Justice Department Official Burch Lists Anticrime Funding Priorities

Priorities for funding anticrime programs in the Obama administration include prisoner re- entry, "justice reinvestment," sentencing reform, indigent defense, youth violence, drug treatment, prescription drug abuse, and tribal justice, says acting director Jim Burch of the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance. Speaking in Washington, D.C., to leaders of anticrime organizations, Burch identified several additional subjects he described as emerging issues, including mental health problems of criminal suspects, methamphetamine, suspicious activities reporting, privacy, intelligence-driven policing, and fairness in courts.

Demand far exceeded supply for federal grants in the federal fiscal year that ended last month, Burch said. There were about 5,000 applications but only 373 were funded. That's part of more than 11,000 active grants managed by only 40 staff members.

TheCrimeReport.org

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The work of NLADA and the ACCD is clearly resonating within the Obama Administration. On Friday, October 9, the Acting Director of the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Administration, Jim Burch, spoke at a gathering of justice professionals. Among the funding priorities he listed for the Obama administration is “indigent defense.”

This announcement is tangible proof that we are living in a unique time for the indigent defense community and that NLADA and the ACCD need to continue to work hard to take advantage of these opportunities immediately and build a permanent federal equal justice infrastructure for the future.