Purpose area 3

The Pueblo of Acoma Tribal Court was awarded a $900,000 Formula Grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance Tribal Justice Systems program (CFDA 16.608) to support key improvements to its justice system from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2026.

Specifically, the funding will support enhancing pretrial, prosecution, and sentencing alternatives through culturally relevant screening and assessments. It will also fund expanding public defense strategies to increase understanding of rights and reduce collateral consequences. The grant provides for improving victims' court experience through legal advocacy and linkage to services. Funds will also purchase audiovisual equipment and update emergency policies and procedures for the tribal court. Data collection and regular performance reporting to the BJA is also included.

Abstract

Purpose area 3: with the BJA funding, the acoma tribal court (ATC) will: 1) improve the pretrial and prosecution diversion and sentencing alternatives by updating policies and procedures and greater inclusion of the public defender and victim advocate at all three stages. 2) enhance public defense involvement in pretrial and prosecution diversion, and incorporate collateral consequences as an aspect of public defender services from pretrial to conviction and reentry. 3) provide legal advocacy support and linkage to victim services and help all court components provide trauma-informed services. 4) purchase audio-visual and court amplification systems for the court and create emergency management policies that increase the court's preparedness during emergencies. The tribal court, probation officers, and victim advocate will use excel logs for data collection and reporting. The court administrator will prepare and submit quarterly and semi-annual reports online to BJA. Federally recognized tribe the pueblo of acoma is a federally recognized tribe located in cibola county, NM. With this funding, the acoma public safety department will implement the following goals: during each project year, increase pretrial, prosecution, and sentencing alternatives through culturally relevant screening, intakes, and presentence reports. During each project year, increase public defense strategies to increase defendants' understanding of their rights and decrease collateral consequences through education and expanded defense support improve victims' court experience by providing legal advocacy support and linkage to victim services during each project year. In year 1, improve court operations to respond to state of emergencies through equipment purchases and updating policies and procedures applied each project year.