AEquitas, a Bureau of Justice Assistance training and technical assistance provider, recently published their webinar “Achieving Justice: The Prosecutor’s Role” as part of their Just Exits for Survivors of Exploitation initiative. The webinar focused on the following objectives: “Achieve justice for survivors who intersect with the criminal justice system; increase off ramps from exploitation by providing meaningful access to appropriate services; and provide and expand criminal records relief for survivors.” Presenters included Jane Anderson, Attorney Advisor, AEquitas; Survivor Advocate Joy Friedman, President, Joy Friedman Consulting; and Survivor Advocate Jeri Moomaw, Founder and Director, Innovations Human Trafficking Collaborative. Anderson facilitated the webinar and Friedman and Moomaw, both survivors, shared their lived and professional experiences and discussed the prosecutor’s role in achieving justice for survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation.
In October 2020, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, together with their partners Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, National Center for State Courts, and RTI International, launched the Strengthening the Sixth website (https://strengthenthesixth.org/). The website offers helpful information about the application of the Sixth Amendment along with various carefully curated resources. Resource topics include access to witnesses and evidence, confrontation clause and cross examination, impartial and representative juries, public trials, right to counsel, speedy trials, and vanishing trials.
In addition to accessing resources, state and local jurisdictions can request TTA related to their application of the Sixth Amendment.
This website was developed as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Justice For All: Sixth Amendment Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) grant. The grant is “aimed at enhancing the capacity of state and local jurisdictions to protect the core rights enshrined in the Sixth Amendment.”
Learn more about protecting Sixth Amendment rights.
In their efforts to support police-mental health collaboration (PMHC) and to encourage high-quality partnership-based interventions, The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center developed a PMHC self-assessment tool. This tool helps law enforcement agencies and their behavioral health partners assess their efforts in responding to people with mental illnesses and/or co-occurring substance use conditions. After taking the self-assessment, agencies will receive a unique action plan to help enhance their efforts. This tool is geared toward communities at all stages, from start-up to advanced.
The Virginia Center for Policing Innovation, in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, developed the Measuring What Matters Resource Center (MWM). MWM is designed to help law enforcement agencies learn from subject matter experts on best practices in the following areas: officer safety and wellness, violent crime reduction, and measuring and sustaining success. They also developed an e-guide, which they describe as “a self-paced, virtual guide of best practices and insights from practitioners and subject matter experts.”
Join the International Association of Chiefs of Police for their free, five-part “Enhancing the Law Enforcement Response to Violence Against Women” training series. These interactive trainings are “designed to enhance the capacity of law enforcement when responding to and investigating crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and strangulation.” Participants will be expected to actively participate in group discussion via webcam.
The training includes the following sessions:
January 14, 2021, 1:30–3:00 p.m. ET:
The Impact of Trauma: Trauma-Informed Interviewing and Report Writing
January 21, 2021, 1:30–3:00 p.m. ET:
Predominant Aggressor Determination
January 28, 2021 1:30–3:00 p.m. ET:
Strangulation: The Hidden Risk of Lethality
February 4, 2021 1:30–3:00 p.m. ET:
Lethality, Risk, and Danger Assessments
February 11, 2021 1:30–3:00 p.m. ET:
Articulating the Crime of Stalking
In anticipation of upcoming Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) solicitations, BJA is hosting two trainings to help prospective applicants find funding opportunities. The first session, titled “Funding Opportunities for Your Community in 2021: An Overview of What’s Ahead,” will be held on January 14, 2021, 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET. It will focus on BJA’s 2021 funding plans, eligibility requirements, and estimated funding amounts. The second session, titled “The Funding Process: First Steps to Applying, How to Prepare Now, and Other Considerations,” will be held on January 21, 2021, 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET. It will focus on preparing to apply for funding opportunities.
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is offering free virtual training and support to three local jurisdictions (e.g., county, city) during the winter/spring of 2021.
Tailored to your agency, the training will focus on several topics related to the intersection of people with mental illness and the criminal justice system, including the following:
- Understanding how people with mental illness flow through the criminal justice system.
- Implementing diversion and intervention strategies.
- Identifying local community partnerships and expanding their capacity for support.
CSG will also provide recommendations and further steps of action. Applications are due by Friday, January 15, 2021.
Treatment courts implement community-based treatment and rigorous monitoring to help individuals and to reduce recidivism and incarceration. To help establish treatment courts, the Center for Court Innovation, which developed New York City’s first drug court and New York’s first mental health court, manage the program Treatment Courts Online, The National Training System for Treatment Court Practitioners (treatmentcourts.org). This site offers various training and resources related to adult drug courts, juvenile drug treatment courts, veterans treatment courts, and healing to wellness courts.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is now accepting nominations for the Congressional Badge of Bravery, which honors federal, state, and local law enforcement officers who have shown exceptional bravery in the line of duty. Annually, the U.S. Attorney General awards the medals, and the recipients’ Congressional representatives present the awards.
“To meet the definition of an act of bravery, nominees for the Congressional Badge of Bravery must have either:
- Sustained a physical injury while engaged in the lawful duties of the individual, and performing an act characterized as bravery by the agency head who makes the nomination, and being at personal risk; or
- Although not injured, performed an act characterized as bravery by the agency head who makes the nomination that placed the individual at risk of serious physical injury or death.”
Agency heads should submit their nominations to the Congressional Badge of Bravery Office, which is part of BJA, by February 15, 2021.
Criminal justice professionals engaged in today’s national debate about criminal justice reform can learn from past efforts at collaboration. In 2019, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill saw a need for prosecutors and police chiefs to have candid conversations and really listen to each other when making policy decisions. With this idea in mind, on June 24, 2019, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) organized a meeting with a group of police chiefs and prosecutors from several cities to discuss issues related to criminal justice reform. Though they came from different backgrounds, these individuals were united under the common goal of public safety. Many insights came from the meeting, including a “‘Statement of Key Principles’ that can serve as a foundation for future dialogue.” PERF published the report “Police Chiefs and Prosecutors Work Through Challenges To Find Common Ground” to outline the outcomes of the meeting.
To learn more, read the report.