Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2010, $613,200)
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.
Nearly all aspects of juvenile justice are managed at the State level in Utah. As a waiver State, Utah retains 100% of JABG funding at the State level, funding projects in Juvenile Court and the Division of Juvenile Justice Services in the program areas of: graduated sanctions, training programs for court staff and juvenile programs improvement.
The State will utilize FY 2010 JABG funds for the following projects:
1) Providing community placements as an alternative to incarceration for approximately 3,800 youth days of care;
2) Probation officer safety training and juvenile court management training for more than 470 staff members;
3) Continuous program evaluation improvement, promoting evidence based practices to ensure that juvenile court programming is meeting the needs of the participating youth;
4) Producing a juvenile court report card to the community and making generalized juvenile court statistics readily available to the public to develop public trust and transparency.
(NCA/NCF)