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BJA Forensics Portfolio

Established in 1984, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks to strengthen communities by supporting jurisdictions across the United States to overcome challenges faced by the criminal justice system. BJA’s overarching mission is to enhance community safety through providing resources and developing policies to support state, local, and tribal jurisdictions. To accomplish this mission, BJA collaborates with communities, governments, and nonprofit organizations to address violent crime, recidivism, and unnecessary confinement.

In alignment with their mission, BJA’s Forensics Unit provides federal funding through the following Forensics Programs to combat violent crime, resolve cases, lower recidivism, increase public safety, and enhance justice:

To learn more about these Forensics Programs view the BJA Forensics Unit Programs Fact Sheet.

BJA offers states, units of local government, and other forensic science service providers a wide range of resources through these Forensics Programs. Geared toward addressing systemic and emerging criminal justice challenges, these Forensics Programs work to increase capacity and efficiency, improve services, meet workload demands, and advance the reliability and consistency of forensic science services. Through bridging resource gaps within the field, BJA’s Forensics Programs strive to facilitate enhanced community safety and achieve widespread criminal justice reform.

FORENSICS TTA PROGRAM

The Forensics Training and Technical Assistance (Forensics TTA) Program, led by RTI International in partnership with subject matter experts, practitioners, and researchers offers expertise and assistance to grantees of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Forensics Programs.

The Forensics TTA Program provides TTA supporting BJA Forensics Programs grantees to meet strategic goals and objectives, implement national recommendations into policy, enhance capacity and outcomes, and foster sustainability through the implementation of new technologies to enhance existing policies and practices. This assistance is accomplished by offering a variety of services, including the following:

- - Proactive engagement with grantees to develop materials based upon agency needs
  - Training and educational sessions (e.g., webinars, working groups) developed by subject matter experts
  - Remote guidance on forensic-related issues
  - Assistance in increasing site capacity
  - Efforts to translate lessons to the field

The Forensics TTA Program aims to improve the quality of forensic science services performed by BJA Forensics Program grantees through innovative solutions that embody development, technology, information sharing, training, and best practices resource development. Through enhancing the services provided by BJA Forensics Program grantees, the Forensics TTA Program seeks to empower grantees to meet current challenges in forensic science and increase public safety across the nation.

If you have questions for the Forensics TTA team, please reach out to ForensicsTTA@rti.org.