§10152 Description

Summary

The Attorney General can give money to States and local governments to hire staff, buy gear and supplies, get training and tech, and support court and criminal-justice work. Grants can be used for many kinds of programs, including law enforcement, courts and prosecution, prevention and education, corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, planning and technology, victim and witness services (not compensation), mental-health and crisis teams, crisis courts (like mental-health, drug, and veterans courts), programs for extreme risk protection orders that must include specific due-process protections (notice, an in-person hearing, an unbiased decision-maker, the right to know and challenge opposing evidence, the right to present and confront witnesses, free counsel, higher evidentiary standards at least equal to federal court or the State’s rules, bans on relying on unsworn, irrelevant, hearsay, or unreliable evidence, and penalties for misuse), buying and using drones (see 49 U.S.C. 44801), and buying counter-drone systems listed under 6 U.S.C. 124n(d)(2)(A)(iii) to use the authority in subsection (a)(2) of that section. Grants may also cover any uses allowed under the programs in section 10151(b) as they existed on January 5, 2006. States and local governments may pass grant money to nonprofit community groups or other local units. Every funded program must include an assessment made under Attorney General guidelines with the National Institute of Justice, though the Attorney General can waive that if the program is too small. Funds cannot be used to give security gear or equipment to nongovernmental groups not doing criminal-justice or public-safety work, and—unless the Attorney General certifies an emergency—cannot buy non-police vehicles, non-police boats, non-police aircraft, luxury items, real estate, or most construction (except jails). No more than 10 percent of a grant can pay for administration. Grants last four years, and the Attorney General may renew or extend them. The Attorney General must publish a yearly report on crisis intervention grants listing each award, evaluating how well programs prevent violence and suicide, showing what was done to protect people’s constitutional rights, and describing steps taken to protect those rights.