US Justice Department cancels hundreds of grants for police, crime victims

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department has canceled hundreds of ongoing grants that funded everything from services for mental health care for police officers to support programs for victims of crime and sexual assault, according to internal records and four people familiar with the matter.

At least 365 grants from the Office of Justice Programmes, the department’s largest grant-making arm, were terminated late on Tuesday, said two of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss details that have not been made public.

In fiscal year 2023, that office collectively awarded $4.4 billion in funding, according to the Justice Department’s website.

Among the programmes that are being targeted include grants that supported transgender victims of crime, hotlines used by crime victims, human trafficking grants awarded to organisations that work with immigrants and refugees, programmes to curb juvenile delinquency and safeguard incarcerated youth, and funding to help state-run hate crime reporting, according to a partial list of terminated grants seen by Reuters.

Justice Department grants typically run for three years. It is not unusual for a new administration to award different sorts of grants reflecting its priorities, but it is unusual for the department to cut off funding on previously awarded grants that support ongoing programmes. In an email sent to Office of Justice Programs staff on Tuesday, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Maureen Henneberg said that canceled grants “no longer support the department’s priorities.”