§10152 Description

Summary

The Attorney General can give federal grant money to States and local governments, using a set formula, to help with criminal justice and court work. The money can pay for extra staff, equipment, supplies, contracts, training, technical help, and computer systems. It can fund many kinds of programs, including law enforcement; prosecutors and courts; prevention and education; prisons and community corrections; drug treatment and enforcement; planning, evaluation, and technology upgrades; crime victim and witness services (not victim compensation); mental health and crisis intervention; special courts (like mental health, drug, and veterans courts); extreme risk protection order programs; and programs to buy and use drones and approved counter‑drone systems. Grants may be used like older grants under earlier programs in effect before January 5, 2006. Extreme risk protection order programs paid for with these grants must include basic constitutional protections such as notice, an in-person hearing, an unbiased decisionmaker, the right to know and present evidence, the right to confront witnesses, and free legal counsel. They must use strong evidentiary rules at each stage so unreliable or inadmissible evidence is not relied on, and must include penalties for abuse. States and local governments may pass grant money to nonprofit community groups or other local units. Every funded program must have an assessment plan set by the Attorney General with the National Institute of Justice, unless the Attorney General waives that for very small programs. No more than 10 percent of a grant can pay administration costs. Grants run for four years unless the Attorney General allows extensions. Grant funds cannot be used to give security gear or equipment to private groups not involved in public safety, and—unless the Attorney General finds an emergency—cannot buy non‑police vehicles, non‑police boats, non‑police aircraft, luxury items, real estate, or construction (except jails). Funding can be used for security at public events if done under the law. The Attorney General must publish a yearly report on crisis intervention grants, describing what was funded, how well it worked to prevent violence and suicide, how recipients protect constitutional rights, and what steps the Attorney General is taking to protect those rights.