Federal Law Justice and Legal Services Grants

Overview: The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to carry out a project to increase the effectiveness of investigation and prosecution of public corruption crimes. This project will increase accountability and improve the handling of public corruption cases by both investigators and prosecutors through concurrent training and cooperation. This project will have three key components: Objective 1: Training and capacity building Training and building capacity of anti-corruption investigators and prosecutors. Objective 2: Institutional support Providing institutional support including policy level changes and technological advancements to strengthen accountability and social inclusion mechanisms. Objective 3: Awareness Raising Raising public awareness of project initiatives to improve citizens confidence in public service delivery so they are encouraged to report corruption cases. The project will build capacity of investigators and prosecutors to handle public corruption cases both by training and mentoring a cadre of master trainers and by directly training investigators and prosecutors. The specific objectives are to increase the number of appropriate public corruption charges by law enforcement, improve the effective prosecution of public corruption cases, develop policies to encourage citizens to file complaints, and raise citizens awareness and confidence in public service delivery mechanisms. This call for proposals is intended to scale up existing work in Balochistan and expand it to benefit anti-corruption establishments in Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to: 1. Train investigators and prosecutors to prosecute corruption cases. 2. Provide institutional support to design effective policies that encourage transparency, accountability, and the use of modern technological tools to invest

This funding opportunity provides financial support for training facilitators who conduct victim-offender dialogues, aimed at improving post-conviction victim services and promoting restorative justice.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to state, local, and tribal governments for developing performance-based reentry services and housing programs aimed at reducing recidivism among individuals transitioning from incarceration.

This program provides funding to state and local governments with accredited crime laboratories to improve their DNA analysis capabilities, reduce case backlogs, and enhance public safety through the use of advanced DNA technology.

This grant provides funding to state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies to enhance their ability to investigate and prosecute cybercrimes against individuals, while partnering with victim service providers to improve support for victims.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office, https://cops.usdoj.gov) is pleased to announce that it is seeking applications for funding for the FY24 Safer Outcomes: Enhancing De-Escalation and Crisis Response Training for Law Enforcement Curriculum Integration for Law Enforcement Academies and State-Level Training Commissions program. The goal of this solicitation is to promote safe outcomes during police encounters with persons in crisis through the integration of de-escalation and crisis response training into the curriculum of law enforcement academies and state-level training commissions.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to a designated entity in Pennsylvania to enhance services and assistance for victims of mass violence or terrorism, ensuring they receive timely and comprehensive care.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to state and local governments, as well as Tribal governments, to establish or improve programs that help youth in the juvenile justice system overcome substance use disorders through integrated treatment and judicial supervision.

This program is authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-328. The Expanding Sexual Assault Victim Services on Campus Pilot Program (hereafter referred to as Campus Victim Services Pilot) supports institutions of higher education to improve victim services on campus by expanding access to holistic sexual assault services on college campuses and creating a promising practice guide for higher education institutions that wish to expand their sexual assault services and advocacy. Campus sexual assault victim services need to be survivor-centered, comprehensive, culturally relevant, flexible, and accessible for all survivors of sexual assault. Therefore, collaborative relationships between campus and community-based victim service providers are critical to ensure accessibility to services.

This grant provides funding to state and local courts, national nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions to support innovative projects that improve the administration of justice in state courts across the country.

This competition provides funding to community organizations, governments, and academic institutions to develop innovative solutions that improve access to legal services for rural residents facing significant barriers to justice.

This grant provides funding to nonprofit organizations and individuals to enhance the safety and capacity of journalists in Costa Rica who report on organized crime.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) invites applicants who received an official request from BJA to apply for funding to continue work on a specific prior grant award. This correspondence would have been sent to you with instructions to apply to this solicitation. All programs will follow guidelines detailed in the original solicitation under which funding was provided. The scope, purpose, award amount, and performance period of the new project will be substantially the same as the previous one.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Respondents are advised that the Army Research Lab (ARL) is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI.Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. ARL will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. It is the respondent's responsibility to ensure that the submitted material has been approved for public release by the information owner.The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited, nor is the Government obligated to issue a solicitation based on responses received. Neither proprietary nor classified concepts or information should be included in the submittal.The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is seeking information on interdisciplinary theories and models for collective influences on human judgment during information processing tasks and prior to collective decision making. This RFI is issued for planning purposes only, and it does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or suggest the procurement of any material, data sets, etc. The following sections of this announcement contain details on the specific scientific areas of interest, along with instructions for the submission of responses.Background and Scope:During information processing tasks, the formation of judgments on the utility of information from a wide variety of sources by analysts (working alone or in teams) is influenced by (a) other people in their networks, (b) the available information they consume, (c) potential interactions with virtual agents, and (d) their own internal predispositions based on background, training, and values. These analysts capabilities and performance on such tasks can be expanded and augmented through intelligent systems or information agents leveraging technologies such as Large Language Models (LLMs) or through additional information gained from social media and social networking platforms. However, such human-agent teaming approaches can lead to the emergence of new biases and challenges surrounding the reliability of such judgments made to accept/reject each piece of information being processed. These phenomena reside at the conscious and subconscious levels, further expounding the challenges to understand their impact on judgment formation.This RFI seeks to elicit interdisciplinary perspectives on the judgment formation process in the context of analysts being embedded in larger communities and inundated with algorithmically driven information.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for educational programs aimed at training child protection professionals, including social workers, law enforcement, and healthcare providers, to better identify and address child abuse and trauma.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to organizations that deliver specialized training and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors for preventing and addressing terrorism threats.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for research projects that evaluate the implementation and impact of emerging technologies used by law enforcement agencies, aiming to improve public safety and agency efficiency.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and for-profit entities to collaborate on documenting and addressing cases of transnational repression through research, training, and evidence-based methodologies.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to organizations working to improve whistleblower protections and reporting mechanisms in North Macedonia to combat corruption and enhance the rule of law.

Nigeria is ranked 8th most impacted country by terrorism globally according to the 2023 Global Terrorism index. Groups like ISIS West Africa (ISIS-WA) and Boko Haram have committed horrendous atrocities like massacres and mass killings, use of sexual violence and enslavement, suicide bombings, abductions, and forced conscription. These atrocities, especially in Nigerias northern region, have caused widespread fear among citizens, worsened a humanitarian crisis, and increased gross violations of human rights. To hold the perpetrators of these atrocities accountable, Nigerias Federal Ministry of Justice has assigned the prosecution of terrorism and atrocities cases to the ministrys Complex Case Group. Furthermore, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, which has jurisdiction over terrorism cases, has assigned a number of judges to adjudicate these cases. Nigerias Legal Aid Council (LACON) also provides defense to the persons charged with committing atrocities. In addition to these, the National Human Rights Commission is tasked with the responsibility of promoting and protecting human rights and the investigation of human rights violations. Thousands of terrorism cases in Nigeria remain backlogged. The backlog results from prosecutors and judges limited knowledge of prosecuting atrocities cases. Existing cases languish because of institutional administrative problems, including Nigerian judges transcribing court proceedings by hand, resulting in delays and errors. Lawyers at the Legal Aid Council also have limited specialized training which contributes to delays in the process and lack of proper defense for suspects. Detainees are kept in government detention facilities located at significant distances from the government officials responsible for the prosecution, defense and judgements, creating significant logistical challenges. Poor case management, disorganized court administration, and a lack of coordination between the Complex Case Group, Federal High Court, and the Joint Investigative Center (the unit responsible for investigating terrorism cases comprised of military, police and state security service investigators) further impede progress on atrocity cases.