President Trump released his 2021 Budget Proposal earlier this week, which includes $32 billion for the Department of Justice to support federal and state law enforcement and partners. Specifically, the budget focuses on violent crime and mass violence, the opioid crisis, cybersecurity, and state, local and tribal assistance.
According to the budget, the largest investment of $4 billion will be set aside for federal grants that can be awarded to state, local and tribal law enforcement. (In November 2019, the DOJ announced the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative, a national strategy that will see federal authorities work extensively with trial law enforcement to address the disproportionally high levels of violence that American Indian and Alaska Native people suffer.) Victims of crime will also be eligible for the grants. Since 85 percent of law enforcement is not at the federal level, partnerships with state and local entities are becoming more and more critical in the face of rising crime and the opioid crisis.
That being said, only $380 million of the budget is planned to go toward resources to fight the opioid crisis—the second to lowest investment from the DOJ. Program enhancements to address cyber threats will receive the least investment of $122 million.
The largest piece of the pie falls to violent crime, with $942 million set aside to strengthen federal law enforcement’s ability to counter violent crime, support communities to prevent violent crime and reduce incidences of human trafficking. This is part of Operation Relentless Pursuit, an initiative aimed at combating violent crime in seven of America’s most violent cities through a surge in federal resources. Operation Relentless Pursuit will specifically investigate transnational criminal activity, criminal entities within the prison system, large-scale criminal organizations and the most violent-prone offenders.
In the wake of an increase in mass violence incidents, the proposed budget gives an additional $639 million to address targeted violence and reduce gun crimes.
The FY 2021 budget requests $410 million to continue the implementation of the First Step Act of 2018 (FSA), a criminal justice reform bill that includes numerous provisions to reduce recidivism among federal offenders. According to the budget, the investment will allow an additional 8,700 inmates to transition back into their communities, bring medication-assisted treatment to every Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in the nation, and increase inmate access to job and life skills training programs needed to successfully re-enter society.
“Overall, the department’s FY 2021 Budget builds on three years of making great strides in reducing violent crime, driving down the plague of opioid abuse, and protecting the public from the afflictions of hate crimes, human trafficking, elder fraud, and many other wrongs. But our work is not over,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen in a speech regarding the proposed budget. “As we build on our successes to date, existing and new initiatives require additional resources—ones that the President is proud to support in his budget for the department for FY 2021.”