E ach year Congress provides funding for a variety of grant programs through the Department of Justice (DOJ). These programs provide support to state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations for a variety of criminal justice-related purposes, such as combatting violence against women, reducing backlogs of DNA evidence, supporting community policing, assisting crime victims, promoting prisoner reentry, and improving the functioning of the juvenile justice system. Congress funds these programs through five accounts in the annual Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations act: 
Violence Against Women Programs; Research, Evaluation, and Statistics; State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance; Juvenile Justice Programs; and Community Oriented Policing Services. Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was established to administer programs created under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994. The Obama Administration also proposed transferring $326 million from the Crime Victims Fund to the OVW. 115-31 ), Congress adopted the Obama Administration's proposal to supplement direct appropriations for OVW with a $326 million transfer from the Crime Victims Fund. Congress provided $89 million for the Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account for FY2017. The decrease in funding for FY2017 (-23.3%) is largely the result of Congress moving funding for the Regional Information Sharing System to the Community Oriented Policing Services account. While the Obama Administration proposed eliminating or reducing funding for several programs under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account, it has also proposed increasing funding for reentry initiatives authorized under the Second Chance Act (+$32 million), programs for children exposed to violence (+$15 million), grants for residential substance abuse treatment (+$2 million), and programs to assist people with mental illness in the criminal justice system (+$4 million). In addition, the Obama Administration requested funding for several new programs under the State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance account, including
$10 million for the Byrne Incentive Grant program, which would have made supplemental grants to JAG program grantees who choose to use a portion of their JAG funding to support programs or initiatives that are evidence-based, or are promising and will be coupled with rigorous evaluation to determine their effectiveness; $15 million for the Byrne Competitive Grant program to implement evidence-based and data-driven strategies on issues of national significance; $20 million for grants and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal courts and juvenile and criminal justice agencies to support efforts to improve the perception of fairness in the juvenile and criminal justice systems and to build community trust; $5 million for the Violence Reduction Network, which would allow cities to develop data-driven, evidence-based strategies to reduce violence by consulting directly with and receiving coordinated training and technical assistance from multiple DOJ components; and $6 million for grants to counter violent extremism. However, most of the funding for this initiative is not new. The Obama Administration also requested that funding be restored to the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants ($30 million), which were eliminated in FY2014. The Obama Administration's FY2017 request for COPS was $74 million more than the FY2016 appropriation of $212 million.
Each year Congress provides funding for a variety of grant programs through the Department of Justice (DOJ). These programs are used to fund state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations for a variety of criminal justice-related purposes, such as efforts to combat violence against women, reduce backlogs of DNA evidence, support community policing, assist crime victims, promote prisoner reentry, and improve the functioning of the juvenile justice system. Congress funds these programs through five accounts in the annual Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations act: Violence Against Women Programs; Research, Evaluation, and Statistics; State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance; Juvenile Justice Programs; and Community Oriented Policing Services. For FY2017, the Obama Administration requested a total of $2.361 billion for these five accounts.
The Obama Administration's FY2017 request for DOJ's grant accounts included proposals to change the funding levels of several DOJ grant programs. First, the Obama Administration proposed to transfer $326 million from the Crime Victims Fund to the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). It also proposed to eliminate funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (-$210 million), and reduce funding for other programs, such as the National Criminal History Improvement program (-$23 million), and DNA backlog reduction initiatives (-$20 million). However, the Obama Administration proposed increases for grants to encourage arrests in domestic violence cases and enforcement of protection orders (+$11 million), grants authorized under the Second Chance Act (+$32 million), and programs for children exposed to violence (+$15 million). It also proposed funding a variety of new programs and initiatives, such as the Byrne Incentive Grant program ($10 million), the Byrne Competitive Grant program ($15 million), and the Violence Reduction Network ($5 million). Finally, it proposed restoring funding to the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant (+$30 million), which was eliminated in FY2014.
Congress provided a total of $2.320 billion for DOJ's five grant accounts, an amount that is 6.7% less than the FY2016 appropriation and 1.8% less than the Administration's request. Funding for three of the five grant accounts decreased for FY2017, the exceptions being Violence Against Women Programs (+$2 million) and the Community Oriented Policing Services (+$10 million). However, the increase in funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services account is largely attributable to Congress moving funding for the Regional Information Sharing System from the Research, Evaluation, and Statistics account to the Community Oriented Policing Services account.
Congress, by and large, did not support many of the Obama Administration's proposals that would have eliminated funding for particular programs, increased funding for existing programs, or provided funding for new programs. However, Congress did adopt the proposal to supplement direct appropriations for the Office on Violence Against Women with a $326 million transfer from the Crime Victims Fund.