§10156 Formula

Summary

The Attorney General must split the grant money for this program so half is given to States based on each State’s population and half is given based on each State’s average yearly Part 1 violent crimes over the most recent three years reported. If that would give any State less than 0.25% of the total, every State instead gets 0.25%, and the rest is redivided using the same population-and-crime rules but leaving out those minimum-allocation States. Sixty percent of the money goes to State grants and 40 percent goes to local government grants. States may keep an amount based on the share of criminal-justice spending paid by the State government; the rest goes to local governments. Local shares are based on each local government’s average annual Part 1 violent crimes for the most recent three years reported to the FBI, with special rules for fiscal years 2006–2008 that follow the older Local Government Law Enforcement Block Grants method. If a local area was annexed after the data were collected, the annexing government gets the money. The Attorney General can adjust allocations if a local government pays more than 50% of prosecution or incarceration costs and neighboring units would otherwise get much larger shares. No local government can get more than its criminal-justice spending for the last completed fiscal year; any excess is shared with others. If a local share is under $10,000, that amount is added to the State’s direct grant to help state police and very small localities. A local government must have at least three years of Part 1 violent-crime data reported to the FBI in the past 10 years to get a share. If a State won’t or can’t use its funds, the Attorney General will give that money to local governments in that State, starting with the highest-crime jurisdictions. Puerto Rico receives 100% as direct grants to its government (the State and local split rules do not apply there). For Louisiana, “unit of local government” means a district attorney or a parish sheriff. “Part 1 violent crimes” also covers severe forms of trafficking in persons as defined in 22 U.S.C. 7102.