With the passing of the Justice for All Reauthorization Act (JFAA) of 2016, requirements associated with Byrne JAG grants have changed. Please join the Justice Programs Office and the National Criminal Justice Association for a webinar from 1:00–2:00 PM EST on February 20, 2018 , that will examine how these changes create an opportunity for state administering agencies (SAAs) and public defense providers to devise new collaborative efforts to support public defense services.

This webinar will cover:

Director Kim Ball and Student Associate Cameron Korver traveled to Newark, New Jersey, in January to participate in a Violent Crime Reduction Strategy Development Intergovernmental Working Group meeting as part of the city’s Public Safety Partnership . The National Public Safety Partnership is an initiative overseen by the Bureau of Justice Assistance , and JPO supports it through the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s State Administering Agencies Technical Assistance Project . JPO brought together stakeholders from local, state, and federal governments to discuss potential areas of cooperation for addressing violent crime, such as through coordinating funding, sharing information across agencies, coordinating criminal justice strategies, and setting goals for future cooperation.

The working group included representatives from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office (which functions as the state's state administering agency), United States Attorney’s Office, Newark Police Department, and New Jersey State Police. For many of the people in the room, this was the first time they had met in person. Each representative shared information that turned out to be important to the other stakeholders at the table, and this exchange of information created opportunities for both immediate cooperation and the development of long-term plans and goals. Grant managers from the Newark Police Department connected with state grant mangers to better understand how to maximize the success of grant applications. Agreements were made to include corrections and parole in future discussions in order to share information more effectively, and steps were taken to make the working group a continuing, sustainable effort.

The end of the working group meeting came with participants making a firm commitment to continue to work towards enhancing the violent crime reduction capacity of Newark Police Department. These efforts mirrored those of working groups led by JPO and PSP at the end of 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

JPO , in partnership with the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) , directs the Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Training and Technical Assistance Initiative (JDTC TTA), funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), to provide high-quality training and technical assistance to juvenile drug treatment courts nationally. Two weeks ago, JPO and NADCP staff conducted a three-day site visit to Missouri’s 9 ^th Judicial Circuit , located about two hours northeast of Kansas City.

Our staff is incredibly impressed by the progress the three courts made during the visit to bring their programs in line with best practices, the JDTC Guidelines. Our TTA philosophy is built on a strong belief that community members, including court staff and treatment professionals, are the experts on their own strengths and needs. Accordingly, our role is to provide the JDTC teams the tools they need to bring their practices in alignment with the Guidelines in a manner that they determine is most impactful and realistic.

Our site visit to Missouri’s 9 ^th Judicial Circuit has only reinforced that belief; during our site visit, the teams laid the groundwork to make sustainable improvements that will have a lasting, positive impact on the young people their courts serve.