BJA FY 14 National Training and Technical Assistance: Smart Prosecution Initiative
The Smart Prosecution Initiative (Pub. L. No. 113-76, 128 Stat. 5, 61) is administered by BJA as part of its “Smart Suite” of crime-fighting programs—Smart Policing, Smart Supervision, Smart Pretrial, and now, Smart Prosecution. BJA established the first program within this Smart Suite over 4 years ago with the launch of Smart Policing. Smart Policing supports law enforcement agencies in building evidence-based, data-driven law enforcement tactics and strategies that are effective, efficient, and economical. Smart Policing represents a strategic approach that brings more “science” into police operations by leveraging innovative applications of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices. The goal of the Smart Policing Initiative is to improve policing performance and effectiveness while containing costs; an important consideration in today’s fiscal environment. For more information on Smart Policing, see the program’s fact sheet: www.smartpolicinginitiative.com/sites/all/files/SPI_One_Pager_2013.pdf. Prosecutors are key decisionmakers and policymakers in the criminal justice system. They represent the community, strive to control crime, and ensure that justice prevails. The local prosecutor ensures that justice is done in a fair, effective and efficient manner, and is focused on three goals: 1) to promote the fair, impartial, and expeditious pursuit of justice; 2) to ensure safer communities; and 3) to promote integrity in the prosecution profession and effective coordination in the criminal justice system.1 BJA’s Smart Prosecution Initiative is designed to promote effective data-driven research-based approaches to prosecution and prosecutor-led justice systems innovations and reforms. The Smart Prosecution model will build off of the lessons learned from BJA’s Smart Suite of crime-fighting programs described above. Smart Prosecution seeks to pair an operational, results-focused researcher with a prosecutor’s office to develop data-driven solutions which create effective, efficient, and just prosecution strategies which will ultimately improve public safety. It will provide other valuable resources to equip a prosecutor’s office to access data across various criminal justice and non-criminal justice information systems to improve results for communities. Fighting crime and creating safer communities is enhanced by data-driven, research-based criminal justice models. BJA hopes that the lessons learned will develop a rich body of evidence for use by prosecutors nationally as they seek to work with communities to solve chronic problems and fight violent crime. These concepts will be supported throughout the Smart Prosecution Initiative with the initial group of grantees who will be awarded under a separate FY 2014 competitive grant announcement. This competitive grant announcement specifically requests applications for one national training and technical assistance (TTA) provider to support and build capacity in the field and among those jurisdictions selected to be Smart Prosecution sites. This grant announcement does not solicit applications from individual jurisdictions to fund local smart prosecution programs.
Office: Office of Justice Programs
