The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) was created in 1984 to reduce violent crime, create safer communities, and reform our Nation’s criminal justice system. BJA’s mission is to provide leadership and services in grant administration and criminal justice policy development to support state, local, and tribal justice strategies to achieve safer communities. BJA works with communities, governments, and nonprofit organizations to reduce crime, recidivism, and unnecessary confinement, and promote a safe and fair criminal justice system.
This grant program, sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), aims to support both wrongful conviction review (WCR) entities that represent individuals with post-conviction claims of innocence to review individual cases and conviction integrity or review units (CIUs) to enhance the integrity of the criminal justice system. It includes support for selecting a training and technical assistance (TTA) provider tasked with ensuring WCR and CIUs, and the broader field, obtain the necessary skills, training, and information on the latest practices to safeguard the integrity of convictions and support the post-conviction review of claims of wrongful convictions. This provider will also be responsible for building and maintaining a database on exonerations to assist the field.