President Obama’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes $40 million for a new Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program for grants to state, local and tribal governments for “innovative, evidence-based approaches to fighting crime and improving public safety.” Among other new anticrime items in the budget: $37 million for intervention and treatment programs to assist children who are victims of, or witnesses to, violence, and $15 million to modernize and enhance state and local justice information sharing systems.
The budget proposes $10 million each for a new smart probation program to help improve collaboration among law enforcement, corrections and social services agencies in the development of innovative probation and parole supervision programsa and for a new smart policing program to local law enforcement agencies to develop effective and economical evidence-based policing solutions. The budget proposal also includes $5 million for a program on “Ensuring Fairness and Justice in the Criminal Justice System,” which the Justice Department describes as a systemic response to the problems underlying criminal recidivism. The department says that an informed, fair and systematic approach to the handling of criminal cases supports two Obama administration priorities: improving the enforcement of civil rights and developing effective reentry programs.