FY11 Title II

The Formula Grants Program is authorized under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act of 1974, as amended. The purpose of this program is to support State and local delinquency prevention and intervention efforts and juvenile justice system improvements. Program areas may include: Planning and administration; State Advisory Group allocation; compliance monitoring; juvenile justice issues for American Indian tribes; prevention of substance abuse by juveniles; prevention of serious and violent crimes by juveniles; prevention of juvenile gang involvement and illegal youth gang activities; prevention of delinquent acts and identification of youth at risk of delinquency; and improvement of juvenile justice system operations, policies, and procedures including establishing a system of graduated sanctions, treatment programs, and aftercare.

The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety has identified Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC), School Programs, Aftercare/Reentry and Gender Specific Services (GSS) as priority areas. The goals are: to ensure equitable treatment of youth involved in the juvenile justice system in the State of New Jersey; to reduce the rate of truancy or excessive unexcused absence and increase academic success in youth served; to reduce recidivism and increase success of youth returning home after being incarcerated; and to ensure that at-risk and delinquent juvenile females are provided gender responsive services. Title II funds will be used: to conduct the statewide assessment on DMC; to fund truancy reduction programs in communities; to fund reentry success programs in communities; and to provide training and technical assistance to service providers to increase capacity to serve all youth, including juvenile females. Success will be measured by: 1) the completion of a final report with recommendations by the DMC research team; 2) the rate at which programs reduce truant behavior and increase academic success in the youth served; 3) measuring the rates of new crimes and technical violations of youth returning home; and 4) the number of trainings and technical assistance sessions provided on specific topic areas, including gender responsive services.
(NCA/NCF)