The Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and National Institute of Justice (NIJ) recently announced funding to four communities to create court-based programs to prevent probationers from re-offending. The four communities – Clackamas County, Ore; Essex County, Mass; Saline County, Ark; and Tarrant County, Texas – are part of the Honest Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) project and funded through the Second Chance Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-199, section 245). The sites vary widely in population, density, and geographic location.
For more about the HOPE program, visit http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/funding/hopesol.htm.