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Office of Justice Programs

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Overview:

The Office of Justice Programs is the main administrative body under which many programs and initiatives focusing on crime prevention are placed. They provide economical, technological, and research assistance to state and local governments, law enforcement programs, and criminal justice agencies.

 
more
History:

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) came into being in 1984. Its first predecessor was the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance which existed from 1965-1968. It was followed by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) which was established by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. It administered federal funding to state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as funded educational programs, research, state planning agencies, and local crime initiatives. At the time, LEAA included the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, which had its functions absorbed by the National Institute of Justice with the passage of the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979. The Justice System Improvement Act of 1979 also amended the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and led to the creation of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In 1982 the Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics took the place of LEAA and was abolished in 1984 with the start of the Office of Justice Programs.

more
What it Does:

The OJP oversees thirteen bureaus and offices, as well as 21 initiatives that focus on many program areas including corrections, courts, juvenile justice, law enforcement, and victims of crime.

 
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), under the leadership of director Domingo S. Herraiz, provides leadership and assistance to local criminal justice programs hoping to prevent crime, violence and drug abuse through coordination and cooperation with the local, state, and federal government. The Bureau administers many programs, including the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, which has almost 12,000 participating jurisdictions since 1999 that have bought an estimated 450,000 vests with government funds equaling $173 million. The BJA also recently put out a Public Service Announcement (PSA) in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council about preventing “cyberbullying” and geared toward early-teen boys. To see the PSA, please click here.
 
 The Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) also works with local communities to design strategies to hinder crime, promote economic growth, and enhance the quality of life in the neighborhoods. The CCDO manages programs such as the Weed and Seed Initiative that is designed to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, gang activity and drug abuse in high-crime neighborhoods throughout the country. The strategy involves local law enforcement who try to “weed-out” the violent criminals and drug abusers as well as community-based organizations who plant human growth “seeds” such as prevention, intervention, treatment and restoration programs. The CCDO also has several partnerships including one with the Internal Revenue Service to promote asset development for low-income individuals and families
 
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), under Administrator J. Robert Flores, is another program that assists local communities in preventing juvenile misbehavior and victimization; this program focuses on the policies of the juvenile justice systems, how to hold offenders accountable and protect the youth themselves. The OJJDP’s Gang Reduction Program is part of the Department of Justice’s Anti-Gang Initiative that works to incorporate research-based interventions to address the wide-range of factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang violence. They have developed a Strategic Planning Tool to help assess a community’s gang problem and strategies to deal with it. The Disproportionate Minority Contact Initiative tries to address the fact that there is an uneven number of minority youth who come in contact with the juvenile justice system. Many organizations help to provide training and technical assistance to reduce minority contact; the Building Blocks for Youth initiative works to protect minority youth in the justice system and promote rational and effective policies. 
 
Another major bureau is the National Institute of Justice, which is the research, development, and evaluation wing of the OJP. The institute works to provide the OJP and the government with the evidence-based knowledge and tools to fight criminal justice at the state and local levels; much of the research is conducted by academic institutions and non-profit research organizations who have received federal grants. The Institute has been working on research involving prison rape and sexually violent activity and helped implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 to address those issues. Their research journal also recently published an article on making eyewitness identifications more accurate and efficient.
 
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, whose Administrator is Jeffrey L. Sedgsick (currently the OJP’s Director as well), is another research entity of the OJP; it collects, analyzes, publishes, and distributes information on crime, criminal offenders, crime victims, and criminal justice operations. The Bureau also provides financial and technical support to local governments to improve their statistical capabilities. It produces many statistical tables, including one on State Juvenile Correctional Facility Deaths from 2002-2005 with information on the cause of death as well as by personal characteristics. Another study covers the statistics of Intimate Partner Violence in the United States; it looks at the characteristics of victims, offenders, their relationship and the crime’s circumstances. 
 
The Office for Victims of Crime, under Director John W. Gillis, distributes federal funds to victim assistance programs throughout the country; it also provides training programs for professionals and their agencies that specialize in helping victims. It was created in 1988 in an amendment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. Their Directory of Crime Victim Services allows individuals to locate non-emergency victim service agencies within the United States and abroad. They also offer a forum for victim service providers and professionals to connect and discuss ideas and practices regarding different how to help change lives. The Office offers a similar service for victims to ask questions about assistance.
 
The Office of Civil Rights oversees the distribution of financial assistance from the OJP and makes sure that they are not engaged in prohibited discrimination acts and are in compliance with all civil rights laws and regulations. They offer information regarding President Bush’s Executive Order No. 13279 on equal treatment for faith-based organizations. Individuals who feel they have been hurt and/or denied the benefits of the OJP and its programs due to exclusion and discrimination or unemployment may file a complaint through the Office of Civil Rights.
 
The Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) was formed by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The SMART Office, under Director Laura L. Rogers, oversees grant programs relating to sex offender registration and notification. Here they publish the National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification (the 2007 proposed guidelines) where they discuss what is considered a sex offense, the registration process, and the general principles of implementation. SMART also keeps an updated list of Sex Offender Registration Cases and their decisions covering issues of residency restrictions, retroactivity, and right to jury trial.
 
The Office of Justice Programs also sponsors multiple initiatives including AMBER Alert, which is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry to community search involvement. The Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative is a voluntary partnership between the Department of Justice, the wireless industry and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that sends wireless message to subscribers to want to receive notifications. There website also offers statistics on recoveries and has a 2006 Analysis of AMBER Alert Cases (PDF).
 
DNA Technology is a program that promotes the use of DNA to solve crimes and identify missing persons through funding, training, and assistance. Their research covers many areas including Human DNA Quantitation and Non-Human DNA. In January 2008 the National Institute of Justice published a report on the Increasing Efficiency in Crime Laboratories to highlight the progress of DNA technology. The website also offers a database of case studies on the uses of forensic DNA.
 
The Reentry Program is another initiative that focuses on promoting the effective reintegration of offenders back into communities, assisting them in acquiring life-skills and becoming law-abiding citizens. The initiative also sponsors programs focused on the prerelease stages, drug rehabilitation, vocational training, and finding work. The program’s Reentry Resource Map provides information on resources at the local, state and federal levels in the field of reentry. They also offer an interactive map that highlights each state’s activities and resources in reenter y and who are the grantees of the OJP’s Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. The Reentry Program also has several publications on the different aspects of reentry including female offenders, employment services, and inmate rehabilitation.
 
This initiative was created by the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998 and aims to provide law enforcement with a crucial resource. Approximately 12,000 jurisdictions participate in this initiative since 1999, purchasing over 450,000 vests with $173 million in federal funds. The 2007 Bulletproof Vest Recipients can be viewed here. The program is also linked to the Body Armor Safety Initiative in which the National Institute of Justice h as studied the effectiveness of protective wear technology and tested different products, putting out a new list in early 2008 of certain bullet-resistant body armor models that no longer comply with safety regulations.   
 
The Office of Justice Programs also offers a Medal of Valor award to public safety officers who risk their lives to protect citizens and communities. This is the highest national award for valor by a public safety officer. To see the winners of the Medal of Valor Award for 2001-2005 please visit the website archive.
 
The OJP also sponsors the National Sex Offender Registry, which is a public website where individuals can search the database by zip code, state, and name for offenders in their area. The SMART Office offers proposed guidelines for sex offender sentencing, monitoring, and tracking.
 
Project Safe Childhood is a program aimed at fighting technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children by Internet predators. The program also works to combat the distribution of child pornography. In 2006 they released a fact sheet regarding the need for the program and methods of implementation through the Internet Crimes Against Children program and local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. The website also shows press releases related to predator sentencing that is currently underway throughout the country.  
 
This program was developed for tribal communities and their governments to improve their justice systems and the safety of their communities. It also works to help the general public and Federal agencies learn more about Indian Country and tribal justice and safety issues. In 2007 the Department of Justice awarded more than $82.7 million in grants and assistance to strengthen their law enforcement and justice systems. In 2007 the Bureau of Justice Statistics published a fact sheet on the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program (PDF) as well as a fact sheet on the Tribal Courts Assistance Program (PDF).
 
The OJP oversees the Review Panel on Prison Rape that conducts annual hearings to collect evidence for the Bureau of Justice Statistics; they work to identify the characteristics of prison rape and those prisons and prison systems that have a high percentage and those that have been successful in eradicating sexual crimes. The Panel is sponsored by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 and the National Institute of Justice has issued research information regarding the statistics of prison rape.
 
Also known as NAMUS, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System was launched in 2007 and is the first national online database for missing persons records and unidentified bodies cases. Currently the Missing Persons Database and the Unidentified Decedents Reporting System are separate systems that are still under development and should be linked by 2009. The Unidentified Decedents Reporting System is searchable and available to medical examiners and coroners to upload their cases. 
 
The National Gang Center is a joint program between the OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; it acknowledges that the activities of street gangs transcend many ages and so works to develop strategies for prevention, intervention, and suppression. They have published information on Gang-Related Witness Intimidation (PDF) and its effect on the operation of the justice system, as well as ways to combat the problem. They also offer a publication called the National Gang Threat Assessment to educate the public on the danger gangs have on our communities.
 
OJP Bureaus and Offices
 
Program Areas
 
News Highlights and Featured Initiatives
 
more
Controversies:
In 2005 President Bush finally replaced the director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (under the OJP) after several years of charges of political interference by the group. In early 2004 reports were leaked that the political supervisors at the Office of Justice Programs ordered Director Lawrence Greenfield to remove certain data in the findings of a study on traffic stops and racial profiling, specifically on the disparities in how racial groups were treated once they were stopped by the police. For the full story, read the New York Times article.
Profiling Report Leads to Demotion (by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times)
more

Comments

Robert Lee Watts Sr. 5 years ago
Justice for unauthorized use of my name and imaged I'm a retired Middleweight Fighter who has had his name and image used by a previously Boxing Promoter and Gym owner, I've file suit against these guys who also made a movies of my Boxing life and shipped it over seas without my authorization and no release of this film (This is retaliation because i filed a lawsuit to stop and recover money for selling my photos on boxing books and poster etc, these two individuals hold a lot of power because they been around for a while My attorney held on to this case for four years and everything came to a stop, I'm not sure why but I don't think he had the resource to handle these guys My Movies/Film was released May 2015 from the U.S and is begin shown all over Europe and UK Can You help me? I need Justice.
Jerry (nmn) Adams 10 years ago
I was a 30 year federal employee at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. My supervisor disability discriminated against me and broke the federal law of discrimination when he made me take an illegal medical exam which made my job intolerable. I was forced to resign. I have been trying to get my job back as a senior leader of quality assurance inspectors on the submarines that operate out of Norfolk, Virginia. Can you help me?

Leave a comment

Founded: 1984
Annual Budget: $2.2 billion (FY 2010)
Employees: 702
Official Website: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/
Office of Justice Programs
Mason, Karol
Previous Assistant Attorney General

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), an agency in the Department of Justice that provides economic, technological, and research assistance to state and local governments, law enforcement, and criminal justice agencies, is set for new leadership. President Barack Obama on February 13, 2013, nominated attorney Karol Mason to run OJP, which administers the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. If confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mason will succeed Laurie Robinson, who had served since November 2009.

 

Born in Amityville, New York, on August 20, 1957, Karol Virginia Mason was one of four children born to Dennis Edward Mason, a public health administrator who worked for New York City’s Health and Hospital Corporation, and Hattie Vertelle (née Vincent) Mason. Karol Mason earned an A.B. in Mathematics in 1979 at the University of North Carolina. She earned a J.D. at the University of Michigan Law School in 1982, where she was notes editor for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. From 1982 to 1983, she served as a judicial law clerk for Judge John F. Grady of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

 

Admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1983, Mason practiced law in Atlanta at the law firm of Alston & Bird from 1983 to 2009, becoming the firm’s first black woman partner in 1990. At Alston, Mason concentrated on public and project finance, chaired the firm’s public finance group, and served on its management committee.

 

Mason, who worked on President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign as a member of its national finance committee and raised funds in Georgia, left private practice to serve as a deputy associate attorney general from April 2009 to February 2012, after which she returned to Alston. In addition to her other specialties, she provided “guidance in government investigations.”

 

Mason was a member of the board of trustees at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2001 to 2009, serving as vice-chair, as chair of the Audit and Finance Committee and as a member of the Endowment and Investment Committees. She is currently a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.

 

A lifelong Democrat, since 1994 Mason has donated $32,072 to Democratic candidates and causes, including $4,530 to Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and $5,000 to his 2012 run; $1,000 to John Kerry’s presidential effort in 2004; $1,220 to the Democratic National Committee; $1,000 to Sen. Max Cleland (D-Georgia) in 2003; and $2,000 to Erskine Bowles’ unsuccessful runs for Senate from North Carolina in 2002 and 2004. She has also donated $1,000 to Republicans over the years: $500 to Elizabeth Dole in 2003 (just months after she defeated Bowles) and $500 to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) in 2004.

-Matt Bewig

 

Biography

more
Robinson, Laurie
Former Assistant Attorney General

 

A returnee from the Clinton administration, Laurie (Laurel) O. Robinson rejoined the U.S. Department of Justice in November 2009 as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which oversees numerous programs relating to local law enforcement and commands an annual budget of more than $2 billion. Only two Senators attended her confirmation hearing in October.
 
Born in 1946, Robinson grew up in Washington, DC, with a lobbyist father. She graduated in 1968, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Brown University.
 
Robinson began her professional career as a journalist, spending three years reporting and editing for the Community News Service.
 
In July 1972, she joined the American Bar Association as assistant staff director for the criminal justice division. After working as deputy for seven years, she was promoted to director of the criminal justice division, and continued in that role for 14 years. During this time she founded the ABA’s Juvenile Justice Center. In 1975, she also co-founded the national Association of Women in Criminal Justice.
 
From August 1993 to February 2000, Robinson served as assistant attorney general in OJP during the Clinton era. In 1998, she established OJP’s Office of Domestic Preparedness to help state and local governments prepare for possible terrorist attacks.
 
After leaving the administration, she served from 2001-2009 as a distinguished senior scholar in the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerry Lee Center of Criminology and as executive director of its Forum on Crime and Justice. During this period, beginning in 2004, she also served as director of the Master of Science Program in Penn’s Department of Criminology. From 2004-2008 she taught a post-graduate course in “Criminology in Practice.”
 
At the beginning of 2003, she worked for a few months as president of CSR Inc., a consultancy firm dealing with criminal justice and other issues. Over the next five years, in addition to her academic responsibilities, she was employed as a consultant for the Justice Management Institute, The Council of State Governments, Abt Associates and The Pew Charitable Trusts.
 
One week after President Obama’s inauguration, Robinson returned to Washington, DC to serve as acting assistant attorney general and principal deputy assistant attorney general of OJP, positions she held until her nomination to take over the leadership of the office.
 
Robinson has served as a board member of numerous organizations, including member and chair for the board of trustees of the Vera Institute of Justice (2001-2009), as a member of the board of directors of The Constitution Project (2000-2009), the National Center for Victims of Crimes (2000-2009) and the Police Foundation (2002-2009), and the advisory board for the George Mason University Administration of Justice Program (2000-2009).
 
A Democrat, Robinson served as a volunteer member of the criminal justice committee of the presidential campaigns of Michael Dukakis in 1988, Bill Clinton in 1992, John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008.
 
Robinson’s husband, Sheldon Krantz, is a partner in the law firm of DLA Piper. She has one son, Ted Baab.
 
Laurie O. Robinson Assistant Attorney General (U.S. Department of Justice)
Q&A with Laurie Robinson (Main Justice)
more

Table of Contents
Bookmark and Share
Overview:

The Office of Justice Programs is the main administrative body under which many programs and initiatives focusing on crime prevention are placed. They provide economical, technological, and research assistance to state and local governments, law enforcement programs, and criminal justice agencies.

 
more
History:

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) came into being in 1984. Its first predecessor was the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance which existed from 1965-1968. It was followed by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) which was established by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. It administered federal funding to state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as funded educational programs, research, state planning agencies, and local crime initiatives. At the time, LEAA included the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, which had its functions absorbed by the National Institute of Justice with the passage of the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979. The Justice System Improvement Act of 1979 also amended the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and led to the creation of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In 1982 the Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics took the place of LEAA and was abolished in 1984 with the start of the Office of Justice Programs.

more
What it Does:

The OJP oversees thirteen bureaus and offices, as well as 21 initiatives that focus on many program areas including corrections, courts, juvenile justice, law enforcement, and victims of crime.

 
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), under the leadership of director Domingo S. Herraiz, provides leadership and assistance to local criminal justice programs hoping to prevent crime, violence and drug abuse through coordination and cooperation with the local, state, and federal government. The Bureau administers many programs, including the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, which has almost 12,000 participating jurisdictions since 1999 that have bought an estimated 450,000 vests with government funds equaling $173 million. The BJA also recently put out a Public Service Announcement (PSA) in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council about preventing “cyberbullying” and geared toward early-teen boys. To see the PSA, please click here.
 
 The Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) also works with local communities to design strategies to hinder crime, promote economic growth, and enhance the quality of life in the neighborhoods. The CCDO manages programs such as the Weed and Seed Initiative that is designed to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, gang activity and drug abuse in high-crime neighborhoods throughout the country. The strategy involves local law enforcement who try to “weed-out” the violent criminals and drug abusers as well as community-based organizations who plant human growth “seeds” such as prevention, intervention, treatment and restoration programs. The CCDO also has several partnerships including one with the Internal Revenue Service to promote asset development for low-income individuals and families
 
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), under Administrator J. Robert Flores, is another program that assists local communities in preventing juvenile misbehavior and victimization; this program focuses on the policies of the juvenile justice systems, how to hold offenders accountable and protect the youth themselves. The OJJDP’s Gang Reduction Program is part of the Department of Justice’s Anti-Gang Initiative that works to incorporate research-based interventions to address the wide-range of factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang violence. They have developed a Strategic Planning Tool to help assess a community’s gang problem and strategies to deal with it. The Disproportionate Minority Contact Initiative tries to address the fact that there is an uneven number of minority youth who come in contact with the juvenile justice system. Many organizations help to provide training and technical assistance to reduce minority contact; the Building Blocks for Youth initiative works to protect minority youth in the justice system and promote rational and effective policies. 
 
Another major bureau is the National Institute of Justice, which is the research, development, and evaluation wing of the OJP. The institute works to provide the OJP and the government with the evidence-based knowledge and tools to fight criminal justice at the state and local levels; much of the research is conducted by academic institutions and non-profit research organizations who have received federal grants. The Institute has been working on research involving prison rape and sexually violent activity and helped implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 to address those issues. Their research journal also recently published an article on making eyewitness identifications more accurate and efficient.
 
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, whose Administrator is Jeffrey L. Sedgsick (currently the OJP’s Director as well), is another research entity of the OJP; it collects, analyzes, publishes, and distributes information on crime, criminal offenders, crime victims, and criminal justice operations. The Bureau also provides financial and technical support to local governments to improve their statistical capabilities. It produces many statistical tables, including one on State Juvenile Correctional Facility Deaths from 2002-2005 with information on the cause of death as well as by personal characteristics. Another study covers the statistics of Intimate Partner Violence in the United States; it looks at the characteristics of victims, offenders, their relationship and the crime’s circumstances. 
 
The Office for Victims of Crime, under Director John W. Gillis, distributes federal funds to victim assistance programs throughout the country; it also provides training programs for professionals and their agencies that specialize in helping victims. It was created in 1988 in an amendment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. Their Directory of Crime Victim Services allows individuals to locate non-emergency victim service agencies within the United States and abroad. They also offer a forum for victim service providers and professionals to connect and discuss ideas and practices regarding different how to help change lives. The Office offers a similar service for victims to ask questions about assistance.
 
The Office of Civil Rights oversees the distribution of financial assistance from the OJP and makes sure that they are not engaged in prohibited discrimination acts and are in compliance with all civil rights laws and regulations. They offer information regarding President Bush’s Executive Order No. 13279 on equal treatment for faith-based organizations. Individuals who feel they have been hurt and/or denied the benefits of the OJP and its programs due to exclusion and discrimination or unemployment may file a complaint through the Office of Civil Rights.
 
The Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) was formed by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The SMART Office, under Director Laura L. Rogers, oversees grant programs relating to sex offender registration and notification. Here they publish the National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification (the 2007 proposed guidelines) where they discuss what is considered a sex offense, the registration process, and the general principles of implementation. SMART also keeps an updated list of Sex Offender Registration Cases and their decisions covering issues of residency restrictions, retroactivity, and right to jury trial.
 
The Office of Justice Programs also sponsors multiple initiatives including AMBER Alert, which is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry to community search involvement. The Wireless AMBER Alerts Initiative is a voluntary partnership between the Department of Justice, the wireless industry and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that sends wireless message to subscribers to want to receive notifications. There website also offers statistics on recoveries and has a 2006 Analysis of AMBER Alert Cases (PDF).
 
DNA Technology is a program that promotes the use of DNA to solve crimes and identify missing persons through funding, training, and assistance. Their research covers many areas including Human DNA Quantitation and Non-Human DNA. In January 2008 the National Institute of Justice published a report on the Increasing Efficiency in Crime Laboratories to highlight the progress of DNA technology. The website also offers a database of case studies on the uses of forensic DNA.
 
The Reentry Program is another initiative that focuses on promoting the effective reintegration of offenders back into communities, assisting them in acquiring life-skills and becoming law-abiding citizens. The initiative also sponsors programs focused on the prerelease stages, drug rehabilitation, vocational training, and finding work. The program’s Reentry Resource Map provides information on resources at the local, state and federal levels in the field of reentry. They also offer an interactive map that highlights each state’s activities and resources in reenter y and who are the grantees of the OJP’s Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative. The Reentry Program also has several publications on the different aspects of reentry including female offenders, employment services, and inmate rehabilitation.
 
This initiative was created by the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998 and aims to provide law enforcement with a crucial resource. Approximately 12,000 jurisdictions participate in this initiative since 1999, purchasing over 450,000 vests with $173 million in federal funds. The 2007 Bulletproof Vest Recipients can be viewed here. The program is also linked to the Body Armor Safety Initiative in which the National Institute of Justice h as studied the effectiveness of protective wear technology and tested different products, putting out a new list in early 2008 of certain bullet-resistant body armor models that no longer comply with safety regulations.   
 
The Office of Justice Programs also offers a Medal of Valor award to public safety officers who risk their lives to protect citizens and communities. This is the highest national award for valor by a public safety officer. To see the winners of the Medal of Valor Award for 2001-2005 please visit the website archive.
 
The OJP also sponsors the National Sex Offender Registry, which is a public website where individuals can search the database by zip code, state, and name for offenders in their area. The SMART Office offers proposed guidelines for sex offender sentencing, monitoring, and tracking.
 
Project Safe Childhood is a program aimed at fighting technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children by Internet predators. The program also works to combat the distribution of child pornography. In 2006 they released a fact sheet regarding the need for the program and methods of implementation through the Internet Crimes Against Children program and local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. The website also shows press releases related to predator sentencing that is currently underway throughout the country.  
 
This program was developed for tribal communities and their governments to improve their justice systems and the safety of their communities. It also works to help the general public and Federal agencies learn more about Indian Country and tribal justice and safety issues. In 2007 the Department of Justice awarded more than $82.7 million in grants and assistance to strengthen their law enforcement and justice systems. In 2007 the Bureau of Justice Statistics published a fact sheet on the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program (PDF) as well as a fact sheet on the Tribal Courts Assistance Program (PDF).
 
The OJP oversees the Review Panel on Prison Rape that conducts annual hearings to collect evidence for the Bureau of Justice Statistics; they work to identify the characteristics of prison rape and those prisons and prison systems that have a high percentage and those that have been successful in eradicating sexual crimes. The Panel is sponsored by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 and the National Institute of Justice has issued research information regarding the statistics of prison rape.
 
Also known as NAMUS, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System was launched in 2007 and is the first national online database for missing persons records and unidentified bodies cases. Currently the Missing Persons Database and the Unidentified Decedents Reporting System are separate systems that are still under development and should be linked by 2009. The Unidentified Decedents Reporting System is searchable and available to medical examiners and coroners to upload their cases. 
 
The National Gang Center is a joint program between the OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; it acknowledges that the activities of street gangs transcend many ages and so works to develop strategies for prevention, intervention, and suppression. They have published information on Gang-Related Witness Intimidation (PDF) and its effect on the operation of the justice system, as well as ways to combat the problem. They also offer a publication called the National Gang Threat Assessment to educate the public on the danger gangs have on our communities.
 
OJP Bureaus and Offices
 
Program Areas
 
News Highlights and Featured Initiatives
 
more
Controversies:
In 2005 President Bush finally replaced the director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (under the OJP) after several years of charges of political interference by the group. In early 2004 reports were leaked that the political supervisors at the Office of Justice Programs ordered Director Lawrence Greenfield to remove certain data in the findings of a study on traffic stops and racial profiling, specifically on the disparities in how racial groups were treated once they were stopped by the police. For the full story, read the New York Times article.
Profiling Report Leads to Demotion (by Eric Lichtblau, New York Times)
more

Comments

Robert Lee Watts Sr. 5 years ago
Justice for unauthorized use of my name and imaged I'm a retired Middleweight Fighter who has had his name and image used by a previously Boxing Promoter and Gym owner, I've file suit against these guys who also made a movies of my Boxing life and shipped it over seas without my authorization and no release of this film (This is retaliation because i filed a lawsuit to stop and recover money for selling my photos on boxing books and poster etc, these two individuals hold a lot of power because they been around for a while My attorney held on to this case for four years and everything came to a stop, I'm not sure why but I don't think he had the resource to handle these guys My Movies/Film was released May 2015 from the U.S and is begin shown all over Europe and UK Can You help me? I need Justice.
Jerry (nmn) Adams 10 years ago
I was a 30 year federal employee at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. My supervisor disability discriminated against me and broke the federal law of discrimination when he made me take an illegal medical exam which made my job intolerable. I was forced to resign. I have been trying to get my job back as a senior leader of quality assurance inspectors on the submarines that operate out of Norfolk, Virginia. Can you help me?

Leave a comment

Founded: 1984
Annual Budget: $2.2 billion (FY 2010)
Employees: 702
Official Website: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/
Office of Justice Programs
Mason, Karol
Previous Assistant Attorney General

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), an agency in the Department of Justice that provides economic, technological, and research assistance to state and local governments, law enforcement, and criminal justice agencies, is set for new leadership. President Barack Obama on February 13, 2013, nominated attorney Karol Mason to run OJP, which administers the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. If confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mason will succeed Laurie Robinson, who had served since November 2009.

 

Born in Amityville, New York, on August 20, 1957, Karol Virginia Mason was one of four children born to Dennis Edward Mason, a public health administrator who worked for New York City’s Health and Hospital Corporation, and Hattie Vertelle (née Vincent) Mason. Karol Mason earned an A.B. in Mathematics in 1979 at the University of North Carolina. She earned a J.D. at the University of Michigan Law School in 1982, where she was notes editor for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. From 1982 to 1983, she served as a judicial law clerk for Judge John F. Grady of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

 

Admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1983, Mason practiced law in Atlanta at the law firm of Alston & Bird from 1983 to 2009, becoming the firm’s first black woman partner in 1990. At Alston, Mason concentrated on public and project finance, chaired the firm’s public finance group, and served on its management committee.

 

Mason, who worked on President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign as a member of its national finance committee and raised funds in Georgia, left private practice to serve as a deputy associate attorney general from April 2009 to February 2012, after which she returned to Alston. In addition to her other specialties, she provided “guidance in government investigations.”

 

Mason was a member of the board of trustees at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2001 to 2009, serving as vice-chair, as chair of the Audit and Finance Committee and as a member of the Endowment and Investment Committees. She is currently a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.

 

A lifelong Democrat, since 1994 Mason has donated $32,072 to Democratic candidates and causes, including $4,530 to Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and $5,000 to his 2012 run; $1,000 to John Kerry’s presidential effort in 2004; $1,220 to the Democratic National Committee; $1,000 to Sen. Max Cleland (D-Georgia) in 2003; and $2,000 to Erskine Bowles’ unsuccessful runs for Senate from North Carolina in 2002 and 2004. She has also donated $1,000 to Republicans over the years: $500 to Elizabeth Dole in 2003 (just months after she defeated Bowles) and $500 to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) in 2004.

-Matt Bewig

 

Biography

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Robinson, Laurie
Former Assistant Attorney General

 

A returnee from the Clinton administration, Laurie (Laurel) O. Robinson rejoined the U.S. Department of Justice in November 2009 as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which oversees numerous programs relating to local law enforcement and commands an annual budget of more than $2 billion. Only two Senators attended her confirmation hearing in October.
 
Born in 1946, Robinson grew up in Washington, DC, with a lobbyist father. She graduated in 1968, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Brown University.
 
Robinson began her professional career as a journalist, spending three years reporting and editing for the Community News Service.
 
In July 1972, she joined the American Bar Association as assistant staff director for the criminal justice division. After working as deputy for seven years, she was promoted to director of the criminal justice division, and continued in that role for 14 years. During this time she founded the ABA’s Juvenile Justice Center. In 1975, she also co-founded the national Association of Women in Criminal Justice.
 
From August 1993 to February 2000, Robinson served as assistant attorney general in OJP during the Clinton era. In 1998, she established OJP’s Office of Domestic Preparedness to help state and local governments prepare for possible terrorist attacks.
 
After leaving the administration, she served from 2001-2009 as a distinguished senior scholar in the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerry Lee Center of Criminology and as executive director of its Forum on Crime and Justice. During this period, beginning in 2004, she also served as director of the Master of Science Program in Penn’s Department of Criminology. From 2004-2008 she taught a post-graduate course in “Criminology in Practice.”
 
At the beginning of 2003, she worked for a few months as president of CSR Inc., a consultancy firm dealing with criminal justice and other issues. Over the next five years, in addition to her academic responsibilities, she was employed as a consultant for the Justice Management Institute, The Council of State Governments, Abt Associates and The Pew Charitable Trusts.
 
One week after President Obama’s inauguration, Robinson returned to Washington, DC to serve as acting assistant attorney general and principal deputy assistant attorney general of OJP, positions she held until her nomination to take over the leadership of the office.
 
Robinson has served as a board member of numerous organizations, including member and chair for the board of trustees of the Vera Institute of Justice (2001-2009), as a member of the board of directors of The Constitution Project (2000-2009), the National Center for Victims of Crimes (2000-2009) and the Police Foundation (2002-2009), and the advisory board for the George Mason University Administration of Justice Program (2000-2009).
 
A Democrat, Robinson served as a volunteer member of the criminal justice committee of the presidential campaigns of Michael Dukakis in 1988, Bill Clinton in 1992, John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008.
 
Robinson’s husband, Sheldon Krantz, is a partner in the law firm of DLA Piper. She has one son, Ted Baab.
 
Laurie O. Robinson Assistant Attorney General (U.S. Department of Justice)
Q&A with Laurie Robinson (Main Justice)
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