Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs

Department/Agency: Department of Justice

Position:

Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs

Executive Schedule: Executive Level IV - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation

Major Responsibilities:

Distribute more than $1 billion in crime-fighting grants to state, local and tribal government
Partner with the 18,000 law enforcement agencies on efforts to reduce crime, help victims, hold offenders accountable and ensure the fair administration of justice
Partner with public and community-based organizations on juvenile justice programs
Provides funds for training to thwart terrorism
Collect, analyze and report statistics on crime, prison populations and other measures of justice
Serve as the national Amber Alert Coordinator

Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:

Experience in administering large grant programs and working with Congress
No law degree or criminal justice experience required, but extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the Department of Justice is a must
Background in grant making, budget, appropriations and contracting is also a big plus

Insight:

No one would argue that running the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) inside the U.S. Department of Justice is the toughest management job in Washington. But it is a job that comes with bureaucratic challenges that may be unique. The assistant attorney general (AAG) in charge of OJP oversees five bureaus whose directors hold the same rank as their ostensible superior. These entities -- the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the National Institute of Justice - for the most part have their own earmarked funds and patrons in Congress. Notwithstanding how the chain of command looks on paper, they often have their own channels to communicate directly with the associate attorney general above the AAG or above that to the deputy attorney general.

At its core OJP is a grant-making agency that funnels grants to state, local and tribal governments and their police forces to reduce crime, help victims, hold offenders accountable and ensure fair administration of justice. It plays an important role in stopping child abuse - the AAG is the national Amber Alert Coordinator - and in the operation of the juvenile justice system. It pays for bulletproof vests and equips crime labs with the latest DNA technology. It helps battered women. The longtime legislative champion of that particular program is the next vice president, former Delaware Senator Joseph Biden.

Notwithstanding its powerful friends in high places, the Office of Justice Programs saw its budget slashed by $2 billion during the Bush years. At its peak during the Clinton years, that budget was fast approaching $5 billion, mostly in the form of block grants to support efforts to fight crime. Justice has a separate, parallel Office for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). OJP's management of those grants has come in for closer scrutiny in recent years as both the Office of Management and Budget and internal auditors questioned whether the agency had strict enough controls in place to ensure that grants were spent on the intended purposes. The terror attacks of September 11, 2001, shifted to the new Department of Homeland Security some of the responsibilities for better preparing state and local police to guard against terror. Even under the exigent financial and budget circumstances facing the Obama administration, OJP's fortunes could rise with the change of administration. The Bush administration tried without success to cut an additional $1.6 billion from OJP's budget for 2009. Congress drew the line at that and appropriated $2.3 billion.

Former Assistant Attorney General Regina B. Schofield, who led OJP from 2005-2007, said OJP was regarded by some as "a cash cow." During her tenure, she said, departmental leaders would make commitments of OJP money to suit members of Congress "without telling me until the very last minute. The changed the focus of the program without letting me know." Although the department got some language inserted into law that was supposed to clarify that the AAG was the boss of OJP, that did not change the reality, she said, with the bureau directors still paid the same as the AAG. "Other agenciy heads also have PASes [presidential appointees with Senate confirmation] reporting to them, but they are at a lower level" on the executive salary schedule, she said.

The Office of Justice Programs was created under President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Its purpose is to provide "federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, improve the criminal and juvenile justice systems, increase knowledge about crime and related issues, and assist crime victims," as it said in its 2006 annual report to Congress. OJP's programs - among them, Weed and Seed, Project Child Safe, Project Safe Neighborhoods and its Anti-Gang Initiative, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force -- may not be household names, but they are important to those on the front lines of public safety. Its Office of Victims of Crime paid out $143 million or an average of $3,000 per claim to crime victims to help pay for medical costs, mental health counseling, lost wages or loss of support, and funeral and burial costs. It also made more than 5,100 grants to domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, child abuse programs, and victim service units in prosecutors' offices, hospitals, police forces and social service agencies.

In addition to the five bureaus that are its main components, OJP runs a Community Capacity Development Office (which administers the Weed and Seed program), and a new office opened in 2007 to track sex offenders. Its formal name is the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART).

Cybele Daley, former acting assistant attorney general and deputy under former OJP head Regina Schofield, described these as the three biggest challenges that will confront the next assistant attorney general:

Managing an organization with considerable morale problems
Restoring confidence in grant making process by ensuring the competitive process is fair
Resisting attempts to treat OJP like a checkbook

Daley, now a lobbyist, said, "Be prepared for everyone (OMB, White House, Departmental leadership, etc) to believe that they know best how to administer the funding that the appropriators provide. Do not be shocked when decisions are made without your input and commitments are made that can't be met." Daley also commented on one of the unusual features of the OJP organization chart: while the assistant attorney general is the titular head, each of its five bureaus is headed by a presidential appointee of the same rank and salary whose jobs also require Senate confirmation. That can be disruptive to day-to-day operations, she said. "Unlike other organizations with PAS's reporting to a PAS, OJP has a history of performance- related problems that can be attributed to not having an agency head whose final authority is understood (it is statutory), respected, and adhered to."

The incumbent, Jeffrey Sedgwick, is a political science professor on leave from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who joined the Bush administration and won Senate confirmation in 2006 as director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. His nomination as assistant attorney general was sent to the Senate in April 2008 and confirmed by voice vote on Oct. 2, 2008.

In recent years, the Office of Justice Programs usually has been run by someone without a law degree. An exception was Deborah J. Daniels, an attorney from Indianapolis and former federal prosecutor who led the Office of Justice Programs from 2001 to 2005 and previously directed the national Weed and Seed program, which tries to prevent and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in high crime neighborhoods with a comprehensive approach that includes treatment and much needed community services neighborhood restoration. Daniels said, "I don't think it's at all essential for the person in the AAG/OJP position to have a law degree, although I did find it helpful at times. The position is an administrative one, overseeing research and grant making, so in that sense the job description would be similar to such positions in HHS, HUD, DOL, etc."

Schofield, who is not a lawyer, said it does not take a law degree to run OJP, but the assistant attorney general really "needs to understand the grantmaking process, internally and externally," and know how to work with OMB and Congress on the budget and appropriations. If they lack that know-how, then they can expect to fight a losing success of battles over the agency's funding and how that money should be spent.

Key Relationships – Within the Department or Agency:

Attorney General
Deputy Attorney General
Directors (all PAS) of the five bureaus within OJP, including the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the National Institute of Justice

Key Relationships – Within the Government:

White House Office of the Counsel
Associate director of OMB
Legal offices involved in terrorism prevention training

Key Relationships – Outside the Government:

National, state and local law enforcement groups
Tribal governments
Victims' rights organizations
Juvenile justice community
Community groups that work to prevent violence against women

Nomination Referred to:

Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Current Position Profile:
1. Laurie O. Robinson (Confirmed: Nov 5, 2009). Former Director, Master of Science Program, Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania. Former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Associate Attorney General under William J. Clinton Administration.

Recent Position Profiles:

2. Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, Ph.D. (2008-2009). Formerly directed the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Longtime political science professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and expert on criminal justice policy.

3. Cybele Daley (Acting 2007). Former deputy assistant attorney general and former Senate Appropriations Committee staff member. Worked on legislative affairs for Justice and Treasury departments. Lobbyist for a forensics technology company before returning to Justice to take the deputy post in 2005.

4. Regina B. Schofield, M.B.A. (2005-2007). Former director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. Also helped recruit political personnel for the Bush White House. Former manager of government relations for the Postal Service. Now working for Casey Family Services, a nonprofit group that helps abused children.

5. Deborah J. Daniels, J.D. (2001-2005). Indianapolis lawyer and former U.S. attorney for southern Indiana. Directed national Weed and Seed program in 1992-93.

6. Laurie O. Robinson (1994-2001). Former director of the American Bar Association's Section of Criminal Justice and founder of its Juvenile Justice Center. Now directs the Master of Science Program in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Criminology.