WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced more than $7.3 million in Fiscal Year 2009 grant assistance for state, local, and tribal governments for use in implementing, training, and maintaining and enhancing sex offender programs throughout the United States.

These grants, administered by OJP's Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART), break down into three areas of funding: Adam Walsh Act (Title I) implementation, Comprehensive Approaches to Sex Offender Management (CASOM) support, and Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) operation.

More than $4.6 million will be used to develop or enhance sex offender registration programs; improve law enforcement and other justice agency information sharing as it relates to sex offender registration and notification; and implement other efforts aimed at furthering the objectives of Title I of the Adam Walsh Act, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The Adam Walsh Act was signed into law on July 27, 2006 and is designed to protect children and adults from sexual exploitation and violent crime. The Act also aims to prevent child abuse and child pornography, promote Internet safety, and honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other crime victims. SORNA was enacted to protect the public from convicted sex offenders and offenders against children by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration and notification to the public of those offenders.

The SMART Office will also oversee the Comprehensive Approaches to Sex Offender Management (CASOM) program. More than $2.7 million will assist state, local, and tribal jurisdictions in assessing and improving their approaches to supervising, monitoring, and treating adult and/or juvenile sex offenders in the community.

In addition to the $7.3 million, another $985,000 will help maintain, operate and enhance the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) and support the Tribe and Territory Sex Offender Registry System. NSOPW links to state, territory, and tribal sex offender public websites and allows the public to search for registered sex offenders on a national scale. With close to 20 million users and counting, NSOPW is an invaluable resource to the public.

The Office of Justice Programs, headed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary Lou Leary, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has five component bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime. Additionally, OJP has two program offices: the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information can be found at http://www.ojp.gov.

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SOURCE Office of Justice Programs - U.S. Department of Justice

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