EBCI Enhancement of Juvenile integrated system

The Justice Department's grant-making components have created a streamlined approach for federally recognized Tribes, Tribal consortia, Alaska Native villages and corporations, as well as authorized tribal designees to apply for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 funding opportunities. The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) serves as a single solicitation for existing tribal government-specific grant programs administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). The CTAS solicitation is designed to assist tribes with addressing crime and public safety issues in a comprehensive manner. The CTAS grant-application process was inspired by and developed after consultation with tribal leaders, including sessions at the Justice Department's Tribal Nations Listening Session in 2009, and has been updated based on continued tribal consultations and listening sessions.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides awards under CTAS Purpose Area 8--Tribal Juvenile Accountability Discretionary Grants (TJADG) Program to federally recognized tribes to develop and implement programs that hold tribal youth accountable for delinquent behavior and strengthen tribal juvenile justice systems as authorized by 42 U.S.C. Section 3796ee-1. Under the TJADG program there are eighteen (18) distinct purpose areas. Applicants seeking a TJADG award must select one or more TJADG purpose areas as a goal and/or focus for the proposed project design.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) seeks to improve its juvenile justice system by building, expanding and improving its data collection and tracking of youth through their Tribal Juvenile Court and the sharing of information among agencies. Current EBCI processes for tracking notifications, sanctions for non-compliance, summons to court, and response time to court requests are fragmented. At least 40% of youth and families summoned to court report a failure on tribe's part to contact them or clearly explain the requirements and/or consequences of failure to comply. Much of tribe's data on diversion contracts, probation and recidivism is kept manually, which creates delays and continuances in court, putting off the needed services and responses to tribe's court-involved youth.
If awarded, a unified tribal data system could enable tribe to track offenders through sanctions and services; monitor important information on summons, court dates, and depositions; record and track detention, residential placement and recidivism; and provide information from other involved agencies such as school, law enforcement, or court services to inform decision making in terms of treatment, sanctions and sentencing. A shared database would make available to the courts and involved agencies all the information pertinent to a youth's case and progress. Successful improvement of tribe's records system, access to data, sharing of data, and juvenile outcomes will be demonstrated by timely summons and notifications, complete court reports, and staff and court satisfaction; which will be tracked and evaluated. Improvement of compliance will be demonstrated by reducing the number of non-compliant youth by 30%. CA/NCF