Matthew J. Hickman, Ph.D.

BJS Statistician

As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005, the 108th Congress

merged the Edward Byrne Memorial

Grant Program (Byrne) with the Local

Law Enforcement Block Grant Program

(LLEBG) to establish the Edward Byrne

Memorial Justice Assistance Grant

Program (JAG). The Bureau of Justice

Assistance (BJA) administers the JAG

program, and the Bureau of Justice

Statistics (BJS) calculates the JAG

formulas.

The total funds made available for FY

2005 JAG awards was $495.5 million.

The program has six purpose areas

under which funds may be awarded:

• Law enforcement programs

• Prosecution and court programs

• Prevention and education programs

• Corrections and community corrections programs

• Drug treatment programs

• Planning, evaluation, and technology

improvement programs

JAG funds can be used to pay for

personnel, overtime, and equipment.

This BJS Technical Report describes

the steps in the JAG formula calculation process and presents summary

results of the FY 2005 formula calculations. 

Formula calculation process

There are six steps in the JAG formula

calculation process: 

Step 1: Initial allocation to States and

territories

In the first step, initial allocations to

States and territories are calculated.

Half of the available funds are

allocated based on the State's or Territory’s share of violent crime, and half of

the funds are allocated based on the

State's or Territory’s share of population. Violent crime is computed as a

3-year average using figures published

in the FBI’s annual Crime in the United

States. Population figures are from the

Census Bureau. 

For the FY 2005 JAG calculations,

crime data were for 2000-02, and

population data were for 2002.

Examples:

• California accounts for 14.6% of

total violent crime and 12.0% of total

population. California’s initial allocation is 14.6% of 50% of $495.5 million

plus 12.0% of 50% of $495.5 million,

or about $66 million.

• Vermont accounts for 0.05% of total

violent crime and 0.21% of total

population. Vermont’s initial allocation

is 0.05% of 50% of $495.5 million

plus 0.21% of 50% of 495.5 million, or

about $637,000.

• The total FY 2005 JAG funds for

allocation was $495.5 million. 

• The five largest total State allocations, in millions of dollars, included

California ($58.4), Texas ($35.2),

Florida ($32.8), New York ($30.1), 

and Illinois ($22.4). 

• 2,190 local governments were eligible

for awards. The five largest eligible

awards, in millions of dollars, included

New York City ($8.7), Los Angeles 

($5.7), Chicago ($5.7), Philadelphia

($3.1), and Houston ($2.7).

Highlights

Distribution of FY 2005 JAG funds, in millions

$288.9 to State governments

$192.6 to local governments

$481.6 to States $13.9 to Territories and

the District of Columbia

$495.5 total for allocation

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Technical Report

Justice Assistance Grant

(JAG) Program, 2005

 July 2005, NCJ 209333
Step 2: De minimus awards

All States and territories receive a de

minimus award equal to 0.25% of the

total JAG allocation ($1,238,750 each,

or $69,370,000 total, for FY 2005). If a

State's or Territory’s initial allocation

based on crime and population (from

Step 1) is less than the de minimus,

the State or territory receives the de

minimus as their total JAG allocation.

Examples:

• California’s initial allocation of $66

million exceeds the de minimus value,

so California will receive the de

minimus plus an award based on 

their share of total violent crime 

and population.

• Vermont’s initial allocation of

$637,000 is less than the de minimus

value, so Vermont’s total JAG allocation will be $1,238,750. 

Step 3: Recalculation of crime and

population based awards

The crime and population data for

States and territories receiving only the

de minimus award (from Step 2) are

removed from the pool, and remaining

JAG funds (less the de minimus

awards) are reallocated based on

violent crime and population. The

resulting award is then added to the 

de minimus.

Examples:

• Vermont received only the de

minimus award, so Vermont’s crime

and population data are removed

from the pool.

• After removing the de minimus

States, California accounts for 14.7%

of total violent crime and 12.1% of

population. Their new JAG allocation

is equal to 14.7% of 50% of $426.13

million plus 12.1% of 50% of $426.13

million, plus the de minimus award, or

about $58.3 million.

Step 4: 60/40 split to State and local

governments 

Except for the Territories and the

District of Columbia, 60% of the total

allocation to a State is retained by

State government, and 40% is

set-aside for local governments.

Examples:

• California State government retains

60% of $58.3 million, or about $35

million. The remaining 40%, or $23.3

million, is set aside for distribution to

local governments in California.

• Vermont State government retains

60% of the de minimus, or $743,250.

The remaining 40%, or $495,500, is

set aside for distribution to local

governments in Vermont.

Step 5: Calculation of State “dollars 

per crime” and “threshold”

Awards to local governments are

based on their share of the average of

violent crimes the State reported to the

FBI over 3 years. The minimum local

award amount under the JAG program

is $10,000. To determine whether a

local government is eligible for a JAG

award, it is necessary to calculate the

amount of crime for a minimum award

in that State. 

Dividing the total local set-aside for a

State by the 3-year average of violent

crimes reported within the State results

in the number of dollars available for

each violent crime. Dividing the

minimum $10,000 award amount by

the number of dollars available per

crime results in the threshold amount

of crime necessary in order to be eligible for a JAG award.

Examples:

• California has $23.3 million

set-aside for local governments. The

sum of 3-year average violent crimes

reported by jurisdictions in California

is 210,215 crimes. Dividing the

set-aside by total crime results in the

number of dollars available for each

crime: $23.3 million/210,215 crimes =

$111 per crime. Therefore, a local

California jurisdiction needs a 3-year

average of at least 90 violent crimes

($10,000/$111) to be eligible for a

JAG award.

• Vermont has $495,500 set-aside 

for local governments. The sum of

3-year average violent crimes

reported is 640 crimes. Dollars per

crime in Vermont equal $495,500/640

crimes or $774 per crime. The

threshold is 13 violent crimes

($10,000/$774) to be eligible for a

JAG award.

Step 6: Determination of local governments eligible for JAG awards

The JAG legislation specifies that

allocations to local governments are

based on their share of the total violent

crime reported by like units of government within the State. However, the

‘Transitional Rule’ at § 505(d)(2)(B)

specifies that allocations to units of

local government for FY 2005 through

FY 2007 will follow the LLEBG formula.

Within each State, local governments

meeting the threshold for the minimmum JAG award are eligible for an

award based on the local government’s

share of the State total 3-year average

violent crimes reported to the FBI. 

Examples:

• Oakland, California, has a 3-year

average of 5,343 violent crimes, or

2.5% of all violent crimes reported by

jurisdictions in California. Oakland

exceeds the State threshold of 90

violent crimes. They are eligible for

2.5% of the $23.3 million set-aside for

local governments in California, or

about $590,000. 

• The City of Morristown, Vermont,

has a 3-year average of five violent

crimes. They do not meet the State

threshold of 13 violent crimes, so

they are ineligible for a JAG award.

Their crime – less than 1% of all

violent crime in Vermont – accounts

for about $4,000 of award funds.

These funds are transferred to the

State for redistribution.

2 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, 2005
Results of the FY 2005 JAG formula

In FY 2005, $288.9 million of the

$495.5 million available was allocated 

to the 50 States (table 1). In addition,

the District of Columbia was eligible for

$3.0 million, and Puerto Rico was eligible for $5.9 million (table 2). American

Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana

Islands, and the Virgin Islands were

each eligible for $1.2 million.

In FY 2005 $192.6 million was allotted

to local governments. A total of 2,190

local governments met the threshold

number of crimes necessary to receive

a JAG award and were eligible for

$163.7 million. The balance of

unawarded local allocated funds 

($28.9 million) have been returned to

the States for redistribution to State

police and local governments.

 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, 2005 3

Wyoming 743,250 495,500 377.09 26.52 12 293,002 202,498

Wisconsin 4,264,153 2,842,769 225.63 44.32 24 2,157,835 684,934

West Virginia 1,987,602 1,325,068 237.92 42.03 18 522,318 802,750

Washington 5,331,947 3,554,631 167.18 59.82 48 3,091,069 463,562

Virginia 5,816,923 3,877,949 189.65 52.73 53 3,306,399 571,550

Vermont 743,250 495,500 773.61 12.93 8 220,995 274,505

Utah 2,260,758 1,507,172 279.39 35.79 20 1,213,951 293,221

Texas 21,120,388 14,080,259 116.84 85.59 130 12,459,825 1,620,434

Tennessee 7,008,724 4,672,483 112.56 88.84 60 3,953,164 719,319

South Dakota 743,250 495,500 295.44 33.85 8 354,921 140,579

South Carolina 5,392,842 3,595,228 120.02 83.32 71 3,185,744 409,484

Rhode Island 1,497,139 998,093 316.92 31.55 12 860,654 137,439

Pennsylvania 10,707,341 7,138,227 146.63 68.20 51 5,124,558 2,013,669

Oregon 3,281,202 2,187,468 192.76 51.88 26 1,771,746 415,722

Oklahoma 3,848,295 2,565,530 144.92 69.00 31 1,907,946 657,584

Ohio 9,304,224 6,202,816 163.86 61.03 57 5,240,740 962,076

North Dakota 743,250 495,500 1014.68 9.86 10 374,415 121,085

North Carolina 7,976,154 5,317,436 134.06 74.59 89 4,480,698 836,738

New York 18,078,583 12,052,389 117.69 84.97 38 10,875,639 1,176,750

New Mexico 2,805,233 1,870,155 133.57 74.87 32 1,618,266 251,889

New Jersey 7,439,564 4,959,710 152.63 65.52 75 4,048,944 910,766

New Hampshire 1,496,791 997,860 639.45 15.64 23 645,631 352,229

Nevada 2,793,249 1,862,166 151.59 65.97 9 1,754,691 107,475

Nebraska 1,991,068 1,327,379 246.42 40.58 7 1,137,471 189,908

Montana 1,400,598 933,732 310.55 32.20 24 710,549 223,183

Missouri 5,882,059 3,921,373 133.99 74.63 40 2,984,000 937,373

Mississippi 2,908,051 1,938,701 243.30 41.10 37 1,510,327 428,374

Minnesota 4,168,433 2,778,955 208.71 47.91 37 2,054,735 724,220

Michigan 10,090,238 6,726,825 123.27 81.12 76 5,595,321 1,131,504

Massachusetts 6,319,362 4,212,908 128.92 77.57 66 3,502,628 710,280

Maryland 6,893,931 4,595,954 108.90 91.82 29 4,258,538 337,416

Maine 1,442,276 961,518 682.17 14.66 20 529,816 431,702

Louisiana 5,423,724 3,615,816 121.49 82.31 55 3,161,824 453,992

Kentucky 3,557,778 2,371,852 163.41 61.19 29 1,488,162 883,690

Kansas 2,883,315 1,922,210 170.57 58.63 25 1,496,411 425,799

Iowa 2,757,934 1,838,623 232.59 42.99 22 1,475,271 363,352

Indiana 5,429,828 3,619,885 172.15 58.09 39 3,015,461 604,424

Illinois 13,427,061 8,951,374 125.90 79.43 62 8,054,550 896,824

Idaho 1,632,112 1,088,075 318.90 31.36 21 813,187 274,888

Hawaii 1,569,980 1,046,653 324.85 30.78 4 1,046,653 0

Georgia 8,159,689 5,439,793 137.40 72.78 81 4,500,412 939,381

Florida 19,699,894 13,133,263 101.08 98.93 150 12,300,960 832,303

Delaware 1,547,850 1,031,900 182.96 54.66 8 519,549 512,351

Connecticut 3,264,814 2,176,542 196.29 50.94 28 1,785,272 391,270

Colorado 4,095,619 2,730,413 188.83 52.96 30 2,336,803 393,610

California 35,015,830 23,343,886 111.04 90.06 273 22,234,174 1,109,712

Arkansas 2,999,348 1,999,565 174.69 57.24 38 1,534,210 465,355

Arizona 5,711,941 3,807,961 117.39 85.19 36 3,575,103 232,858

Alaska 743,250 495,500 147.21 67.93 5 316,594 178,906

Alabama $4,543,164 $3,028,776 $148.65 67.27 43 $2,337,869 $690,097

Total $288,943,259 $192,628,841 -- -- 2,190 $163,739,001 $28,889,840

Balance to State

for redistribution

Eligible local

award amounts

Number of eligible local awardsThreshold of

violent crimes

Dollars per

crime

Local

governments

State

State governments

Initial allocations to – Eligible local awards

Table 1. State and local allocation amounts, FY 2005

District of Columbia $3,039,470

Virgin Islands 1,238,750

Puerto Rico 5,933,430

Guam 1,238,750

Northern Mariana 1,238,750

American Samoa $1,238,750

Total $13,927,900

Territories and D.C. Award amount

Table 2. Territories and District of

Columbia allocations, FY 2005
Additional JAG provisions

Passthrough requirement

States may only retain award amounts

that bear the same ratio of “total

expenditures on criminal justice by the

State government in the most recently

completed fiscal year to ... the total

expenditure on criminal justice by the

State government and units of local

government within the State in such

year.”

Disparate jurisdictions

In some cases, a disparity may exist

between funding eligibility of a county

and associated municipalities. A potential disparity exists when a unit of local

government (such as a county) bears

more than 50% of the costs of prosecution or incarceration that arise in

association with violent crimes reported

by a constituent unit of local government (such as a municipality), and

funds eligible to any one constituent

unit of local government exceeds 150%

of the amount eligible to the larger unit

of local government, or 400% for multiple units of government.

 

To qualify for payment, the unit of local

government, together with any such

specified geographically contiguous

local government, must submit a joint

application to the Attorney General for

the aggregate of funds allocated to the

units of local government. 

Provisions not yet implemented

The ‘Transitional Rule’ found at 

§ 505(d)(2)(B) specifies that allocations

to units of local government for FY

2005 through FY 2007 will follow the

LLEBG formula. In the absence of

congressional action, the following

provisions will take effect for FY 2008

and subsequent JAG calculations.

Non-reporting jurisdictions

Local governments that have not

reported at least 3 years of Part I crime

data to the FBI within the immediately

preceding 10 years will be ineligible 

for JAG funding.

Local allocations based on crime 

in like units of government

The allocation of JAG funds to local

governments will be based on the local

government’s share of 3-year average

violent crimes reported by like units of

government (for example, other cities,

townships, and counties) within the

State.

Maximum allocation to local units of

government

Units of local government may not

receive a JAG award that “exceeds

such units total expenditures on criminal justice services for the most

recently completed fiscal year for which

data are available.” Award amounts in

excess of total expenditures “shall be

allocated proportionately among units

of local government whose allocations

... do not exceed their total expenditures on such services.”

Methodology

The data used to calculate the allocation amounts are provided by the FBI’s

Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)

program and the Governments Division

at the Census Bureau. The most

recent State-level violent crime data

are obtained from the FBI’s Crime in

the United States (CIUS) on an annual

basis. Data for local jurisdictions are

obtained in an electronic format directly

from the FBI. For FY 2005, data

through 2002 were used.

The sum of the UCR violent crimes for

all local governments within a State will

not equal the amount reported by that

State in the FBI’s annual publication.

BJS uses the published UCR State

figures, which represent official FBI

estimates of crime in a State. The FBI

imputes crime data to adjust for nonreporting local agencies. These imputed

values attributed to nonreporting local

jurisdictions do not appear on the

electronic datafile provided to BJS and

are not used in the formula calculation.

Sources of additional information

The text of H.R. 3036, "Department of

Justice Appropriations Authorization

Act, FY 2004 through 2006," can be

found at the Library of Congress

website <http://thomas.loc.gov>. Refer

to Title II, Subpart 1, "Edward Byrne

Memorial Justice Assistance Grant

Program." Formula details are found in

Section 505. The provisions of H.R.

3036 are implemented by Public Law

108-447, "Consolidated Appropriations

Act, 2005." PL 108-447 can be found at

the Library of Congress website.

More information about the JAG

program and application process can

be found on the Bureau of Justice

Assistance (BJA) website:

<http://www.ojp. usdoj.gov/BJA>. The

Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program was

proposed to streamline justice funding

and grant administration. Administered

by the BJA, the JAG Program allows

States, tribes, and local governments

to support a broad range of activities to

prevent and control crime, based on

local needs and conditions. JAG

blends the previous Byrne Formula and

Local Law Enforcement Block Grant

(LLEBG) Programs. 

4 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program, 2005

The Bureau of Justice Statistics is

the statistical agency of the U.S.

Department of Justice. Lawrence A.

Greenfeld is director. 

Matthew J. Hickman, BJS Statistician, wrote this report under the

supervision of Steven K. Smith.

Matthew Hanson of the Bureau of

Justice Assistance reviewed the

report. Tom Hester of BJS edited it.

July 2005, NCJ 209333

Office of Justice Programs

Partnerships for Safer Communities

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov