State of Minnesota FFY2010 JABG Application

The Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program (JABG) Program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 376ee). The goal of the JABG program is to reduce juvenile offending through accountability-based programs focused on both the juvenile offender and the juvenile justice system. The objective is to ensure that States and Territories are addressing the specified program purpose areas and receiving information on best practices from OJJDP. JABG funds are allocated to States and Territories based on each State's relative population of youth under the age of 18. The underlying premise of juvenile accountability programming is that young people who violate the law should be held accountable for their actions through the swift, consistent application of graduated sanctions that are proportionate to the offenses, both as a matter of basic justice and as a way to combat juvenile delinquency and improve the quality of life in the nation's communities.

The Minnesota Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (JJAC) will focus its JABG efforts on four of the JABG Purpose Areas: Graduated Sanctions, Training Programs for Law Enforcement, Accountability and Risk and Needs Assessment. For Graduated Sanctions, there will be an ongoing coordinated effort to reduce the number of status offenses that end up in court. JABG funding will focus on community programs that will intervene or prevent at-risk youth from entering into the system. For the Training Programs for law enforcement, JABG will fund a pilot training program at Metropolitan State University which will conduct training with law enforcement at five locations around the State. There will be a final report offering recommendations for future work in this area. For Accountability, the JJAC Youth Caucus and other identified youth groups will create a pilot project to present at a forum to address Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) within previously identified DMC communities. For Risk and Needs Assessment, JJAC plans to participate with ongoing efforts of the State Legislature to develop a statewide risk assessment tool.

NCA/NCF)