 3-year project period grant to

establish a training program to meet the needs of the more than 38,000

line staff of juvenile detention and corrections facilities. In the

first year under the grant, NJDA revised and updated a 40-hour

Detention Careworker curriculum, developed a 24-hour Train-the-Trainer

for the Detention Careworker curriculum, conducted 16 separate

trainings and developed new lesson plans in 7 substantive areas,

conducted a national training needs assessment for juvenile corrections

careworkers, and

[[Page 6471]]

provided technical assistance to 37 agencies and training to 887 line

staff.

In fiscal year 1996, NJDA will continue to offer training to

practitioners, develop new curriculums around emerging issues, and

complete the development and testing of a 40-hour basic careworker

curriculum for juvenile corrections line staff. Additionally, NJDA will

deliver selected training programs for juvenile detention and

corrections line staff on a number of topical issues.

This project will be implemented by the current grantee, NJDA. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Training and Technical Support for State and Local Jurisdictional Teams

To Focus on Juvenile Corrections and Detention Overcrowding

The Conditions of Confinement: Juvenile Detention and Correctional

Facilities Research Report (1994), completed by Abt Associates under an

OJJDP grant, identified overcrowding as the most urgent problem facing

juvenile corrections and detention facilities. Overcrowding in juvenile

facilities is a function of decisions and policies made at the State,

county, and city levels. The trend in a number of jurisdictions toward

an increased use of detention and commitment to State facilities has

been reversed when key decision makers, such as the chief judge, chief

of police, director of the local detention facility, head of the State

juvenile correctional agency, and others who affect the flow of

juveniles through the system, agree to make decisions collaboratively

and to modify practices and policies. In some instances modification

has occurred in response to court orders. Compliance with court orders

is improved with the support of enhanced interagency communication and

planning among those agencies affecting the flow of juveniles through

the system.

In addressing the problems of overcrowded facilities, OJJDP

considered the recommendations of the Conditions of Confinement study

regarding overcrowding, the data on over-representation of minority

youth in confinement, and other information that suggests crowding in

juvenile facilities must be reduced. Policy makers can do this by

increasing capacity, where necessary, or by taking other steps to

control crowding. This project, competitively awarded to the National

Juvenile Detention Association (NJDA) in fiscal year 1994 for a three-

year project period, provides training and technical assistance

materials for use by State and local jurisdictional teams. In fiscal

year 1995, the project collected information on strategies that are

used or could be used to control crowding, and prepared training and

technical assistance materials. Based on the demonstrated need for

assistance and related criteria, NJDA will select three jurisdictions

in fiscal year 1996 for onsite development, implementation, and testing

of crowding reduction procedures, and will provide regional training on

these procedures to other jurisdictions.

A fiscal year 1996 continuation award will be made to the current

grantee, the National Juvenile Detention Association. No additional

applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

National Program Directory

In fiscal year 1995, OJJDP initiated the development of a National

Program Directory, a national list of all juvenile justice offices,

facilities, and programs in the United States, through the Bureau of

the Census. The Census Bureau developed a directory format for juvenile

detention and correctional facilities, which would contain the

addresses and phone numbers of localities, names and titles of

directors, and important classification information, classify

facilities by the agency or firm that operates them, and list the

functions of the facility. This structure was developed specifically to

provide OJJDP with the ability to conduct surveys and censuses of

juvenile custody facilities. The effort placed into developing this

structure would also translate to other areas, such as a list of

juvenile probation offices.

Beyond developing the computer structure, this project would also

develop, in fiscal year 1996, the actual sampling frame or address

list. The development of complete frames for any segment of the

juvenile justice system requires many different approaches. The Census

Bureau would use contacts with professional organizations to compile a

preliminary list of juvenile facilities, courts, probation offices, and

programs. The Census Bureau would then seek contacts in each State for

further clarification of the lists. All leads would be followed until a

complete list of all programs of interest has been exhausted. This

program would be funded through an interagency agreement with the

Census Bureau. No additional applications would be solicited in fiscal

year 1996.

Delinquency Prevention and Intervention

Training In Risk-Focused Prevention Strategies

OJJDP will provide additional training in fiscal year 1996 to

communities interested in developing a risk-focused delinquency

prevention strategy. This training supports OJJDP's Title V Delinquency

Prevention Incentive Grants Program, codified at 42 U.S.C. Sec. 5781-

5785, by providing the knowledge and skills necessary for State, local,

and private agency officials and citizens to identify and address risk

factors that lead to violent and delinquent behavior in children. In

fiscal years 1994 and 1995, this training was offered to all States,

territories, and the District of Columbia that received discretionary

grants from OJJDP to implement the Title V Program.

OJJDP awarded a new contract with fiscal year 1995 funds to perform

ongoing tasks and provide prevention training in the following areas:

(1) orientation on risk and resiliency-focused prevention theories and

strategies for local community leaders; (2) the identification,

assessment and addressing of risk factors; (3) ``training of trainers''

in selected States to provide a statewide capacity to train communities

in risk-focused prevention; and (4) development of training curriculums

and materials to increase the capacity of States and localities to

conduct risk-focused prevention training. These services will be

provided through second year funding of a competitive contract awarded

to Developmental Research and Programs, Inc. No additional applications

will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Youth-Centered Conflict Resolution

Increasing levels of juvenile violence have become a national

concern. Violence in and around school campuses and conflict among

juveniles both in schools and neighborhoods have become extremely

problematic for school administrators, teachers, parents, community

leaders, and the public. While experts may debate the merits and impact

of the varied contributing factors, most would agree that school

curriculums do not provide for the systematic teaching of problem- and

conflict-resolving skills.

To address this issue, OJJDP awarded a competitive grant in fiscal

year 1995 to the Illinois Institute for Dispute Resolution to develop,

in concert with other established conflict resolution organizations, a

national strategy for broad-based education and training in the use of

conflict resolution skills. In

[[Page 6472]]

support of this task, the grantee is to conduct four regional

conferences based on a joint publication being developed by the

Departments of Justice and Education. The grantee will also provide

technical assistance and disseminate information about conflict

resolution programs. The project will be continued by the current

grantee, the Illinois Institute for Dispute Resolution. No additional

applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Pathways to Success

This project is a collaborative effort among OJJDP, the Bureau of

Justice Assistance (BJA), and the National Endowment for the Arts. The

Pathways to Success Program promotes vocational skills, entrepreneurial

initiatives, recreation, and arts education during afterschool,

weekend, and summer hours by making a variety of opportunities

available to at-risk youth.

Through a competitive process, five sites were funded in fiscal

year 1995, the first year of a 2-year project period. The selected

programs are located in: Newport County, Rhode Island; New York, New

York; Anchorage, Alaska; Washington, D.C.; and Miami, Florida.

The SOS Playbacks: Arts-Based Delinquency Based Juvenile

Delinquency Prevention Program, located in Newport County, Rhode

Island, provides an afterschool arts program for students aged 13-18

from local public housing developments. Students in the program

participate in peer-to-peer support and education through the mediums

of visual arts, dance, and drama.

Project CLEAR, located in New York City, provides extended day

programs to students in two elementary schools that have a high

percentage of students who live in low-income areas and have limited

English proficiency. Services include academic tutoring, arts in

education instruction, physical recreation, and group counseling

services. Two hundred students in grades 1-6 are served annually.

Saturday programs for targeted youth and their families and evening

programs for parents are also provided.

The Anchorage School District and the out-North Theater in

Anchorage, Alaska have collaborated to provide afterschool and summer

theater programs for students aged 12-14 from low income areas in

Anchorage. Students involved in this program will produce and perform

in plays they have written that reflect their personal life

experiences.

The District of Columbia Courts Elementary Baseball Program

provides combined recreational activities, tutoring activities, one-to-

one mentoring, and parent workshops for students aged 6-10 who are

enrolled in Garrett Elementary School in Washington, D.C. This school

is located in one of the highest crime areas in Washington, D.C. The

central activity of this program is interleague baseball games. Team

participation is contingent upon student participation in tutoring and

other activities.

The Aspira ``Youth Sanctuary'' Program, located in Dade County,

Florida, addresses delinquency and other behavioral problems of Latino

youth aged 10-16 who reside in migrant camps. This program teaches art,

including community mural projects, folklore dance incorporating Latino

dancing, and provides recreation opportunities for targeted students

afterschool, on weekends, and during the summer months. Parent training

workshops and parent support are key activities in this program.

This Program will be implemented in fiscal year 1996 by the current

project grantees. No additional applications will be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

Teens, Crime, and the Community: Teens in Action in the 90s*

This continuation program is conducted by the National Crime

Prevention Council (NCPC) in partnership with the National Institute

for Citizen Education in the Law (NICEL). Teens in Action in the 90s is

a special application of the Teens, Crime, and Community (TCC) program

that operates on the premise that teens, who are disproportionately the

victims of crimes, can contribute to improving their schools and

communities through a broad array of activities.

During fiscal year 1995, the TCC Program expanded to more than 100

new sites, primarily through five regional expansion centers located in

New England, the Mid-Atlantic States, the Mid-South, the Deep South,

and the Pacific Northwest Coast. These TCC projects utilized Boys and

Girls Clubs of America and their affiliates in six localities to become

partners in TCC efforts in these cities.

More than 4,000 teachers, social service providers, juvenile

justice professionals, law enforcement officers, and other community

leaders participated in intensive training to help sites implement the

TCC curriculum in their communities. Over 1,000 individuals benefited

from technical assistance, materials, and consultation regarding TCC in

areas of program implementation, fund development, and networking

opportunities.

In fiscal year 1996, NCPC and NICEL will implement the National

Teens, Crime, and the Community Program in additional locations across

the country. In addition, TCC will seek to implement projects in the

six SafeFutures Program sites.

This program will be implemented by the current grantee, NCPC. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Law-Related Education (LRE)

The national Law-Related Education (LRE) Program ``Youth for

Justice'' includes five coordinated LRE projects and programs operating

in 48 States and 4 non-State jurisdictions.

The program's purpose is to provide training and technical

assistance to State and local school jurisdictions that will result in

the institutionalization of quality LRE programs for at-risk juveniles.

The focus of the program during fiscal year 1996 would be to continue

linking LRE to violence reduction and to involve program participants

in finding solutions to juvenile violence. The major components of the

program are coordination and management, training and technical

assistance, assistance to local program sites, public information and

program development and assessment.

This program would be implemented by the current grantees, the

American Bar Association, the Center for Civic Education, the

Constitutional Rights Foundation, the National Institute for Citizen

Education in the Law, and the Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity. No

additional applications would be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Cities in Schools--Federal Interagency Partnership

This program is a continuation of a national school dropout

prevention model developed and implemented by Cities in Schools, Inc.

The Cities in Schools (CIS) Program provides training and technical

assistance to States and local communities, enabling them to adapt and

implement the CIS model. The model brings social, employment, mental

health, drug prevention, entrepreneurship, and other resources to high-

risk youth and their families in the school setting. Where CIS State

organizations are established, they assume primary responsibility for

local program replication during the Federal interagency partnership.

The Federal Interagency Partnership program is based on a program

strategy that is designed to enhance CIS, Inc.'s capability to provide

training and technical assistance, introduce selected

[[Page 6473]]

initiatives to CIS youth at the local level, disseminate information,

and network with Federal agencies on behalf of State and local CIS

programs.

Fiscal year 1995 accomplishments include the following:

establishment of 15 student-run entrepreneurship programs;

establishment of a consulting program consisting of a pool of CIS State

and local program directors and other experts to support the expanded

technical assistance needs of the CIS network of State and local

programs; production and distribution of two publications, a catalogue

of program resources, and a history of the CIS program; a three-day

training session featuring presentations from Federal agencies on the

financial and programmatic resources available through their

Departments; and a catalogue of State and local programs in the areas

of family strengthening and parent participation, working with

adjudicated or incarcerated youth, violence prevention, prevention of

AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, and conflict resolution.

The Cities in Schools Federal Interagency Partnership program is

jointly funded by OJJDP and the Departments of Health and Human

Services and Commerce under an OJJDP grant. The project would be

implemented by the current grantee, Cities in Schools, Inc. No

additional applications would be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Race Against Drugs

The Race Against Drugs (RAD) Program is a unique drug awareness,

education, and prevention campaign designed to help young people

understand the dangers of drugs and live a non-impaired lifestyle. With

help and assistance from 23 motor sports organizations, the cooperation

of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement

Administration, the U.S. Navy, and other government agencies, the

National Child Safety Council, and a variety of corporate sponsors, RAD

has become an exciting and innovative addition to drug abuse prevention

programs. RAD activities now include national drug awareness and

prevention activities at schools, malls, and motor sport events;

television and public service announcements, posters, and signage on T-

shirts, hats, decals, etc.; and specialized programs like the ``Adopt-

A-School Essay and Scholarship'' and ``Winner's Circle'' programs.

Curriculum materials include the Be A Winner Action Book for 6-8th

graders, a RAD Adult Guide, and a RAD coloring book for K-4th graders.

In fiscal year 1995 the program was funded to develop additional

and updated curriculum materials, reach additional program sites, and

demonstrate the Winner's Circle Program in Seattle, Washington. It was

funded jointly by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and OJJDP with the

Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) providing extensive

printing and clearinghouse support.

In fiscal year 1996, OJJDP proposes to continue funding over a two-

year project period in order to expand program operations to reach

500,000 youth at 300 RAD events annually, conduct 20 adopt-a-school

programs in conjunction with major racing events, develop mobile

educational exhibits and a variety of new educational materials, and

conduct a program evaluation. OJJDP anticipates that the program would

operate with private direct funding and in-kind support at the end of

the project period.

The program would be implemented by the current grantee, the

National Child Safety Council. No additional applications would be

solicited in fiscal year 1996.

The Congress of National Black Churches: National Anti-Drug Abuse/

Violence Campaign (NADVC)

OJJDP proposes to continue funding the Congress of National Black

Churches' (CNBC) national public awareness and mobilization strategy to

address the problem of juvenile drug abuse and violence in targeted

communities. The goal of the CNBC national strategy is to summon,

focus, and coordinate the leadership of the black religious community,

in cooperation with the Department of Justice and other Federal

agencies and organizations, to mobilize groups of community residents

to combat juvenile drug abuse and drug-related violence.

The campaign now operates in 37 city alliances, having grown from 5

original target cities. The smallest of these alliances consists of 6

churches and the largest has 135 churches. The NADVC program involves

approximately 2,220 clergy and affects 1.5 million youth and the adults

who influence their lives. NADVC also provides technical support to

four statewide religious coalitions.

As a result of NADVC's technical assistance and training workshops,

project sites have been able to leverage approximately $1.5 million in

private and government funding.

NADVC has contributed to the planning and presentation of numerous

technical assistance and training conferences on violence and substance

abuse prevention and produced a National Training and Site Development

Guide and a video to assist sites implement the NADVC model.

The Program would be expanded in fiscal year 1996 to address family

violence intervention issues and target up to 6 additional cities, for

a total of 43 cities. Consideration would be given to SafeFutures sites

when selecting the new sites. This program would be implemented by the

current grantee, CNBC. No additional applications would be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

Community Anti-Drug-Abuse Technical Assistance Voucher Project

The National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (NCNE) has extended

its outreach to community-based grassroots organizations around the

country that are working effectively to solve the problems of juvenile

drug abuse. This project has three goals: (1) To allow various

neighborhood groups to inexpensively purchase needed services through

the use of technical assistance vouchers disbursed by NCNE; (2) to

demonstrate the cost-effective use of vouchers to help neighborhood

groups secure technical assistance for anti-drug-abuse projects to

serve high-risk youth; and (3) to extend OJJDP funded technical

assistance to groups that are often excluded because they lack the

administrative sophistication, technical and grantsmanship skills, and

resources to participate in traditional competitive grant programs.

The Technical Assistance Voucher Project builds upon the strengths

and problem solving capacity existing in low-income communities

nationwide and provides much needed technical and monetary resources to

grassroots organizations that are operating youth anti-drug programs

and activities for high risk youth.

The program awards 15-25 vouchers, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000

annually. Eligible organizations must have: proven effectiveness in

serving a specific constituency; a small operating budget ($150,000

maximum); 501(c)(3) tax exempt status; and a program that targets high-

risk youth and/or juvenile offenders; and leadership that is indigenous

to the community. Vouchers can be used for planning, proposal writing,

program promotion, legal assistance, financial management, and other

activities. This project would be implemented by the current grantee,

NCNE. No additional applications would be solicited in fiscal year

1996.

Training and Technical Assistance for Family Strengthening Services

Prevention, early intervention, and effective crisis intervention

are critical

[[Page 6474]]

elements in a community's family support system. In many communities,

one or more of these elements may be missing or programs may not be

coordinated. In addition, technical assistance and training have not

generally been available to community organizations and agencies

providing family strengthening services. In response, OJJDP awarded a

three-year competitive grant in fiscal year 1995 to the University of

Utah's Department of Health and Education to provide training and

technical assistance to communities interested in establishing or

enhancing a continuum of family-strengthening efforts, including parent

training. Grant activities include a literature review, national

search, rating, and selection of family strengthening models,

development and implementation of a marketing and dissemination

strategy, and the selection of sites to receive intensive technical

assistance. The grantee will also convene two regional conferences,

produce user and training-of-trainers guides, and distribute videos of

several family-strengthening workshops.

This program will be implemented by the current grantee, the

University of Utah's Department of Health and Education. No additional

applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Henry Ford Health System*

In fiscal year 1995, the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) initiated

a two-year program in Detroit, Michigan called ``Reducing Youth

Violence Through School-Based Initiatives.'' The program serves seven

elementary schools and two middle schools that feed into a Detroit high

school. Primary Program activities are to identify juveniles at high

risk, assess the needs of target youth, identify resources available in

the community to serve those needs, coordinate community resources to

create comprehensive programs, and evaluate the efficacy of the

program. Participants include teachers, family members, community

programs and agencies, as well as student and health center staff. This

project will be implemented by the current grantee, HFHS. No additional

applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Jackie Robinson Center*

This three-year project, initially funded in fiscal year 1994,

supports expansion of the Brooklyn USA Athletic Association, Inc.'s

Jackie Robinson Centers for Physical Culture (JRC), which provide a

comprehensive youth development and delinquency and crime prevention

program. Presently, there are 18 school and 3 replication sites in

operation serving in-school youth between the ages of 8 and 18. JRC's

services are designed to prevent New York City youth from becoming

involved in street gangs, violence, or drug and alcohol abuse, and to

alert, educate, and inform youth and their parents about these issues.

Activities conducted by JRC include development of positive peer

groups, youth leadership, social and personal skills training, academic

tutoring, sports, cultural activities, rap and discussion groups,

individual counseling, parent education and involvement, community

events, on-site crisis intervention, referral to treatment, physical/

medical examinations, social service referral, and college and job

placement assistance. JRC has increased its recruitment and

registration from 750 to 6,600 students. Students in each of the 18

sites participated in a minimum of 3 special events during the year.

In fiscal year 1996, JRC will develop a data bank system to monitor

the in-school progress of participating students through indicators

such as attendance, academic, and behavioral records. This project will

be implemented by the current grantee, the Brooklyn USA Athletic

Association, Inc. No additional applications will be solicited in

fiscal year 1996.

Child Abuse and Neglect and Dependency Courts

A Community-Based Approach to Combating Child Victimization

Statistics on child abuse and neglect are alarming. In 1994 alone,

an estimated 3.1 million abused or neglected children were reported to

public welfare agencies. More than 1 million of these cases were

substantiated. Each year, an estimated 2,000 children--most under 4

years old--die at the hands of parents or caretakers.

Research demonstrating a link between child victimization and later

involvement in violent delinquency suggests the efficacy of preventing

child abuse and neglect and treating the victims of abuse as a means of

reducing later violent and delinquent behavior.

To break the cycle of childhood victimization and violent

delinquency, OJJDP proposes to enter into a joint solicitation with

other bureaus of the Office of Justice Programs, in cooperation with

other Federal agencies, to foster comprehensive, community-based,

interagency and multi disciplinary approaches to the prevention,

identification, intervention, and treatment of child abuse and neglect.

It is anticipated that two to five demonstration projects would be

competitively awarded in fiscal year 1996 as part of a 5-year project

period. Sites would be required to address each of the following

program areas: (1) Data collection and evaluation; (2) system reform

and accountability; (3) training and technical support to

practitioners; (4) provision of a continuum of services to protect

children and support families; and (5) prevention education and public

information.

Training and technical assistance would be made available to

selected sites in a number of areas, including system reform,

practitioner training, victim advocacy, team-building and interagency

collaboration, family-strengthening services assessment and

implementation, and diversity/cultural awareness training.

Applicants would also be expected to demonstrate an ability to

leverage other available sources of funds and document a readiness to

engage in reform of child protection systems, progress in assessing and

addressing child abuse and neglect, and broad community representation,

commitment, and participation.

Permanent Families for Abused and Neglected Children*

This is a national project to prevent unnecessary foster care

placement of abused and neglected children, to reunify the families of

children in care, and to ensure permanent adoptive homes when

reunification is impossible. The purpose is to ensure that foster care

is used only as a last resort and as a temporary solution. Accordingly,

the project is designed to ensure that government's responsibility to

children in foster care is acknowledged by the appropriate disciplines.

Project activities include national training programs for judges,

social service personnel, citizen volunteers, and others under the

Reasonable Efforts Provision of the Social Security Act, as amended, 42

U.S.C. Sec. 671(a)(15), training in selected States, and implementation

of a model guide for risk assessment.

The project is implemented by the National Council of Juvenile and

Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). NCJFCJ provides support services to

coordinate programs, trains judges in the Court Appointed Special

Advocate (CASA) program, and implements the Model Court Program in

additional jurisdictions.

In fiscal year 1996, a new program to divert families from the

court system through arbitration under court supervision will be

developed in three model courts using other funding

[[Page 6475]]

sources. However, the program will be incorporated into NCJFCJ's

permanency planning training.

The Permanent Families for Abused and Neglected Children Program

will be implemented by the current grantee, NCJFCJ. No additional

applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Parents Anonymous, Inc.*

Parents Anonymous, Inc. (PA) establishes groups and adjunct

programs that respond to the needs of families through a mutual support

model of parents and professionals sharing their expertise and their

belief in each individual's ability to grow and change in ways that

create caring and safe environments for themselves and their children.

In fiscal year 1994, OJJDP began supporting PA's Juvenile Justice

Project to enhance PA's mission to prevent child abuse and neglect by

developing a new capability within the PA network to address the needs

of high-risk, inner-city populations, with an emphasis on minority

parents.

As a result of OJJDP funding, PA has: developed 31 new groups in 11

states; produced and disseminated the booklet, I Am A Parents Anonymous

Parent, in Spanish; convened a National Leadership Conference in

Washington, D.C. in February 1995 which focused on outreach,

recruitment and services for families of color and collaboration with

juvenile justice agencies; convened an Executive Directors'' Leadership

Conference in Claremont, California, in November 1995; conducted

written surveys, focus groups, and intensive telephone interviews to

gather ``best practices'' data; produced and disseminated 12,000 copies

of an expanded Innovations PA newsletter; and produced and disseminated

15,000 copies of The Parent Networker, a new semi-annual publication

focused on issues of diversity.

In fiscal year 1996, PA will convene at least two regional

trainings focused on working with families of color in high-risk

settings, produce and disseminate two technical assistance bulletins,

one on parent involvement as it relates to communities and families of

color, and the other on strategies for providing PA programs for

incarcerated parents, conduct two teleconference trainings, provide

training and technical assistance to implement PA services in up to six

SafeFutures Program sites, expand the number of PA affiliates working

with the Juvenile Justice Project, and publish and disseminate a ``PA

Best Practices'' manual.

The project will be implemented by the current grantee, PA. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Lowcountry Children's Center, Inc.*

OJJDP will continue to fund Lowcountry Children's Center, Inc.

(LCC) of Charleston, South Carolina in its expansion and coordination

of the services required to create a model multi-disciplinary, crisis

intervention program for child victims of sexual assault and their

families. LCC's goals are to: (1) Continue their existing multi-

disciplinary services, (2) enhance support and coordination between law

enforcement and the Solicitor's (prosecutors) office in cases

concerning allegations of child physical and sexual assault, (3)

provide medical examination in a timely manner, and (4) collect and

analyze data regarding the demographics of child victims and their

families and the characteristics of the perpetrator, the sexual

assault, and the community response. In 1995, as a result of this

multi-disciplinary approach, LCC has exceeded its initial projections

regarding the number of individual children who have been assessed and

the number of clinical treatment units provided to these children and

their families (as of December 31, 1995). LCC provided physical

examinations for 194 children alleged to be victims of sexual abuse in

a child-oriented environment and in a timely manner.

This project will be continued by the current grantee, LCC, Inc. No

additional applications will be solicited in fiscal year 1996.

Shay Bilchik,

Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

[FR Doc. 96-3771 Filed 2-16-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410-18-P