Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) has widened his inquiry into whistleblowers' claims of fraud and mismanagement in the awarding of grants from the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange reports. Grants went to states and territories that allegedly incarcerated foster children, runaway youth and other vulnerable juveniles in violation of federal law. In addition to states and territories named so far, Grassley's office said, “The alleged mismanagement may extend to many more states and could date as far back as 1986.”
Grassley added, “Any failure to administer this program is a failure to those that it was intended to serve. Unfortunately, the alarmingly high prevalence of alleged failures and the department's own responses to those allegations suggest systemic mismanagement that must be corrected. These kids and young adults deserve and depend on accountability from government.” In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, Grassley outlined allegations by whistleblowers that oversight failures may have led to unlawful OJJDP grants to Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C.