For Immediate Release: March 30, 2009
Contact: Carla Newman – 303.216.9455
cnewman@npipm.com

On February 19, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which provides $225 million in Competitive Byrne Grants to improve the overall functioning of the criminal justice system. While much of the Act is focused on job creation, there are provisions included for the establishment and funding of Problem-Solving Courts under the U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance. National, regional, state and local governments, faith-based and community organizations, institutions of higher learning and tribal entities are eligible to apply for grant consideration. There is no match requirement.

Priority for Competitive Byrne Grant awards will be given those applicants that "demonstrate the use of evidence-based practices and/or data-driven strategies". Data-driven strategies are defined as those interventions that are "informed by analyses of the factors believed to be generating the particular crime problem in a community, and that link the crime problem to evidence-based practice."

There are eight categories covered by the Competitive Byrne Grant funding. Category VII supports Problem-Solving Courts, including drug courts, reentry courts, family courts, mental health courts and other community courts that address the complex, inter-connected crime-producing issues in a locality. Successful candidates will, among other elements, provide "pretrial screening, assessment, pre-adjudication diversion, and close supervision of offenders…"

The Bureau of Justice Assistance is partnering with the Center for Court Innovation to provide technical assistance and training for this initiative. BJA’s problem-solving principles include the assessment of "high quality information – gathered with the assistance of technology and shared in accordance with confidentiality laws - to help practitioners make more nuanced decisions about both treatment needs and the risk individual defendants pose to public safety, ensuring offenders receive an appropriate level of supervision and services." Another principle calls for the use of "valid, evidence-based risk and needs assessment instruments" to "link offenders to individually-tailored community-based services…"

Northpointe offers a wide range of assessment and case planning solutions to address the requirements of the Competitive Byrne Grant application. The suite of COMPAS risk and needs assessment software is designed to identify and assess the strength of co-occurring criminogenic needs that fuel issues such as addiction and domestic violence, while offering separate scales to measure risk of violence, risk of recidivism and risk of failure to appear. COMPAS is scalable and customizable to the needs of various problem-solving courts. The suite offers gender-specific assessment strategies and a distinct tool for the reentry population. The integrated case planning function helps practitioners identify individual strengths, interests and triggers, and assists in creating effective sanctions, incentives and performance measures for each client. COMPAS also has the capacity to track assessment, program performance and outcome data in support of better court-wide decision-making.

Contact Northpointe for more information about our range of correctional solutions, and for assistance in planning your grant application. We welcome the opportunity to partner with your community in planning and implementing your risk reduction strategies.