With this funding opportunity, OJJDP seeks to implement youth defense system efforts that strengthen and improve the representation of youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
Donor Name: Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/05/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
Studies and numerous state assessments conducted by national organizations reveal that nearly every state falls short of its constitutional obligation to provide effective legal representation for children. Few children in this country currently receive access to a qualified youth defender. Examples of deficiencies in youth defense service delivery include:
- Lack of access to a qualified lawyer throughout the delinquency process, leading to poor case dispositions, costly incarceration, and collateral consequences (legal and regulatory sanctions and restrictions that limit or prohibit people with criminal records from accessing employment, occupational licensing, housing, voting, education, and other opportunities) that undermine youth success.
- Children being financially responsible for paying for their attorney because of indigence determinations and counsel-related fees, which led many to waive their right to a lawyer.
- Inexperienced, untrained, nonspecialized, and underresourced defenders with unmanageable caseloads representing children in juvenile court.
- Children navigating the system without a qualified attorney by their side, particularly during interrogation, where strong-arm tactics, including lying to a child, can lead to waivers of rights, and to confessions.
- Due to a lack of effective representation promoting alternative actions and what is best for the youth children spending extended periods in costly out-of-home placements when community-based services are more effective at addressing their underlying needs and providing them pathways to become successful, productive adults.
- Children passing on legitimate opportunities for appeal because they have no knowledge or understanding of appellate law, are unable to handle their own legal appeal process, and have no access to appellate counsel.
- Youth facing barriers, including youth of color, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth from economically distressed households and their families and communities are disparately impacted by the lack of representation.
Program Goals and Objectives
- Goal: The goal of this program is to implement youth defense system improvements that strengthen youth defense and support improved positive youth outcomes.
- Objective 1: Ensure youth have access to high-quality, specialized legal representation at all points in the juvenile justice system.
- Objective 2: Ensure that all individuals providing youth defense services in the juvenile justice system have access to the resources, tools, and information necessary to provide high-quality specialized services.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,600,000
- Award Ceiling: $400,000.
Grant Period
36 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- County governments
- State governments
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education
- Special district governments
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- City or township governments.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
