Advocating for Effective Criminal Justice Policy

 

Key Issues and Legislation

The NCJA advocates for effective criminal justice policy and funding for state, local, and tribal justice assistance programs. Because our members are engaged across all aspects of the criminal justice system, we engage in a wide range of policy issues in Washington, DC on our members’ behalf. The NCJA staff supports our members by providing up-to-the-minute information about pending legislation and the federal appropriations process and by communicating with federal officials on Capitol Hill and in the Administration about how federal policy affects the delivery of services to the field. Recognizing that little gets done in Washington, DC by acting alone, the NCJA works in coalition with dozens of other stakeholder organizations which share common interests and policy goals. Visit our Policy section to learn more about current legislation and key issues.

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Educating Congress and Tracking Spending 

In the Congressional Affairs section (available to NCJA members only), we provide a wealth of information about the congressional appropriations process, legislation NCJA is monitoring, a toolkit for engaging with your congressional delegations, template letters for you and your stakeholders to use, and examples of past NCJA and grantee letters. We hope these resources will be helpful to you as you educate members of Congress, other policymakers, and your stakeholder community about the impact of the federal justice assistance programs in your communities.

 

This section also contains our regularly-updated Justice Assistance Table, which tracks funding for the state and local justice assistance, homeland security, and substance abuse treatment grant programs, and the Status of Pending Legislation chart, which tracks bills moving through Congress that impact state, local and tribal criminal justice policy. Organized by topic, the chart includes appropriations bills and legislation on general justice assistance, victims issues, juvenile delinquency and gang prevention, law enforcement, courts, sentencing and prison reform, corrections and reentry, and homeland security.