National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative

Program goal(s) name: Improve forensic testing and justice system responses to sexual assaults
Program goal(s) description: Reduce sexual assault and violent crime, hold violent offenders accountable, and deliver support and justice for victims resulting from significant backlogs of unsubmitted and partially tested sexual assault kits (SAKs).
Program objective(s) name: Provide resources and support to criminal justice agencies in their efforts to improve their jurisdictional response to sexually motivated crimes.
Program objective(s) description: Eliminate sexual assault kit and cold case evidence backlogs by addressing challenges associated with the forensic laboratory testing of unsubmitted and partially tested kits, as well as evidence related to other violent cold case crimes; Enhance the investigation and prosecution of cold case sexual assaults and sexually motivated homicides, as well as other violent cold case crimes; and Support law enforcement-led efforts to increase community engagement and enhance accountability and transparency in violent cold case investigations, particularly those involving sexual violence.

All final award decisions will be made by the Assistant Attorney General, unless a statute explicitly authorizes award decisions by another official or there is written delegation of authority to another official. For successful applicants, JustGrants will send a system-generated email to the Application Submitter, Authorized Representative, and Entity Administrator with information on accessing their official award package in JustGrants. The award package will include key information (such as funding amount and period of performance) as well as award conditions that must be followed. The Authorized Representative for the entity should accept or decline the award within 45 days of the notification.

The review procedure for applications is specified in the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) and generally includes eligibility and responsiveness, merit, programmatic, budget, and risk reviews.