State of Iowa JJDP Act Formula Grant (Title II) Application

The Formula Grants Program is authorized under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act. The purpose of this program is to support state and local delinquency prevention and intervention efforts and juvenile justice system improvements. Supported activities and efforts may include: planning and administration; state advisory group allocation; compliance monitoring; disproportionate minority contact; juvenile justice issues for Native 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 as found in section 223(a) of the JJDP Act.

In FY2017, Iowa will continue to serve a population of delinquent youth as prioritized by the Iowa Juvenile Justice Advisory Council (JJAC) in the identified areas of evidence-based practices; gender equity in juvenile justice system services; a reduction in the disproportionate number of minority youth involved in the juvenile justice system; providing mental health and substance abuse services for youth involved in the juvenile justice system; promoting the understanding of juvenile brain development and the impact of this development on juvenile justice decision making; and, compliance monitoring and data analysis.

Iowa’s focus on evidence-based practices (EBP) will continue through the Juvenile Justice Reform & Reinvestment Initiative (JJRRI), through identification of programs that have been proven effective and increasing saturation of EBP programs throughout the state. The JJRRI project continues to use the Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol (SPEP) to evaluate programs in the state. Additionally, the JJRRI project will continue to work with the State Court Administrator (SCA) and Juvenile Court Services (JCS) to develop and ultimately implement a dispositional matrix for the juvenile court system. The Iowa Task Force for Young Women (ITFYW) will continue to support gender appropriate programs in the state through the recommendations presented in the final report developed by the Iowa Girls Justice Initiative (IGJI). The IGJI project focused on the development and coordination of a plan for, services to and supervision of, young women who are involved in the juvenile justice system at the deepest level. The Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) committee will continue to work on reduction of the disparate number of minority youth in Iowa’s juvenile justice system through implementation and update of the Community and Strategic Plan (CASP) project. Formula grant funding will also address mental health and substance abuse issues of justice involved juveniles, continue various compliance monitoring efforts, and provide data analysis support. NCA/NCF