In fiscal year 1998, Congress established the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program; the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) operates the JAIBG Technical Support Center, which assists States in calculating the amount of JAIBG funds to distribute to, or expend for the benefit of, eligible local jurisdictions. This Fact Sheet discusses the JAIBG Technical Support Center.
JAIBG awards must be used to support programs in 12 purpose areas specified in the JAIBG legislation, each of which is designed to promote greater accountability in the juvenile justice system. Although most State JAIBG program administrators have access to their State's crime data, few have access to local expenditure data, and most lack the time and resources required to calculate local allocations under the JAIBG formula. To help States calculate local allocation amounts, the Federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, through an interagency agreement with the Bureau of Justice Statistics, established the JAIBG Technical Support Center to provide States with crime and expenditure data collected by the Federal Government. The Center also maintains a web site (www.jrsa.org/jaibg) that provides formula calculations and allocations for each State and its localities. Spreadsheets containing this information can be downloaded from the site. Other resources available from the Technical Support Center include definitions and background information about the JAIBG program; additional expenditure, crime, and Tribal data; and documents from various States that detail the administration of their JAIBG programs.