Criminal Justice Division Programs
Prevention & Juvenile Justice
Early intervention and prevention are important components in crime reduction. CJD recognizes this by funding prevention initiatives that impact the youngest Texans, involve schools, families, and communities, and build meaningful relationships between children and adults. CJD's prevention projects provide violent behavior alternatives, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, mentor programs, school safety education, after school activities (e.g., tutors, sports, arts), and gang prevention.
Juvenile justice projects focus on holding juvenile offenders accountable while providing meaningful intervention. Projects involve substance abuse treatment, professional training and education, school resource officers, gang intervention, gender-specific programming, juvenile court assistance, drug court assistance, juvenile supervision programming, family services, and prosecution.
CJD's juvenile justice research projects are designed to benefit the overall juvenile justice system. Research in the area of disproportionate minority contact assesses the extent to which minorities are subject to different confinement decisions than non-minorities. This project includes the development of standardized instruments assessing risk and making confinement decisions.
Law Enforcement
CJD funds a variety of grants to law enforcement programs for investigation, enforcement, prosecution, courts, substance abuse treatment, training, and technology. As necessary, law enforcement resources have been directed toward homeland security initiatives, especially emergency communication systems, border security, training, and coordinated response planning.
The Statewide Texas Amber Alert Network was created through an Executive Order signed by Governor Perry to ensure that every available resource is used to return abducted children safely to their loved ones. Executive Order RP16 states that "the network is a cooperative effort of the Office of the Governor, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation, the Texas Association of Broadcasters, various business and private sector concerns, law enforcement agencies, state and local entities, and the public in the state of Texas." The DPS coordinates the network and is authorized to activate and deactivate the network for alerts that meet specified criteria.
Texas Crime Stoppers
This program provides funds for the administration and operation of local Texas Crime Stoppers programs. Texas Crime Stoppers programs accept anonymous tips and provide rewards when these tips lead to indictments and/or convictions. Texas Crime Stoppers funds a 24-hour toll-free hotline for gathering information on unsolved crimes and trains local programs. Texas Crime Stoppers also provides grant funds directly to certified local programs. The program provides a partnership between the public, law enforcement agencies and the media in order to speed identification and apprehension of criminals.
Victims' Services
Assisting crime victims through comprehensive restoration to physical, mental and emotional health is the focus of the Criminal Justice Division’s (CJD) victim strategy. CJD promotes coordinated local service systems that involve multiple disciplines and support a seamless delivery of services to create a state in which service providers and communities at large recognize the power of prevention, education, and individual empowerment, while simultaneously fostering an environment of intolerance for violent acts of crime. This initiative is intended to provide scalable concepts to communities throughout the State of Texas in order to achieve a collaborative approach amongst victim service providers to reinstitute the human priority in victim services.