The U.S. Department of Justice, SMART Office is offering this grant to enhance judicial knowledge and collaboration in sex offender management.

Courts play a vital role in collaborative sex offender management. Each of the estimated 728,000 registered sex offenders residing in communities nationwide has had contact with the court system for committing a sex offense and was sentenced. Whether a sentence involves incarceration or community supervision, there are assessment, treatment and monitoring considerations that must be taken into account at the time of sentencing. Judges must have a solid understanding of these tools and techniques as well as strategies that work in reducing recidivism to order effective sentencing measures.

In acknowledgment of the need to increase judicial knowledge of the dynamics associated with sex offenses as well as successful supervision strategies for sex offenders, the SMART Office is requesting applications under the FY 2011 CASOM TTA Program to support judicial training and technical assistance regarding multidisciplinary sex offender management.

Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables

The goals of this solicitation are: (1) to provide judicial education on sex offender management with a focus on sentencing, re-entry, and post-release monitoring. Training curriculum should focus on how to enhance sentencing through promoting multidisciplinary sentencing practices and educate judges on supervision conditions known to address risk of recidivism, and (2) to provide targeted technical assistance to jurisdictions on a multidisciplinary approach to sex offender management with special emphasis on court/probation/parole collaboration. This technical assistance will focus on the individual needs of the jurisdiction and should be targeted to jurisdictions that had judicial participation in the training mentioned above.

Applicants should leverage resources by using an existing judicial training curriculum to maximize the number of jurisdictions receiving training and technical assistance. It is expected that the curriculum proposed by the applicant will be updated under the grant to include training to meet the goals mentioned above and to obtain SMART Office approval. Applicants must demonstrate competency in the following: 1) expertise in sex offender management, particularly as it relates to judicial processing and multidisciplinary collaboration, 2) experience in providing training and technical assistance to a wide range of jurisdictions, agencies and disciplines, and (3) proficiency in the delivery of training at a regional and national level.

Activities and deliverables will include:

• In the first year of the grant, provide a minimum of three regional judicial training sessions to a total of 250-300 chief and/or administrative judges from a minimum of 40 states, including the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.
• Also in the first year of the grant, develop a technical assistance delivery plan detailing specific substantive technical assistance to be available to a minimum of five (5) jurisdictions.
• In years two and three of the grant, deliver jurisdiction-level multi-disciplinary training aimed at integrating the courts into the jurisdiction’s comprehensive approach to sex offender management to a minimum of 10 states, territories or local jurisdictions.
• Provide additional, limited technical assistance via phone, email and webinars, responsive to follow requests by judicial personnel who have attended a regional judicial training session provided through this grant.

Amount and Length of Awards

One award in the amount of $1.85 million will be made through a cooperative agreement for a period of 36 months. It is anticipated that any award that may be made under this solicitation should be awarded not later than September 30, 2011.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.