Unpacking the President's 2026 Budget

What the Proposal Signals for Safety and Justice

June 2025

On May 30, the White House published the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget request, after releasing a preview of the plan in early May.¹ The President’s Budget, submitted to Congress on an annual basis, is the White House’s proposed blueprint for federal government funding in the coming fiscal year.² The final federal appropriations bill enacted by Congress is typically the product of significant deliberations on the Hill, and may deviate substantially from the recommendations put forth by the administration. Nonetheless, the President’s Budget is a reflection of the White House’s goals and ideals, and provides valuable insights into an administration’s priorities across the executive branch.

The President’s FY 2026 Budget is the first in-depth look at the new administration’s vision for the public safety and justice grant funding administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The proposal offers a window into the administration’s objectives for next year’s grants, while also signaling what stakeholders can expect from forthcoming FY 2025 notices of funding opportunity from DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs.

Key Takeaways

The President’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget proposes an $850 million reduction in Justice Department grantmaking funds, a roughly 15% decrease from FY 2025 levels.
The President’s Budget would eliminate several core DOJ grant programs, including the Community Violence Intervention Prevention Initiative, Justice Reinvestment Initiative, and Body Worn Camera Partnership Program.
The White House proposes reduced funding for school safety grants, youth mentoring programs, assistance for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, and other safety and justice initiatives.
Funding for certain law enforcement grants, such as Project Safe Neighborhoods and the COPS Hiring Program, would increase under the proposal.
The budget proposes a reorganization of DOJ’s grantmaking offices and includes amendments to federal statute that would facilitate the consolidation of the Office on Violence Against Women, the COPS Office, and the Office of Tribal Justice into the Office of Justice Programs.
DOJ has substantial flexibility to shape the implementation of most grant programs. Thus FY 2025 and FY 2026 grants may look substantially different from prior years, even in cases where funding levels remain similar.
New conditions for DOJ grants, including requirements related to federal immigration enforcement, could significantly reshape which jurisdictions receive federal assistance.

Understanding the President's Budget

The President’s Budget request generally includes proposed legislative language for an appropriations bill, paired with additional contextual information and detailed comparisons to funding levels in recent years. This year’s budget compares estimated spending for each line item under the FY 2026 proposal to estimated spending in FY 2025 and actual spending in FY 2024.

Proposal for FY 2026 Grants

The President’s FY 2026 Budget proposes to maintain FY 2025 funding levels for many OJP grant programs, including the Bulletproof Vests Partnership Program ($30 million), the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program ($189 million), Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act Program ($3 million), Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program ($40 million), Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Title II formula grants ($65 million), Prescription Drug Monitoring Program ($35 million), Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Program ($35 million), Sexual Assault Kit Initiative ($51.5 million), Second Chance Act Program ($117 million), treatment court grants ($89 million), and more.³

The budget also proposes to provide $1.9 billion from the Crime Victims Fund to support services and compensation for survivors of crime.⁴ This is the same amount made available in FY 2025, although the number provided by Congress will depend on the balance available in the Crime Victims Fund when the final appropriations bill is passed.⁵

The FY 2026 Budget proposes eliminating or decreasing investments in other programs, yielding a roughly $570 million reduction in OJP’s appropriations compared to FY 2025 funding levels. This includes a $485.2 million cut to state and local law enforcement assistance, a $74.5 million drop in juvenile justice programs, and a $10 million reduction in OJP’s research, evaluation, and statistical activities.⁶

The budget also recommends consolidating the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), and DOJ’s Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ) into OJP. Because OVW and OTJ are established by federal law, the budget proposal includes amendments to the relevant statutes to facilitate this reorganization.⁷ In terms of funding levels, the budget would reduce appropriations for OVW and the COPS Office by $207.5 million and $72.8 million, respectively.⁸ Taken together, the budget would reduce DOJ grantmaking funds by around $850 million,⁹ from roughly $5.69 billion in FY 2025 to $4.84 billion in FY 2026, about a 15% decrease.¹⁰

Proposed Program Eliminations

The President’s FY 2026 Budget proposal defunds several DOJ grant programs¹¹ that support a wide range of public safety and justice activities at the state, local, and tribal levels, including:

Body-Worn Cameras. The FY 2026 Budget eliminates the Body-Worn Camera Partnership Program (-$32 million), a funding opportunity established in 2015 to help law enforcement agencies purchase and deploy body-worn camera technology.¹² In addition to supporting the purchase of camera systems and other equipment, the program helps agencies adopt policies and protocols for managing digital evidence, protecting privacy, delivering relevant training to officers, and other key implementation issues.¹³ According to a 2021 report, the Body-Worn Camera Partnership Program had delivered funding to more than 400 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies across the country.¹⁴
Community Violence Intervention. The President’s Budget proposal zeroes out the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (-$50 million), the leading source of federal support for community violence intervention strategies that de-escalate conflicts and deliver wraparound supports to the highest risk individuals. Separately, the initiative is slated to receive $50 million in funding authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which included a total of $250 million for the initiative from FY 2022 through FY 2026.¹⁵ Using BSCA funding, coupled with annual appropriations, OJP has invested in more than 100 community violence intervention programs in 35 states since 2022.¹⁶
Family-Based Alternative Justice. The FY 2026 Budget proposes eliminating a grant program (-$3.5 million) that supports alternatives to incarceration for parents and primary caregivers, with a focus on mitigating the harmful effects on children. To date, the Family-Based Alternative Justice initiative has funded efforts in nine states to help promote family preservation and reunification, keep children out of foster care, and improve parenting skills and outcomes for youth.¹⁷
Hate Crimes. The FY 2026 Budget defunds several programs that address hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents and also serve victims of these offenses. Eliminated line items include the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program (-$17 million), a grant to help law enforcement prevent, investigate, and prosecute hate crimes; the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act program (-$9 million), which funds state-run hotlines for victims of hate crimes; and the Community-based Approaches to Prevent and Address Hate Crime initiative (-$9 million), which supports comprehensive prevention and response efforts led by community groups and civil rights organizations.¹⁸
Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). The President’s Budget eliminates the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (-$32 million), a program first funded by Congress in 2010 to help states boost efficiencies within their justice systems. Through JRI, state leaders work with national experts to analyze the drivers of correctional spending and populations, achieve bipartisan consensus on reforms, and reinvest costs savings into public safety and justice system improvements. Forty-four states have participated in JRI, recouping more than $3.2 billion in justice system costs and achieving measurable reductions in crime and recidivism.¹⁹
State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. The FY 2026 Budget removes funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (-$234 million), a payment program that reimburses states and localities for certain costs associated with incarcerating undocumented immigrants.²⁰ The President’s Budget has proposed eliminating the program since FY 2014, but Congress has retained funding for it.²¹

Other eliminated OJP line items include carveout funding for educational programs that prepare child protection professionals to recognize and address the impact of violence on children (-$1 million), trainings that equip law enforcement officers to de-escalate behavioral health crises (-$10 million), and technical assistance designed to uphold the integrity of capital case litigation (-$12 million).

The budget also defunded an assortment of programs from other DOJ grantmaking offices, such as the COPS Office’s Anti-Methamphetamine Program (-$16 million) and Anti-Heroin Task Forces Program (-$35 million). OVW programs were also eliminated including the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Hiring and Training Program (-$10 million), Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations (-$5 million), Local Law Enforcement Grants for Enforcement of Cybercrimes (-$5.5 million), and the Culturally Specific Services Program (-$11 million).

Proposed Funding Reductions

The FY 2026 Budget includes large reductions in funding for some OJP grant programs, particularly those focused on children and young adults. It proposes a 59% reduction (-$61 million) in funding for youth mentoring programs, a 25% reduction (-$13.5 million) in funding for a range of delinquency prevention services,²² and a 36% reduction (-$5 million) in funding for court-appointed advocates for children victimized by abuse and neglect. Formula funding under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, the leading source of federal funding to states and localities, would be reduced by 9% (-$37 million).²³

The FY 2026 Budget also proposes major cuts to forensic science programs. These include a 71% reduction (-$24 million) in funding for grants to help state and local governments eliminate the backlog of forensic evidence analysis and improve the quality of forensic laboratories and medical examiner/coroner services, which can be crucial to the outcome of criminal cases.

Other proposed funding cuts would affect programs from the COPS Office and OVW. For example, the budget proposes to reduce funding for the COPS Office’s School Violence Prevention Program by one-third (-$18 million) and for OVW’s STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program by one quarter (-$65 million). The White House’s proposal also includes recommended cuts to OVW funding for sexual assault victim assistance (-$18.5 million), efforts to prevent and address elder abuse (-$3 million) and violence against individuals with disabilities (-$6 million), and legal assistance (-$15 million) and transitional housing (-$10 million) for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

Proposed Funding Increases

Although the White House proposes to fund most OJP programs at FY 2025 levels or below, the President’s Budget more than doubles appropriations for Project Safe Neighborhoods. The budget proposes a $40 million investment in the program, which historically has brought together state, local, and federal partners to tackle violent crime concerns but has recently been reoriented to focus on immigration enforcement.²⁴

The proposal also increases funding by 31% ($48.7 million) for the COPS Hiring Program, a source of funding for law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire additional career officers.²⁵

Funding and Set-Asides for Research, Training & Technical Assistance, and Tribal Justice

The FY 2026 Budget includes provisions, known as set-asides, that permit OJP to use a small percentage of discretionary grant dollars for other specific functions. For example, the President’s Budget retains a longstanding set-aside used to fund OJP’s training and technical assistance (TTA) initiatives. Despite the recent terminations of existing TTA grants, the FY 2026 Budget includes a provision that allows OJP to dedicate 2% of discretionary funding to support TTA for criminal justice and public safety practitioners.²⁶

The budget also maintains a set-aside for OJP’s research, evaluation, and statistical activities. Under the president’s proposal, OJP could use up to 2.5% of discretionary funding to support such efforts by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). This set-aside has typically been capped at 2%, although presidents of both parties have recommended increasing the percentage to 2.5 or 3%.²⁷ At the same time, however, the budget proposes cutting direct appropriations to NIJ and BJS by a combined $10 million.²⁸

Likewise, the President’s Budget request eliminates dedicated funding for tribal assistance, a budget line item valued at $50 million in FY 2025 that helps support grants for tribes to address a wide range of public safety and justice issues. However, the budget proposal introduces a new set-aside that would allow the attorney general to use up to 7% of funding for state and local law enforcement and juvenile justice programs to support tribes.

A Preview of FY 2025 Funding

In addition to proposing FY 2026 funding levels for OJP grant programs, the President’s Budget includes estimated funding obligations for each program in FY 2025. For most OJP programs, the White House estimates are aligned with the FY 2025 appropriation levels enacted by Congress, less a small percentage of dollars used to cover OJP’s personnel and operational expenses and other funding set-asides. However, inconsistencies between the final enacted appropriations bill and the White House’s estimated spending raise questions about whether DOJ intends to make awards under several congressionally funded grant programs in FY 2025.

Specifically, the FY 2026 Budget estimates that no money will be obligated in FY 2025 under the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act program, the Community-based Approaches to Prevent and Address Hate Crime initiative, or the Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations and Prosecution Program, all of which received appropriations from Congress in FY 2025.

Estimates from the White House also suggest that no funding will be spent on grants to prevent economic, high-tech, white collar, and internet crimes, despite a congressional appropriation of $12 million for such initiatives in FY 2025.

Nonetheless, it is not unheard of for a President’s Budget to include projections that ultimately do not match actual spending levels. In addition, because the funds were appropriated for specific purposes, it is unclear whether DOJ would be able to eliminate spending on these congressionally funded programs.

Analysis and Implications

The FY 2026 Budget proposes to eliminate core OJP grants, including the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative and the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, a program with longstanding bipartisan support.²⁹ Yet the budget retains the majority of OJP’s programs, many of which are funded at levels comparable to recent fiscal years.

Because DOJ has substantial flexibility to shape the implementation of most grant programs, notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) for FY 2025 and FY 2026 may look substantially different from prior years, even in cases where funding levels remain similar. The new administration has not yet released any NOFOs from OJP; once posted, these notices will shed light on the scope and nature of planned changes to grant programs.

In the meantime, DOJ has already started to reshape longstanding OJP initiatives, including Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). In March 2025, the administration announced plans to integrate PSN into Operation Take Back America, a newly established DOJ initiative focused on enforcing the president and attorney general’s immigration agenda.³⁰ In a public memo to DOJ employees, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche noted that PSN resources will be used to implement the operation’s core policy priorities, including “responding and investigating instances of obstruction in sanctuary jurisdictions.”³¹

Funding Conditions and Requirements

Although OJP has not released any NOFOs since the presidential transition, DOJ’s other grantmaking components, OVW and the COPS Office, have posted NOFOs that offer insights into the department’s funding priorities and conditions. For example, OVW’s recent funding announcements note that funds may not be used for “inculcating or promoting gender ideology,” “promoting or facilitating discriminatory programs or ideology, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ programs,” “promoting or facilitating the violation of federal immigration law,” or “activities that frame domestic violence or sexual assault as systemic social justice issues,” among other restrictions.³² These NOFOs also include a blanket prohibition on funding for “any activity or program that unlawfully violates an Executive Order.”³³

FY 2025 NOFOs from the COPS Office include similar restrictions on the use of federal dollars to “promote gender ideology” and “advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.”³⁴ In addition, the COPS Office prohibits funding or indirect support for educational institutions that require students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to attend in-person programming, and for state and local governments and law enforcement agencies that “have failed to protect public monuments, memorials, and statues from destruction or vandalism.”³⁵ Recent NOFOs state that the COPS Office may place a hold on funding or take other remedial actions against grantees found in violation of these funding restrictions.³⁶

The COPS Office NOFOs also require applicants to certify compliance with 8 U.S.C. § 1373, the federal provision that prohibits state and local governments from adopting restrictions on sharing information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding individuals’ citizenship or immigration status.³⁷ Some OVW NOFOs state that award recipients may be required to certify compliance with all federal laws, including 8 U.S.C. § 1373, while also providing priority consideration for state and local government applicants that comply with these immigration provisions.³⁸ Such requirements align with a February 2025 memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, stating that sanctuary jurisdictions “should not receive access to federal grants administered by the Department of Justice.”³⁹

Conditioning the receipt of grants on immigration-related requirements would significantly reshape which jurisdictions receive federal assistance. The first Trump administration sought to impose similar conditions on a smaller subset of DOJ grants, kicking off a protracted legal battle that ended in 2021 when the Biden administration took office, dropped the case, and removed immigration-related funding restrictions.⁴⁰

OJP has also recently updated the list of standard grant requirements that apply to most, if not all, of its awards. Standard grant conditions generally include restrictions on the use of federal funds for lobbying or religious activities, requirements to comply with federal financial management and data reporting procedures, and other legal obligations for recipients. This year, OJP’s standard grant conditions will also require recipients to certify that they do “not operate any programs (including any such programs having components relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion) that violate any applicable Federal civil rights or nondiscrimination laws.”⁴¹

Terminated Grants and Rescissions

After terminating 373 OJP grants in April 2025, DOJ indicated that the remaining balances of these awards would be recouped and invested in law enforcement operations and other administration priorities.⁴² Although the total remaining grant balance was not made public, the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) estimates that DOJ retracted roughly $500 million in remaining funds from terminated OJP grants. The information available in the President’s Budget does not readily indicate how OJP intends to deploy this funding in future fiscal years.

Generally, OJP is able to carry forward unspent dollars from prior fiscal years to fund future grants. Appropriations bills, however, may revoke unused dollars from federal agencies through a process known as rescission. In FY 2026, the President’s Budget would permanently cancel $250 million in unobligated OJP funding—double the amount of funding rescinded by the FY 2025 enacted budget.⁴³ The large amount of proposed rescissions could impact DOJ’s stated plans to regrant terminated award funds in support of administration priorities, potentially cancelling a portion of these dollars instead.

Earmarks and Operations

In 2021, federal lawmakers ended a 10-year ban on congressionally directed spending, colloquially known as “earmarks.”⁴⁴ From FY 2022 through FY 2024, OJP administered $764 million in earmarks that funded a wide range of safety and justice projects, from supporting crime victim services and youth violence prevention programs to upgrading law enforcement equipment and crime lab technology.⁴⁵ The FY 2025 Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act did not include funding for planned earmark projects, but members of Congress are once again accepting requests for the FY 2026 appropriations cycle.⁴⁶

The funding level and programmatic focus of FY 2026 earmarks remain to be seen. But like all grants, earmarks require oversight and administration by federal grant managers. From an operational perspective, significant FY 2026 earmark spending may present challenges for the federal workforce, which has shrunk considerably in recent months and may lack capacity to absorb large volumes of new awards. For example, the FY 2026 budget proposal includes a 20% reduction in OJP’s authorized staffing levels, as compared to FY 2024.47

Conclusion

The first budget proposal of the new administration offers an early look at the president’s vision for Justice Department investments at the state and local levels. It remains unclear how closely the final enacted appropriations bill will resemble the White House budget request. As FY 2025 NOFOs begin to roll out and FY 2026 appropriations take shape on the Hill, CCJ’s Justice in Perspective series will share continued insights on the evolving landscape of federal funding for safety and justice programs.

Acknowledgements

Amy L. Solomon and Betsy Pearl co-authored this report, with support from other members of the Council on Criminal Justice team.

Thank you to Brian Edsall, Erik Opsal, Jenifer Warren, and Rachel Yen for their support in the design and communications efforts for this report.

About Justice in Perspective

Justice in Perspective is a nonpartisan series examining the complexities of federal justice funding, policy, research, and operations. It is led by CCJ Senior Fellow Amy L. Solomon, former Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs.

Suggested Citation

Solomon, A., & Pearl, B. (2025). Unpacking the President’s 2026 Budget: What the Proposal Signals for Safety and Justice. Council on Criminal Justice. https://counciloncj.org/unpacking-the-presidents-2026-budget/

Endnotes

¹ Office of Management and Budget. (2025). Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget: Appendix. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2026-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2026-APP.pdf. Vought, R. T. (2025). Letter from Russell T. Vought to the Honorable Susan Collins regarding President Trump’s recommendations on discretionary funding levels for fiscal year 2026. Office of Management and Budget. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Fiscal-Year-2026-Discretionary-Budget-Request.pdf

² U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee. (n.d.).Budget Framework. https://budget.house.gov/about/budget-framework/

³In FY 2025, Congress enacted a full-year continuing resolution that carries over funding levels from FY 2024, unless otherwise noted. For FY 2025 appropriations, see the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025. Pub. L. 119-4 (2025). https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ4/PLAW-119publ4.pdf. For FY 2024 appropriations, see Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. Pub. L. 118—42 (2024). https://www.congress.gov/118/plaws/publ42/PLAW-118publ42.pdf. For FY 2026 proposed funding levels, see Office of Management and Budget. (2025). Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget: Appendix. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2026-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2026-APP.pdf.

⁴The Crime Victims Fund, established in 1984, is financed by federal criminal fines and penalties and provides funding for state victim compensation and assistance programs, Since FY 2000, Congress has imposed an annual limit on the amount of CVF funds available for distribution, known as the obligations cap. See Sacco, L.N. (2024). The Crime Victims Fund (CVF): Federal Support for Victims of Crime. Congressional Research Service. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R42672

⁵ For the FY 2025 CVF obligations cap, see Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025. Pub. L. 119-4 (2025). https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ4/PLAW-119publ4.pdf

⁶FY 2026 estimates do not include a proposed transfer of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program ($196 million) from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President to the Office of Justice Programs. When accounting for this proposed funding transfer, the FY 2026 proposed OJP budget is $373,733,000 below FY 2025 enacted levels. The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 included $65,000,000 for research evaluation, and statistics; $2,000,033,000 for state and local law enforcement assistance; and $375,000,000 for juvenile justice programs. The President’s FY 2026 Budget request includes $55,000,000 for research evaluation, and statistics; $1,514,800,000 for state and local law enforcement assistance; and $300,500,000 for juvenile justice programs.

⁷ See Section 221, General Provisions – Department of Justice in Office of Management and Budget. (2025). Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget: Appendix. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2026-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2026-APP.pdf.

⁸The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 included $417,168,839 for the COPS Office and $713,000,000 for OVW, including $80,000,000 from the Crime Victims Fund. The President’s FY 2026 Budget request includes $344,400,000 for the COPS Office and $505,500,000 for OVW.

⁹ The President’s FY2026 Skinny Budget previewed plans to reduce funding for DOJ grant programs by $1.019 billion; however, the full budget request did not enumerate the cuts that would contribute to a funding reduction of that level. See Vought, R. T. (2025). Letter from Russell T. Vought to the Honorable Susan Collins regarding President Trump’s recommendations on discretionary funding levels for fiscal year 2026. Office of Management and Budget. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Fiscal-Year-2026-Discretionary-Budget-Request.pdf

¹⁰ FY 2025 funding levels include $2,000,033,000 for state and local law enforcement assistance; $65,000,000 for research evaluation, and statistics; $375,000,000 for juvenile justice programs; $417,168,839 for the COPS Office; $713,000,000 for OVW; $208,800,000 for Public Safety Officers’ Benefits; $1,900,000,000 under the Crime Victims Fund; and $7,000,000 under the Domestic Victims of Trafficking Fund. Proposed FY 2026 funding levels include $1,514,800,000 for state and local law enforcement assistance; $55,000,000 for research evaluation, and statistics; $300,500,000 for juvenile justice programs; $344,400,000 for the COPS Office; $505,500,000 for OVW; $208,800,000 for Public Safety Officers’ Benefits; $1,900,000,000 under the Crime Victims Fund; and $7,000,000 under the Domestic Victims of Trafficking Fund. FY 2026 estimates do not include a proposed transfer of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program ($196 million) from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President to the Office of Justice Programs.

¹¹ Funding reduction amounts in this section are based on the appropriations levels enacted by the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025.

¹² U.S. Department of Justice. (2015, May 1). Justice Department Announces $20 Million in Funding to Support Body-Worn Camera Pilot Program [Press release]. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-20-million-funding-support-body-worn-camera-pilot-program

¹³ Body-Worn Camera Partnership Program. (2023, March 9). U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance. https://bja.ojp.gov/program/bwc-partnership-program/overview

¹⁴ Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General. (2021). Audit of the Department of Justice Policy on Body Worn Cameras. https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/21-085.pdf

¹⁵ Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, Pub. L. 117—159. https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ159/PLAW-117publ159.pdf

¹⁶ U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. (2024, September 30). Readout of OJP and White House Community Violence Intervention Announcements [Press release]. Office of Justice Programs. https://www.ojp.gov/archives/pressreleases/2024/readout-ojp-and-white-house-community-violence-intervention-announcements

¹⁷For program information, see U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2024, March 14). OJJDP FY24 Family-Based Alternative Justice Program. https://web.archive.org/web/20250102103408/https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/o-ojjdp-2024-172037. For award amounts, see U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. OJP awards since FY2021 by solicitation [Data set]. https://charts.ojp.usdoj.gov/t/public/views/OJPAwardsDashboardallFiscalYears/AwardsBySolicitations?%3Aembed=y&%3Aiid=2&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y.

¹⁸See U.S. Department of Justice. (2024, September 25). Justice Department awards nearly $30M to combat the rise of hate and bias crimes [Press release]. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-awards-nearly-30m-combat-rise-hate-and-bias-crimes. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. (2022). Office of Justice Programs fact sheet: Research, programs, and initiatives that address hate crimes. https://www.justice.gov/file/1220336-0/dl?inline=

¹⁹ CSG Justice Center. (2025). Justice Reinvestment Initiative. https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/JRI_Fact_Sheet_022525_FINAL.pdf

²⁰Kolker, A. (2025). State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP): Data Brief (No. R48441). Congressional Research Service. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48441

²¹ For Presidents’ Budget requests, see Government Publishing Office. (n.d.). Budget of the United States government. GovInfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/budget

²² The delinquency prevention line item includes funding for grant programs to prevent the trafficking of girls, to reduce delinquency among tribal youth, to reduce risk for girls in the juvenile justice system, to support children exposed to violence, and to serve youth affected by opioids, stimulants, and substance use disorders. See U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime. (n.d.). Human trafficking grants: OJP funding: Preventing Trafficking of Girls. https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/human-trafficking/grants-funding#ojp-funding-preventing-trafficking-of-girls. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (n.d.). Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation fact sheet (NCJ 252959). https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh176/files/media/document/ctas-a9-tribal-youth-program.pdf. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (n.d.). Children exposed to violence. https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/programs/children-exposed-violence. Opioid Affected Youth Initiative. (n.d.). https://www.oayi.org/

²³ The JAG program appropriations line item includes carveouts for competitive grant programs, as directed by Congress in annual appropriations bills. The amount of funding available for JAG formula grants is calculated by subtracting carveouts from the topline appropriations for the JAG program. The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 appropriated $499,033,000 for the JAG program and carried forward $103,000,000 in carve-outs from FY 2024, leaving $395,533,000 for JAG formula grants. The FY 2026 President’s Budget requests $446,000,000 for the JAG program and includes $87,500,000 in carve-outs, leaving $358,500,000 for JAG formula grants.

²⁴ Blanche, T. (2025). Memorandum from the Deputy Attorney General to all Department of Justice employees regarding Operation Take Back America. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Deputy Attorney General. https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline

²⁵ The COPS Hiring Program appropriations line item includes carveouts, as directed by Congress in annual appropriations bills. The amount of funding available for COPS Hiring grants is calculated by subtracting carveouts from the topline appropriations for the program. The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 appropriated $256,168,839 for the COPS Hiring Program and carried forward $99,500,000 in carve-outs from FY 2024, leaving $156,668,839 for COPS Hiring grants. The FY 2026 President’s Budget requests $297,400,000 for the COPS Hiring Program and includes $92,000,000 in carve-outs, leaving $205,400,000 for COPS Hiring grants.

²⁶ Since FY 2020 the enacted federal budget has included a 2% TTA set-aside for OJP. From FY 2010 through FY 2019, the enacted TTA set-aside was 3%.

²⁷ The research, evaluation, and statistics set-aside has been set at 2% since FY 2012, with the exception of FY 2019, when the set-aside was 2.5%.

²⁸ The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 appropriated $30,000,000 for the National Institute of Justice and $35,000,000 for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The FY 2026 President’s Budget requests $22,000,000 for the National Institute of Justice and $33,000,000 for the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

²⁹ See CSG Justice Center. (2025) Justice Reinvestment Initiative. https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/JRI_Fact_Sheet_022525_FINAL.pdf. Nelson, J. (2024, May 17). Bipartisan backing: Congress stands firm on key justice programs. CSG Justice Center. https://csgjusticecenter.org/2024/05/17/bipartisan-backing-congress-stands-firm-on-key-justice-programs/. The Pew Charitable Trusts. (2016). Bipartisan support for justice reinvestment legislation. https://www.pew.org/-/media/assets/2016/11/pspp_bipartisan_support_justice_reinvestment_legislation_fact_sheet-(2).pdf

³⁰ Blanche, T. (2025). Letter from the Deputy Attorney General to all Department of Justice employees regarding Operation Take Back America. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Deputy Attorney General. https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline

³¹ Id.

³² For example, see U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 State and Territory Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program (O-OVW-2025-172396). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1400746/dl?inline. U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025a). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Grants to Improve the Criminal Justice Response Program (O-OVW-2025-172417). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1384511/dl?inline.

U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025b). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 STOP Formula Grant Program (O-OVW-2025-172376). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1400476/dl?inline. U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025c). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction (STCJ) Grant Program (O-OVW-2025-172402). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1400631/dl?inline

³³ Id.

³⁴ See for example U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2025). FY25 Community Policing Development Microgrants (O-COPS-2025-172384). https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/2025ProgramDocs/cpdmicrogrants/nofo.pdf. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2025a). FY25 Community Policing Development: Law Enforcement Products and Resources (O-COPS-2025-172390). https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/2025ProgramDocs/cpd_leprp/nofo.pdf. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2025b). FY25 Community Policing Development Accreditation: Enhancing Law Enforcement Accreditation Entities (O-COPS-2025-172407). https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/2025ProgramDocs/cpd_accreditation/Enhancing_NOFO.pdf. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2025c). FY25 COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program Application Resource Guide. https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/2025ProgramDocs/svpp/resource_guide.pdf.

³⁵ Id.

³⁶ Id.

³⁷ For examples of COPS Office NOFOs, see id. For federal immigration statute, see 8 U.S. Code § 1373 – Communication between government agencies and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1373

³⁸ See for example U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025d). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Enhancing Investigation and Prosecution of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking (EIP) Initiative (O-OVW-2025-172400). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1400566/dl?inline. U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025e). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Local Law Enforcement Grants for Enforcement of Cybercrimes Program (O-OVW-2025-172415). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1400626/dl?inline. U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025f). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program (O-OVW-2025-172287). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1399361/dl?inline. U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2025g). OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Demonstration Program on Trauma-Informed, Victim-Centered Training for Law Enforcement on Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking (Abby Honold) Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (O-OVW-2025- 172404). https://www.justice.gov/ovw/media/1400561/dl?inline

³⁹ Bondi, P. (2025). Memorandum from the Attorney General to all Department of Justice employees regarding sanctuary city directives. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General. https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1388531/dl?inline

⁴⁰ Hurley, L. (2021, March 5). U.S. Supreme Court dismisses “sanctuary” funding dispute. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-supreme-court-dismisses-sanctuary-funding-dispute-idUSKCN2AX1QH/. Lynch, S. (2021, April 28). U.S. Justice Department ends Trump-era limits on grants to “sanctuary cities.” Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-justice-department-ends-trump-era-limits-grants-sanctuary-cities-2021-04-28/

⁴¹ U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. (2025, May 12). “General Conditions” for OJP Awards in FY 2025: Federal Civil Rights and Nondiscrimination Laws (certification). https://www.ojp.gov/funding/explore/legaloverview2025/mandatorytermsconditions#federal-civil-rights-and-nondiscrimination-laws-certification

⁴² Hough, S. (2025) Letter from Steven Hough to the Honorable Charles E. Grassley regarding terminations of Department of Justice grants. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legislative Affairs. https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/doj_to_grassley_-_grants.pdf

⁴³ For FY 2025 rescissions, see sec. 1101(a)(2) of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025. Pub. L. 119-4 (2025), https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ4/PLAW-119publ4.pdf. For proposed FY 2026 rescissions, see sec. 226, General Provisions – Department of Justice in Office of Management and Budget. (2025). Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget: Appendix. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2026-APP/pdf/BUDGET-2026-APP.pdf

⁴⁴ Shutt, J. (2021, February 27). House appropriators officially bring back earmarks, ending ban. Roll Call. https://rollcall.com/2021/02/26/house-appropriators-to-cap-earmarks-at-1-percent-of-topline/

⁴⁵ Enacted appropriations bills included $184,707,000 in OJP-administered earmarks in FY 2022, $229,551,000 in FY 2023, and $350,028,000 in FY 2024. See Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022. Pub. L. 117—103 (2022). https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ103/PLAW-117publ103.pdf. Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Pub. L. 117—328 (2022). https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ328/PLAW-117publ328.pdf.

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. Pub. L. 118—42 (2024). https://www.congress.gov/118/plaws/publ42/PLAW-118publ42.pdf

⁴⁶ CSG Justice Center. (2025, March). Congress passes continuing resolution to fund federal government through fiscal year 2025. https://www.csg.org/2025/03/14/congress-passes-continuing-resolution-to-fund-federal-government-through-fiscal-year-2025/. U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. (n.d.). FY 2026 Appropriations Requests and Congressionally Directed Spending. https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/fy-2026-appropriations-requests-and-congressionally-directed-spending. U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations (n.d.). FY26 Guidance Overview. https://appropriations.house.gov/fy26-member-requests/fy26-guidance-overview

⁴⁷ The FY 2026 President’s Budget proposes to reduce OJP’s authorized staffing level to 719, down from 899 authorized positions in FY 2024. See U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Management Division. Fiscal Year 2026 Budget and Performance Summary (2025). https://www.justice.gov/media/1403736/dl. For estimates of government-wide workforce reductions, see Shao, E. & Wu, A. (2025, May 12). The federal work force cuts so far, agency by agency. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/28/us/politics/trump-doge-federal-job-cuts.html

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