| President
Bush's proposed fiscal 2006 budget
calls for total elimination of Justice
Assistance Grant and Juvenile
Accountability Block Grant funding and
for rescission of monies from the
Crime Victims Fund, which supports the
Victims of Crime Act.
Municipalities
across Illinois rely heavily on these
resources to fight drug and violent
crime, effectively supervise sex
offenders on probation, address the
needs of at-risk juveniles, and
provide much-needed services to
domestic violence and sexual assault
victims of all ages.
The
fiscal 2005 Justice Assistance Grant
appropriation was $536.5 million after
deducting earmarks, a significant
decrease from 2004 appropriations of
$632 million and about $800 million in
2003. The president's proposal to now
eliminate all Justice Assistance Grant
funding threatens the extinction of a
multitude of criminal justice
initiatives, from specialized sex
offender probation and programs
targeting methamphetamine use and
production to court services that
provide screening, drug treatment and
anger management services to at-risk
juveniles. In addition, the state will
be unable to meet the basic officer
safety and communication equipment
needs of smaller rural police
departments.
The
loss of these important programs will
result in fewer arrests and
prosecutions for drug offenses and a
decrease in offender drug treatment
services and other innovative programs
designed to reduce recidivism. Justice
Assistance Grant funding also provides
vital flexibility to state and local
governments to meet the new and
shifting demands on the criminal
justice system. This flexibility is
particularly important post-9/11.
Elimination
of Juvenile Accountability Block Grant
funding will result in a loss of about
80 juvenile justice programs
throughout Illinois. No other source
of funding exists to support
innovative programs such as teen
courts, victim offender mediation and
juvenile detention centers that focus
on building life skills and providing
educational and vocational training.
These program cuts will have a serious
negative impact on high-risk youth,
which could result in future
incarceration and recidivism problems
that will overburden already stretched
correctional resources.
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Victim
services also are at risk. Victims of
Crime Act funds administered by the
Illinois Criminal Justice Information
Authority provided services to more
than 100,000 victims statewide during
the last fiscal year. Illinois
receives more than $14 million per
year from the Crime Victims Fund to
support 140 Victims of Crime Act
programs that provide essential
therapy and counseling to domestic
violence and sexual assault victims,
homicide survivors, and child victims
of sexual and physical abuse, in
addition to victim advocacy to ensure
that vital services are coordinated
between law enforcement, prosecutors
and counselors.
Diverting
money from the Crime Victims Fund
(fines paid by convicted offenders) to
other unrelated areas would
significantly affect the availability
of these services. Victims of Crime
Act funding is the backbone of victim
service organizations throughout
Illinois. The elimination of reserves
in this funding will seriously
obstruct the state's ability to
continue to provide services to crime
victims and eliminate the hope of
expanding services and reaching
additional victims. Without these
funds, crime victims will be further
victimized by the financial burdens
and emotional injury resulting from
the initial crime.
The
Illinois Criminal Justice Information
Authority has administered these and
other federal programs for more than
20 years. We appreciate Congress'
commitment to ensuring that state and
local governments have adequate
resources to address criminal justice
issues. We strongly urge Congress to
continue that commitment by
maintaining full funding of the
Justice Assistance Grant and Juvenile
Accountability Block Grant programs
and opposing rescission from the Crime
Victims Fund.
[Lori
G. Levin, executive director, Illinois
Criminal Justice Information Authority]
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