Improving Criminal Justice Responses Program

Grants to Improve the Criminal Justice Response (ICJR Program) is designed to encourage partnerships among state, local, and tribal governments, courts, victim service providers, coalitions, and rape crisis centers to improve the criminal justice response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking as serious violations of criminal law, and to seek safety and autonomy for victims.

The ICJR Program challenges communities to work collaboratively to identify problems and share ideas that will result in effective responses to ensure victim safety and offender accountability. A coordinated community response that brings together effective partners from the local government including law enforcement agencies, prosecutors’ offices and courts, nonprofit organizations, and population specific organizations is critical to the ICJR Program.

Eligible applicants are states and territories, units of local government, Indian tribal governments, state, local, tribal, and territorial courts, victim service providers, state and tribal coalitions, and government rape crisis centers.

In 2024, the ICJR Program gave out 33 awards totaling $24.71 million.

To view grantees under this program and others for previous fiscal years, please visit OVW's awards webpage.

This program is authorized by 34 U.S.C. §§ 10461-10465.