2015 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program [42 U.S. Code § 3751(a)] is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. The JAG Program provides critical funding necessary to support state and local initiatives, to include: technical assistance, strategic planning, research and evaluation (including forensics), data collection, training, personnel, equipment, forensic laboratories, supplies, contractual support, and criminal justice information systems. The JAG Program supports seven Program Purpose Areas designated by federal statute. These include:

Law enforcement programs;
Prosecution and court programs, including indigent defense;
Prevention and education programs;
Corrections and community corrections programs;
Drug treatment and enforcement programs;
Planning, evaluation and technology improvement programs;
Crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation);
Mental health programs and related law enforcement and corrections programs, including behavioral programs and crisis intervention team;

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is the federal agency responsible for the administrative oversight to the JAG program. BJA provides leadership and services in grant administration and criminal justice policy development to support local, state, and tribal justice strategies to achieve safer communities. Additional information, including, but not limited to, funding, publications, reports, training, technical assistance, webinars and events can be obtained through BJA’s website at www.bja.gov.

California’s Multi-Year Strategy for the JAG Program

On January 16, 2014, the BSCC approved the following Multi-Year Strategy for the JAG Program:

The strategy will honor responses from California stakeholders in the 2013 Byrne JAG Stakeholder Survey with priority given to the survey supported JAG Program Purpose Areas of:

Education and Prevention Programs
Law Enforcement Programs
Prosecution and Court Programs, Including Indigent Defense

The needs of small, medium, and large counties will be taken into account.
Funding will be based on local flexibility and on the needs of the juvenile and adult criminal justice communities and on input from a balanced array of stakeholders.
Applicants must demonstrate a collaborative strategy based on the community engagement model that involves multiple stakeholders in the project or problem addressed.
Some emphasis will be given to the development of innovative and/or promising strategies to reduce recidivism.

Local JAG Data Collection and Evaluation Reports – 2015-2018 Grantee Cohort
JAG grantees with grant agreements that ended on December 31, 2017 were required to submit a Final Local Evaluation Report by March 31, 2018. These Final Local Evaluation Reports are posted below. JAG grantees with no-cost grant agreement extensions until December 31, 2018 are required to submit Final Local Evaluations by March 31, 2019. Those reports will be posted on this website after submission to the BSCC.

JAG Applicants were required to set aside a minimum of 5 to 10 percent of their grant funds for the development of a Local Evaluation Plan, data collection efforts, and submission of the Final Local Evaluation. The Final Evaluation Report determines whether the overall project was effective in meeting stated goals and objectives.

Below are the Local Evaluation Reports and the names of Evaluators from the 16 funded Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance (JAG) Grants that completed their projects on 12/31/2017. Grantees were encouraged to work with external evaluators in the development of an evaluation approach for their projects.

Butte County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Gary Bess and Associates	Calaveras County Local Evaluation Report Evaluators:Sgt. Rachelle Whiting & Sgt. Gregory Stark
Humboldt County Local Evaluation Report Author:Dawn Arledge, Director of Health	Kern County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Transforming Local Communities, Inc.
Kings County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Transforming Local Communities, Inc.	Los Angeles County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Lisa M. Graziano, Ph.D. & Jane Florence Gauthier, Ph.D.
Madera County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Jana Price-Sharps, EdD, Forensic Psychologist	Mendocino County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Kristy Kelly, M. S., M.F.T.
Merced County Local Evaluation Report Author:Heidi Szakala	Plumas County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:High Sierra Grants
City & County of San Francisco Local Evaluation Reports Attachment A Attachment B Final Report Outcomes Report Interim Report Authors:Mika Clark & Jennifer Henderson-Frankes	Santa Cruz County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Applied Survey Research
Sonoma County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:WestEd Associates & Assistant time	Tehama County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:Matt Russell, Center for Evaluation & Research
Tuolume County Local Evaluation Report Author:Lt. Jarrod Pippin	Ventura County Local Evaluation Report Evaluator:EVALCORP Research & Consulting

JAG Resource Information

2014-2018 JAG Grantee Program Descriptions - pdf
2014-2018 JAG Grantee Interactive Map
2018 BSCC Application to BJA for Byrne JAG Funding – pdf
2017 BSCC Application to BJA for Byrne JAG Funding - pdf
2016 BSCC Application to BJA for Byrne JAG Funding - pdf
2015 BSCC Application to BJA for Byrne JAG Funding - pdf
FY 2014 Byrne JAG Request for Proposals (closed 11/24/14) - pdf
FY 2014 Byrne JAG Information, Resources and FAQs - View Link
September 2014 Press Release - pdf
January 2014 Press Release - pdf

2013 Byrne JAG Stakeholder Survey

In 2013, the BSCC partnered with the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) to develop a mechanism for gathering stakeholder input for the development of a Multi-Year Strategy for California’s JAG Program. A JAG Stakeholder Survey was administered to a wide range of criminal justice stakeholders in California. The BSCC received 890 responses. Survey analysis focused on finding consensus around the JAG Program Purpose Areas (PPA) listed above, prioritizing them in terms of need. Survey respondents identified the following three PPAs (in order of importance) as most critical to California’s criminal justice system:Prevention and education programs, law enforcement programs, and prosecution and court programs, including indigent defense. Using the survey results as a guide, an Executive Steering Committee developed a Multi-Year State Strategy, for use in the next round of competitive grants.