BJA FY 23 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program | O BJA 2023 171677

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2023 171677

The BJA FY 23 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program is a discretionary federal grant opportunity offered by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The program sits within OJP's broader public safety and justice priorities, with a clear emphasis on advancing civil rights and racial equity, increasing access to justice, supporting victims and people impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, protecting the public from evolving threats, and building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. In practical terms, the grant is designed to support work that helps identify and address wrongful convictions while improving the integrity of the criminal justice process.

At the center of this opportunity are two types of efforts. The first focuses on wrongful conviction review entities (WCR entities), meaning organizations that represent individuals who have post-conviction claims of innocence and that review individual cases to assess whether a miscarriage of justice may have occurred. These entities typically perform intensive case reviews that can involve examining trial records, investigating new evidence, consulting experts, and pursuing post-conviction litigation strategies where appropriate. The second focuses on conviction integrity units or conviction review units (often referred to as CIUs), which are typically housed in prosecutors' offices or similar justice system institutions and are intended to strengthen system integrity by reviewing convictions, improving practices, and reducing the risk of wrongful outcomes. Through both tracks, the program is oriented toward ensuring the rule of law is upheld not only through enforcement, but also through accuracy, fairness, and accountability in outcomes.

Eligibility for the grant is broad and includes state, county, and city or township governments; federally recognized Tribal governments and other Tribal organizations; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; and other eligible entities as allowed under the solicitation. A notable emphasis is placed on county, state, or local public defender offices that operate in-house post-conviction representation programs and can show demonstrable experience and competence specifically in litigating post-conviction claims of innocence. This matters because the program is not simply about general criminal defense or general legal services; it is aimed at specialized post-conviction innocence work and the institutional capacity to perform careful, credible conviction review and litigation.

The solicitation also makes clear that partnerships can be required depending on who applies. If an applicant is not itself a wrongful conviction review entity, it must partner with one. This requirement reflects the program's focus on ensuring that funded projects have direct access to the expertise and infrastructure needed to evaluate innocence claims, manage complex post-conviction investigations, and pursue appropriate legal remedies. For applicants such as jurisdictions, universities, or nonprofits that may bring research capacity, policy expertise, or administrative support, the partnership requirement helps tie the project to a qualified entity actively engaged in innocence-case representation and review.

From a funding standpoint, the opportunity is identified under Funding Opportunity Number O-BJA-2023-171677 and is associated with CFDA (Assistance Listing) 16.746 in the Law, Justice and Legal Services category. The grant instrument is a standard grant award. The award ceiling listed is $600,000, indicating that individual awards could be funded up to that maximum amount depending on the proposal and BJA decisions. The opportunity was created on March 21, 2023, with an original application closing date of May 17, 2023. While the source data does not specify the exact number of expected awards in the excerpt provided, it does indicate that BJA anticipated making awards under this solicitation.

Overall, this grant opportunity is aimed at funding concrete, case-focused review and integrity-building work that can prevent wrongful convictions and correct them when they occur. It supports organizations and justice-system partners that can credibly review post-conviction innocence claims, improve conviction review processes, and strengthen confidence in the fairness and accuracy of criminal justice outcomes, while aligning those efforts with OJP priorities around equity, access to justice, and community trust.

• The Bureau of Justice Assistance in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 23 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.746.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-03-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-05-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $600,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for O BJA 2023 171677

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