Dr. David Muhlhausen of the Heritage Foundation recently wrote an article on Pretrial Service Agencies’ use of Byrne JAG grants. The key question is why do other recipients of these grants need to provide tracking and measurement while Pretrial Service Agencies get access to our precious tax dollars with no accountability whatsoever? Read Brian Nairin’s, Chief Executive Officer of AIA, response to this well written and important article.
The first thing most people think about when they hear the phrase “Get out of jail free” is the game of Monopoly. But unfortunately, that fond childhood memory and association is being replaced by the inadequacies of government sponsored pretrial release programs. I recently read a great article (click here to read the article) by Dr. David Muhlhausen of the Heritage Foundation, discussing how Pretrial Service Agencies are able to tap into the $357 million provided through the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program.
These grants are also tapped into by local police departments. As you would expect, these local police departments are required to provide documentation around annual performance measures describing how their programs are doing. Just as any business would operate, you invest money in a product or a division, you track performance and then make a determination of how to improve the product or process or discontinue it. So far so good, right? Well, here comes the kicker. Unlike the accountability and tracking required by local police departments, Pretrial Service Agencies have no requirement for reporting performance results…
To read the entire blog, click on the following link, Behind the Paper with Brian Nairin.