Funding for state and local criminal justice programs are in jeopardy if Congress and the president do not come up with an agreement to reduce the federal deficit by Dec. 31, according to economists.
Congress passed the Budget Control Act in August 2011, which raised the debt ceiling and set caps on discretionary spending for fiscal years 2012 and 2013 at levels nearly $1 trillion lower than 2010. The bill also sought to motivate President Barack Obama and Congress to reach an agreement on overall federal spending and revenue generation.
Failure to agree on a comprehensive deficit reduction plan by the end of the year would raise all income tax rates and mandate across-the-board cuts on government spending, the combination of which some experts say would push the economy over the “fiscal cliff” and drive the nation into recession.
The Office of Management and Budget reports that funding of all domestic discretionary programs will be reduced in 2013. The justice assistance grant programs will be hit by an 8.2 percent reduction.
Furthermore, the law would cut discretionary spending each subsequent year until 2021. Negotiations are ongoing between congressional Republicans and the White House.
The potential federal funding cuts threaten to significantly undermine the implementation of the Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act, reports the Crime Report.
One of the central parts of the JJDPA law is the Jail Removal protection, which requires states to keep children under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court, out of adult jails or lockups, according to the Crime Report.
A total of $21 million would be cut from the Juvenile Justice Programs under the federal Department of Justice, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s report on sequestration. Other spending that has some effect on juvenile welfare, such as state grants from the federal Administration for Children and Families, are also in line for cuts of 8.2 percent.
One California program that would be affected is the Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which assists with undocumented felons. According to the California’s Governor’s Budget Summary for 2012-13, an estimated 10.8 percent of inmates in the state prison system in 2011-12 will be undocumented persons, costing approximately $936.4 million. The state, however, looks to receive only $65.8 million in federal funding for CAAP for 2011-12 and 2012-13 — only 7 percent of the costs of dealing with the population. CAAP may be in line for further cuts if an agreement does not stay the “fiscal cliff.”
State and local criminal justice organizations were surveyed by the Vera Institute of Justice to determine the impact of budget cuts that have already taken place.
Some federally funded programs have been eliminated; others have taken deep cuts, the report finds.
More than three-quarters of the 714 organizations responding to the survey reported grant funding has decreased since 2011. Nearly half (44 percent) reported a decrease of at least one-third in funding, according to Vera. More than half reported a cutback on average of 3.4 full-time employees.
Grant funding for the 2012 fiscal year had not yet been released at the time of the survey.
