Byrne Bytes
NCJA, with support from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, is proud to launch the Byrne Bytes social media campaign. Byrne Bytes highlight important programs and services funded by the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) program.
States, tribes and local jurisdictions use Byrne JAG funding across the criminal justice system to improve the administration of justice, reduce incarceration, enhance fairness, improve outcomes for the justice-involved, and save taxpayer money. These funds support programming in prevention, diversion, enforcement, courts, prosecution and defense, corrections, victim assistance, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, state crisis intervention programs, and other community-based supports.
Byrne Bytes are brief factoids about the Byrne JAG program and highlight successful programs and practices in states around the country.
To find Byrne Bytes on social media, follow us or look for hashtag #ByrneBytes on NCJA’s Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Who is Your SAA?
Want to apply for funding? Not sure what an SAA is? Byrne JAG funding is administered by the State Administering Agencies, or SAAs, in all 56 states and territories. Learn more about what the SAA does, visit our primer on the role of the SAA. To find your SAA, visit our Agency Directory.
Promoting Technical Assistance and Evaluation
Byrne JAG funds can be leveraged to support both technical assistance initiatives and evaluation efforts. Byrne JAG funding complements New York state funding for the technical assistance and evaluation of its 55alternatives to incarceration programs and 20 county reentry task forces that provide dedicated case management, care coordination and stabilization services in partnership with local government agencies and community-based organizations. Byrne JAG funding is used to evaluate the program models and support new, innovative programming.
Rural Mentoring for Youth Can Save Lives
Mentoring is a widely used intervention and prevention strategy for youth involved in or at risk of being involved in the juvenile justice system. In Iowa, Byrne JAG funds a rural mentoring program for system-involved youth whose parents are involved in the criminal justice and/or social services system and direct services to educate youth on drug and crime issues.
Improving State Crime Labs
Byrne JAG supports state crime labs and evidence processing. Byrne JAG helps the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory, the state’s only accredited laboratory, support agencies across the state with evidence processing, analysis, transport, expert testimony and a 24/7 on-call Crime Scene Response Team.
Funding Co-Responder Programs
The success of Co-responder programs relies on impactful relationships between law enforcement and behavioral health professionals, with teams seeking to engage, assess and assist individuals in crisis and direct them to needed services. An embedded social worker has been the key to helping Northville Township, Michigan’s Behavioral Health Consortium forge connections, increase positive interactions, provide resources and assist those of all ages who need mental health assistance. These social workers sustain and build the capacity of this important Byrne JAG funded public safety co-responder program, which supports Northville Township and neighbors Northville and Plymouth.
Comprehensive Reentry Reduces Recidivism
Reentry services span beyond a focus on recidivism reduction, with effective programs taking a comprehensive approach to ensure returning citizens are set up for success. Career Resources, Inc. (CRI) in Connecticut is a workforce development nonprofit agency that is a statewide leader in supporting the reentry population and helping returning citizens successfully reintegrate into their communities. Byrne JAG funds support Entry Point Staffing, a workforce training and temporary staffing agency launched by CRI in 2020 to support returning citizens and other system-impacted individuals in their efforts to secure steady employment, financial self-sufficiency and successful community reintegration.
Byrne JAG and Crime Mapping
Ohio uses Byrne JAG funding to offer crime mapping training to law enforcement agencies free of charge through the University of Cincinnati. Crime mapping is an evidence-based crime reduction tool that has been proven effective for place-based models of policing. This technology allows agencies to visualize and analyze crime-based trends and patterns and identify hot spots.
Byrne JAG Can Maximize Impact
Byrne JAG can be used to maximize impact. State Administering Agencies often use Byrne JAG funds in conjunction with other federal and/or state funds, braiding funding to maximize a program’s impact on the criminal justice system. For example, Byrne JAG funds can be braided with Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding to increase a project’s capacity to respond quickly and efficiently to the needs of survivors.
Obtaining Law Enforcement Accreditation
The law enforcement accreditation process can be difficult, cumbersome and costly for many agencies. In North Carolina, Byrne JAG funds help small and large law enforcement agencies attain accreditation, either to the National Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement or to the North Carolina Statewide Accreditation standards, which are administered by the North Carolina Training and Standards Commission. In the past two years, three large state agencies have received accreditation grants as well as five sheriffs’ offices and 11 police departments.
Using Technology to Fight Crime
Byrne JAG funds can be utilized to support, pilot or expand technology-based projects across the criminal justice system. In Indiana, Byrne JAG funding supports the Cyber Crime Task Force based in southern Indiana. Utilizing advances in the field of digital intelligence, the task force serves more than 29 law enforcement agencies across multiple states. It achieved a 91 percent success rate in extracting data and intelligence from 1,100 confiscated electronic devices. The team has become a valuable resource for local, state and federal agencies.
Supporting Culturally Specific Programming
Minnesota’s Regional Native Public Defense Corporation seeks to increase regional cross-collaboration and response for criminal defense, mental health, and substance use disorder assessment and treatment to decrease the likelihood of Anishinaabe/American Indians’ future involvement in the criminal justice system. Three Byrne JAG funded programs use connections to community, traditional teachings and practices as the foundation for their work. Holistic approaches to care, particularly comprehensive approaches that are culturally specific and relevant, can be extremely effective at reducing recidivism, increasing individual agency and best supporting both individuals and their communities.
Byrne JAG is Collaborative
Byrne JAG funding is informed by a strategic plan that engages stakeholders from across the justice system, including law enforcement, courts, prosecutors, public defenders, corrections officials, treatment providers and others. State Administering Agencies use the planning process to articulate priorities, identify gaps and determine how to leverage and coordinate Byrne JAG funding with other resources.
Byrne JAG and Crisis Intervention Teams
Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs) create impactful collaborative opportunities between law enforcement and mental health providers to ensure individuals in crisis receive the proper behavioral health and crisis support they need. The Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Department’s Crisis Intervention Team consists of deputies and mental health counselors trained in de-escalation techniques. The team responded to more than 62 calls for service from October 2022 through March 2023, with only two resulting in arrest. The project has recently been expanded through Byrne SCIP funding in FY24.
Restorative Justice in Schools
Restorative justice practices effectively reduce out-of-school suspensions and student arrests in and out of school. These practices can increase student perceptions of safety and school climate. In Lancaster County, Nebraska Project RESTORE, uses Byrne JAG funding to disrupt the classroom-to-courtroom pathway through restorative justice programming.
Support for Holistic Probation Services
Holistic wraparound support for individuals on probation is necessary to encourage successful reentry and prevent further interaction with the criminal justice system. The Butte County, California Probation Department utilizes Byrne JAG funding to continue the Community Alliance Program, which provides substance use disorder treatment, placement in sober living environments to support continued sobriety, and educational opportunities and employment support to probationers with the highest criminogenic needs.​
How Does Byrne JAG Help States Innovate?
Nearly every state uses a significant portion of its Byrne JAG award to test new approaches, replicate what works and strengthen the community-based institutions that provide these services.
Preventing Youth Violence
Preventing and responding to violence among young people requires a comprehensive and collaborative approach. In response to rising community and youth violence in Eastern Washington, the Safe Communities Partnership has provided more than 130 youth (ages 13-17) with gang and group violence intervention and prevention services throughout Spokane County. Byrne JAG funds will support the expansion of intervention and prevention programming to include additional efforts throughout the city of Spokane and mentorship to incarcerated young people.
Preventing Suicide in Correctional Settings
About two in five people who are incarcerated have a history of mental illness. As such, ensuring that individuals in prisons and jails have access to appropriate mental health treatment is critical. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Kansas provides inmates access to mental health resources that help to prevent suicide and self-harm. The Justice Involved Project (JIP), supported by Byrne JAG, began at the Butler County Jail and quickly expanded to additional facilities, bringing 94 groups serving 578 inmates in the Wyandotte County Jail, Topeka Correctional Facility, Hutchinson Correctional Facility, Norton Correctional Facility and Riley County Jail. In the 12-month award period, NAMI data confirmed a decrease in suicide-related incidents and deaths.
Byrne JAG Support for Officer Health and Wellness
First responders, including law enforcement, experience higher rates of mental health symptoms than the general population, likely due to higher levels of stress, reoccurring exposure to trauma and a lack of access to services and support. Virginia is addressing officer/first responder wellness using Byrne JAG funding to expand their resources, training and awareness, including creating public service announcements that will be distributed to the public and first responder communities, and making available website resources, training and other information regarding wellness to the first responder community.
What is Byrne JAG?
The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (Byrne JAG) is the nation’s cornerstone crimefighting program, supporting the federal government’s crucial role in spurring innovation, as well as testing and replication evidence-informed practices in crime control and prevention nationwide.
Who is Your SAA?
The Justice System
Strategic Planning
Supporting Innovation
What is the Funding For?
Byrne JAG and
Specialty Courts
Promoting Public Safety
Byrne JAG and Restorative
Justice
Can Byrne JAG Reduce
Recidivism?
Supporting Communities
Byrne JAG is Local
Saving Lives in KY
Reducing Incarceration
Responding to Violence
Nine Program Areas
What is Byrne JAG?
Byrne JAG Funds
Diversion
Paving the Way for
Reentry
Protecting Public Safety
Law Enforcement Training
Curbing Gun Violence
Funding Deflection
At-Risk Youth
Information Sharing
Supporting Reentry
Reducing Recidivism
Helping States Innovate
Helping Ohio Find Hope
Reducing Recidivism
Byrne JAG and Crime Prevention
Byrne JAG is Collaborative
Funding CJ Reform
Who is Your SAA?
This series was created with the support of Grant No. 2019-YA-BX-K002 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the SMART Office, and the Office for Victims of Crime. Points of view or opinions are those of the authors.