The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP),Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks applications for funding to the Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions (ROL/WCR) Site-based Program.
Donor Name: Bureau of Justice Assistance
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/17/2023
Size of the Grant: $600,000
Grant Duration: 24 months
Details:
This program furthers the DOJ’s mission to protect civil rights, address inequities, and advance criminal justice reform by supporting wrongful conviction review entities (WCR entities) that represent individuals with post-conviction claims of innocence to review individual cases and conviction integrity efforts.
OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community. The ROL/WCR Program supports efforts by wrongful conviction review entities (WCR entities) that represent individuals with post-conviction claims of innocence to review individual cases, and conviction integrity or review units (CIUs) to enhance criminal justice system integrity.
By advancing methodologies and policies that address the underlying causes of wrongful convictions, funding through this program is intended to help wrongful conviction entities, prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel, and courts identify actual perpetrators and develop training tools, policies, and procedures that can prevent wrongful convictions.
Solicitation Categories:
Category 1: Wrongful Conviction Review Entity-Led Strategy
- A strategy lead by a WCR entity that focuses on review of post-conviction claims of innocence. Specifically: Jurisdictions with new or established WCR entities are encouraged to apply.
- The applicant’s strategic plan should review, investigate, and adjudicate individual cases of post-conviction claims of innocence and appeals. Funds requested must support high quality and efficient post-conviction representation for defendants in post-conviction claims of innocence.
- Each applicant must describe how it will devote resources to coordinate the intake screening, investigation, and representation of post-conviction and appeal stages of innocence claims.
- The strategy should also include an assessment of the risk for wrongful conviction, among the reviewed cases. This assessment should support setting criteria and prioritizing for review those at highest risk of wrongful conviction.
- Program can support a partnership with a prosecutor’s office or CIU, documenting how applicants would coordinate relevant information sharing in post-conviction claims of innocence. If the application includes this partnership, applicants must include description of policies and procedures designed to avoid conflicts of interest and protect defendants’ rights, including plans for obtaining waivers of attorney/client privilege and informed consent.
Category 2: Prosecutor/Conviction Integrity Unit-Led Partnerships with Wrongful Conviction Review Entities
- A strategy led by state or local prosecutor offices or conviction integrity units (CIUs) that focuses on the prevention of wrongful convictions and the review of post-conviction claims of innocence, which may include partnerships with WCR entities. If resources are needed for the partnering WCR entity, the WCR entity should apply for funds under Category 1. Specifically:
- Jurisdictions with established CIUs, as well as those starting new units, are encouraged to apply.
- Applications must include proposed methods of assessing the risk of and preventing wrongful conviction through the collection and analysis of data on post-conviction claims of innocence and outcomes of appeals where error is found, as well as other relevant data such as ineffective assistance of counsel claims and review of cases, identifying areas for risk and consideration for review and action.
- The wrongful conviction assessment should look at any vulnerabilities in the court system and create a process to systematically identify and review cases that meet the criteria for risk of wrongful conviction.
- The applicant can support a partnership with a WCR entity applying under Category This partnership should have an attached Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Letter of Support (LOS) between the CIU and WCR entities documenting this partnership.
- CIU applicants must include a description of policies and procedures designed to avoid conflicts of interest or perceptions of partiality, particularly with regard to the involvement in reviews of prosecutors who originally tried the case or participated in the prosecution. Applicants must include description of policies and procedures for handling evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, with a strong preference for referral to an independent entity once discovered.
Goals
The goal of the ROL/WCR Program is to enhance the capacity of WCR entities and CIUs and their criminal justice and victim partners to better identify, assess, and manage post-conviction claims of innocence while translating lessons to prevent future error and bring justice for victims.
Objectives
An applicant should address the objectives that are relevant to their proposed program/project in the Goals, Objectives, Deliverables and Timeline web-based form.
- Strategically review cases post-conviction and appeal claims of innocence with a focus on those at greatest risk for error.
- Establish or enhance partnerships, where appropriate, to apply a strategic review of individual post-conviction claims of innocence and appeals, and, where relevant, to use this information to inform efforts to prevent wrongful convictions.
- Enhance the collection and analysis of data to support the prevention of error and enhance efforts to review and manage claims of innocence.
- Identify and apprehend, whenever possible, the actual perpetrator of a crime.
- Evaluate whether any systemic issues exist that may compromise the rule of law and recommend practices for mitigating them and preventing wrongful convictions.
Priority Areas
The Department of Justice is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.
Priority Considerations Supporting Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government
In support of this Executive Order, OJP will provide priority consideration when making award decisions to the following:
- Applications that propose project(s) that are designed to promote racial equity and the removal of barriers to access and opportunity for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality.
- To receive this consideration, the applicant must describe how the proposed project(s) will address potential racial inequities and contribute to greater access to services and opportunities for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality, and identify how the project design and implementation will specifically incorporate the input or participation of those communities and populations disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and the criminal justice system overall. Examples addressing this requirement include, but are not limited to, the following: budgeted project planning and/or implementation meetings with community stakeholders representing historically underserved and marginalized communities; outreach and/or public awareness campaigns specifically tailored to historically underserved and marginalized communities to encourage participation in the proposed project(s); budgeted incorporation of members representing historically underserved and marginalized communities in program evaluation, surveys, or other means of project feedback; and partnership with organizations that primarily serve communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality.
- Applicants that demonstrate that their capabilities and competencies for implementing their proposed project(s) are enhanced because they (or at least one proposed subrecipient that will receive at least 40% of the requested award funding, as demonstrated in the Budget WebBased Form) identify as a culturally specific organization.
- To receive this additional priority consideration, applicants must describe how being a culturally specific organization (or funding the culturally specific subrecipient organization(s)) will enhance their ability to implement the proposed project(s) and should also specify which populations are intended or expected to be served or to have their needs addressed under the proposed project (s).
- Culturally specific organizations are defined for the purposes of this solicitation as private nonprofit or tribal organizations whose primary purpose as a whole is to provide culturally specific services to racial and ethnic groups, including, among others, Black people, Hispanic and Latino people, Native American and other Indigenous peoples of North America (including Alaska Native, Eskimo, and Aleut), Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and/or Pacific Islanders.
Funding Information
- Anticipated Total Amount to be Awarded Under Solicitation: $8,650,000
- Anticipated Maximum Dollar Amount of Awards: $600,000
- Period of Performance: 24 months
Eligible Applicants
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- County governments
- City or township governments
- Private institutions of higher education
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- State governments
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
