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TITLE II STATE FORMULA GRANTS

What it is:  Title II of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) provides grants to support state and local delinquency prevention and intervention programs, as well as efforts to strengthen the juvenile justice system.

How it works:  The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) administers grants to states to help them implement comprehensive state juvenile justice plans based on detailed studies of needs in their area. State Advisory Groups (SAGs) direct policy and help prepare and implement the Formula Grants program plan.

Why it's important:  Title II State Formula Grants support a broad range of effective, research-proven prevention and intervention programs. Many juvenile court judges are faced with very limited sentencing (or "disposition") options for a delinquency case (e.g., lock up or probation), and often neither is appropriate in that case. State Formula Grants can help states and communities to expand that range of options and ensure that the most effective approach can be used for each case. By strengthening the juvenile justice system and deterring youth from committing more serious crimes, Title II State Formula Grants make our neighborhoods safer and save lives. For example, Title II can support Multisystemic Therapy (MST), which works to address multiple factors - in peer, school, neighborhood and especially family environments - that are known to be related to delinquency. One MST study followed juvenile offenders until they were, on average, 29 years old. Individuals who had not received MST were 62 percent more likely to have been arrested for a violent offense.

Overwhelming unmet need:  Currently, MST programs are serving roughly 11,000 youth and their families per year. Assuming that there are approximately 500,000 (twice the number of 250,000 in placement at any time), this represents less than 3% of the serious offender population in the United States alone.

Fiscally responsible:  Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is less expensive than other mental health and juvenile justice services like residential treatment and incarceration, saving taxpayers $4.27 for every dollar invested. Similarly, MST saves the public an average of $18,000 per youth treated.

Funding level and reauthorization:  Title II received $79.2 million in Fiscal Year 2007 - a significant reduction from the $88.8 million that Congress appropriated in FY02. For FY08, the Administration's budget proposes to eliminate Title II funding and create a new "Child Safety and Juvenile Justice Block Grant", funded at a 25% lower level than the programs it replaces. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids recommends that Congress reject any such block grant and restore Title II funding to, at minimum, its previous level of almost $90 million. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids also recommends that Congress continue to strengthen the Title II Formula Grants program during this year's reauthorization process by directing federal funds toward proven-effective prevention and intervention approaches.

For more information, please contact Miriam Rollin at (202) 776-0027 ext. 143 or miriam@fightcrime.org