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Office for Civil Rights (OCR)

OCR ensures that recipients of financial assistance from OJP, OVW, and COPS comply with Federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment and delivery of services or benefits based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, and disability.
About OCR
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About

OCR ensures that recipients of financial assistance from OJP, the Office on Violence Against Women, and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services comply with Federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment and delivery of services or benefits based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, and disability. In addition, federal law prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of age in the delivery of services or benefits.

OCR efforts include:

  • Ensuring that recipients of financial assistance from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) comply with applicable federal civil rights laws.
  • Leading nationwide effort aimed at improving language access services that law enforcement agencies provide to the limited English proficient communities that they serve.
  • Implementing a national civil rights enforcement strategy which strengthens the capacity of state agencies that administer the Department’s formula grants to monitor subrecipients’ compliance with federal civil rights laws.
  • Working to ensure that juvenile justice agencies provide limited English proficient youth and their parents or guardians with appropriate language assistance during important pre-adjudication encounters with the juvenile justice system.
  • Advancing the Department’s effort to implement the landmark nondiscrimination provision in the Violence Against Women Act of 2013 (VAWA) which ensures that LGBT victims of domestic violence and sexual assault have equal access to VAWA funded services
  • Ensuring funded law enforcement agencies are complying with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 when working in schools.
  • Promoting gender diversity in the ranks of funded state law enforcement agencies.

Resources

OCR Leadership

Kevonne Small
Director

OCR Contacts

OCR Email
Main Line: 202-307-0690
Fax: 202-354-4380
TDD/TTY: 202-307-2027

Date Created: June 28, 2023