U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Technical Report Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, 2005 July 2005, NCJ 209333 --------------------------------------------------------------- This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.wk1) and the full report including tables and graphics in .pdf format are available from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/jagp05.htm --------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew J. Hickman, Ph.D. BJS Statistician ------------------------------------ Highlights * The total FY 2005 JAG funds for allocation was $495.5 million. * The five largest total State allocations, in millions of dollars, included California ($58.4), Texas ($35.2), Florida ($32.8), New York ($30.1), and Illinois ($22.4). * 2,190 local governments were eligible for awards. The five largest eligible awards, in millions of dollars, included New York City ($8.7), Los Angeles ($5.7), Chicago ($5.7), Philadelphia ($3.1), and Houston ($2.7). ----------------------------------------- As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005, the 108th Congress merged the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program (Byrne) with the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program (LLEBG) to establish the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG). The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) administers the JAG program, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) calculates the JAG formulas. The total funds made available for FY 2005 JAG awards was $495.5 million. The program has six purpose areas under which funds may be awarded: * Law enforcement programs * Prosecution and court programs * Prevention and education programs * Corrections and community corrections programs * Drug treatment programs * Planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs JAG funds can be used to pay for personnel, overtime, and equipment. This BJS Technical Report describes the steps in the JAG formula calculation process and presents summary results of the FY 2005 formula calculations. Formula calculation process There are six steps in the JAG formula calculation process: Step 1: Initial allocation to States and territories In the first step, initial allocations to States and territories are calculated. Half of the available funds are allocated based on the State's or Territory's share of violent crime, and half of the funds are allocated based on the State's or Territory's share of population. Violent crime is computed as a 3-year average using figures published in the FBI's annual Crime in the United States. Population figures are from the Census Bureau. For the FY 2005 JAG calculations, crime data were for 2000-02, and population data were for 2002. Examples: * California accounts for 14.6% of total violent crime and 12.0% of total population. California's initial allocation is 14.6% of 50% of $495.5 million plus 12.0% of 50% of $495.5 million, or about $66 million. * Vermont accounts for 0.05% of total violent crime and 0.21% of total population. Vermont's initial allocation is 0.05% of 50% of $495.5 million plus 0.21% of 50% of 495.5 million, or about $637,000. Step 2: De minimus awards All States and territories receive a de minimus award equal to 0.25% of the total JAG allocation ($1,238,750 each, or $69,370,000 total, for FY 2005). If a State's or Territory's initial allocation based on crime and population (from Step 1) is less than the de minimus, the State or territory receives the de minimus as their total JAG allocation. Examples: * California's initial allocation of $66 million exceeds the de minimus value, so California will receive the de minimus plus an award based on their share of total violent crime and population. * Vermont's initial allocation of $637,000 is less than the de minimus value, so Vermont's total JAG allocation will be $1,238,750. Step 3: Recalculation of crime and population based awards The crime and population data for States and territories receiving only the de minimus award (from Step 2) are removed from the pool, and remaining JAG funds (less the de minimus awards) are reallocated based on violent crime and population. The resulting award is then added to the de minimus. Examples: * Vermont received only the de minimus award, so Vermont's crime and population data are removed from the pool. * After removing the de minimus States, California accounts for 14.7% of total violent crime and 12.1% of population. Their new JAG allocation is equal to 14.7% of 50% of $426.13 million plus 12.1% of 50% of $426.13 million, plus the de minimus award, or about $58.3 million. Step 4: 60/40 split to State and local governments Except for the Territories and the District of Columbia, 60% of the total allocation to a State is retained by State government, and 40% is set-aside for local governments. Examples: * California State government retains 60% of $58.3 million, or about $35 million. The remaining 40%, or $23.3 million, is set aside for distribution to local governments in California. * Vermont State government retains 60% of the de minimus, or $743,250. The remaining 40%, or $495,500, is set aside for distribution to local governments in Vermont. Step 5: Calculation of State "dollars per crime" and "threshold" Awards to local governments are based on their share of the average of violent crimes the State reported to the FBI over 3 years. The minimum local award amount under the JAG program is $10,000. To determine whether a local government is eligible for a JAG award, it is necessary to calculate the amount of crime for a minimum award in that State. Dividing the total local set-aside for a State by the 3-year average of violent crimes reported within the State results in the number of dollars available for each violent crime. Dividing the minimum $10,000 award amount by the number of dollars available per crime results in the threshold amount of crime necessary in order to be eligible for a JAG award. Examples: * California has $23.3 million set-aside for local governments. The sum of 3-year average violent crimes reported by jurisdictions in California is 210,215 crimes. Dividing the set-aside by total crime results in the number of dollars available for each crime: $23.3 million/210,215 crimes = $111 per crime. Therefore, a local California jurisdiction needs a 3-year average of at least 90 violent crimes ($10,000/$111) to be eligible for a JAG award. * Vermont has $495,500 set-aside for local governments. The sum of 3-year average violent crimes reported is 640 crimes. Dollars per crime in Vermont equal $495,500/640 crimes or $774 per crime. The threshold is 13 violent crimes ($10,000/$774) to be eligible for a JAG award. Step 6: Determination of local governments eligible for JAG awards The JAG legislation specifies that allocations to local governments are based on their share of the total violent crime reported by like units of government within the State. However, the ‘Transitional Rule' at § 505(d)(2)(B) specifies that allocations to units of local government for FY 2005 through FY 2007 will follow the LLEBG formula. Within each State, local governments meeting the threshold for the minimum JAG award are eligible for an award based on the local government's share of the State total 3-year average violent crimes reported to the FBI. Examples: * Oakland, California, has a 3-year average of 5,343 violent crimes, or 2.5% of all violent crimes reported by jurisdictions in California. Oakland exceeds the State threshold of 90 violent crimes. They are eligible for 2.5% of the $23.3 million set-aside for local governments in California, or about $590,000. * The City of Morristown, Vermont, has a 3-year average of five violent crimes. They do not meet the State threshold of 13 violent crimes, so they are ineligible for a JAG award. Their crime -- less than 1% of all violent crime in Vermont -- accounts for about $4,000 of award funds. These funds are transferred to the State for redistribution. Results of the FY 2005 JAG formula In FY 2005, $288.9 million of the $495.5 million available was allocated to the 50 States. In addition, the District of Columbia was eligible for $3.0 million, and Puerto Rico was eligible for $5.9 million. American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands were each eligible for $1.2 million. In FY 2005 $192.6 million was allotted to local governments. A total of 2,190 local governments met the threshold number of crimes necessary to receive a JAG award and were eligible for $163.7 million. The balance of unawarded local allocated funds ($28.9 million) have been returned to the States for redistribution to State police and local governments. Additional JAG provisions Passthrough requirement States may only retain award amounts that bear the same ratio of "total expenditures on criminal justice by the State government in the most recently completed fiscal year to ... the total expenditure on criminal justice by the State government and units of local government within the State in such year." Disparate jurisdictions In some cases, a disparity may exist between funding eligibility of a county and associated municipalities. A potential disparity exists when a unit of local government (such as a county) bears more than 50% of the costs of prosecution or incarceration that arise in association with violent crimes reported by a constituent unit of local government (such as a municipality), and funds eligible to any one constituent unit of local government exceeds 150% of the amount eligible to the larger unit of local government, or 400% for multiple units of government. To qualify for payment, the unit of local government, together with any such specified geographically contiguous local government, must submit a joint application to the Attorney General for the aggregate of funds allocated to the units of local government. Provisions not yet implemented The ‘Transitional Rule' found at § 505(d)(2)(B) specifies that allocations to units of local government for FY 2005 through FY 2007 will follow the LLEBG formula. In the absence of congressional action, the following provisions will take effect for FY 2008 and subsequent JAG calculations. Non-reporting jurisdictions Local governments that have not reported at least 3 years of Part I crime data to the FBI within the immediately preceding 10 years will be ineligible for JAG funding. Local allocations based on crime in like units of government The allocation of JAG funds to local governments will be based on the local government's share of 3-year average violent crimes reported by like units of government (for example, other cities, townships, and counties) within the State. Maximum allocation to local units of government Units of local government may not receive a JAG award that "exceeds such units total expenditures on criminal justice services for the most recently completed fiscal year for which data are available." Award amounts in excess of total expenditures "shall be allocated proportionately among units of local government whose allocations ... do not exceed their total expenditures on such services." Methodology The data used to calculate the allocation amounts are provided by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program and the Governments Division at the Census Bureau. The most recent State-level violent crime data are obtained from the FBI's Crime in the United States (CIUS) on an annual basis. Data for local jurisdictions are obtained in an electronic format directly from the FBI. For FY 2005, data through 2002 were used. The sum of the UCR violent crimes for all local governments within a State will not equal the amount reported by that State in the FBI's annual publication. BJS uses the published UCR State figures, which represent official FBI estimates of crime in a State. The FBI imputes crime data to adjust for nonreporting local agencies. These imputed values attributed to nonreporting local jurisdictions do not appear on the electronic datafile provided to BJS and are not used in the formula calculation. --------------------------------------------- The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Lawrence A. Greenfeld is director. Matthew J. Hickman, BJS Statistician, wrote this report under the supervision of Steven K. Smith. Matthew Hanson of the Bureau of Justice Assistance reviewed the report. Tom Hester of BJS edited it. July 2005, NCJ 209333 Office of Justice Programs Partnerships for Safer Communities http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov ----------------------------------------------- Sources of additional information The text of H.R. 3036, "Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, FY 2004 through 2006," can be found at the Library of Congress website . Refer to Title II, Subpart 1, "Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program." Formula details are found in Section 505. The provisions of H.R. 3036 are implemented by Public Law 108-447, "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005." PL 108-447 can be found at the Library of Congress website. More information about the JAG program and application process can be found on the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) website: . The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program was proposed to streamline justice funding and grant administration. Administered by the BJA, the JAG Program allows States, tribes, and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime, based on local needs and conditions. JAG blends the previous Byrne Formula and Local Law Enforcement Block Grant (LLEBG) Programs. End of file 07/11/02 ih