WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today said that the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has awarded two grants totaling $607,586 to the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Agency in Des Moines through the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program.
“These funds will help provide the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Agency keep kids out of the juvenile justice system,” Grassley said.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Agency will use the money as shown below.
· $574,100 to help train law enforcement and other court personnel to prevent and control juvenile crime, as well as establish and maintain accountability programs, interagency information sharing programs, programs to conduct risk and needs assessments to facilitate effective early intervention and comprehensive services to juvenile offenders, accountability based programs designed to enhance school safety, and programs to enable juvenile courts and juvenile probation officers to hold juvenile offenders accountable.
· $33,486 to help reduce risks and enhance protective factors to prevent at-risk youth from entering the juvenile justice systems and to intervene with first time and non-serious offenders to keep them out of the juvenile justice system.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant program helps to reduce juvenile offending through accountability-based programs focused on both the juvenile offender and the juvenile justice system.