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GAO-10-661R 1 (2010-06-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaantk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~GA 0 . A~couta bilty I Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 June 18, 2010 The Honorable Tom Coburn, M.D. United States Senate Subject: Oversight of DOJ Funds for Recreational Activities Dear Senator Coburn: The Department of Justice (DOJ) awards an array of law enforcement and criminal justice grants to states, localities, and private and not-for-profit organizations to help prevent crime in their communities. From fiscal years 2008 through 2009, DOJ's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) awarded over 7,900 grants totaling over $4.2 billion.' Some DOJ grant programs emphasize the prevention of crime and juvenile delinquency, and in some instances, DOJ's grant funds have been used, in part, to support recreational activities for youth involving various sports programs and field trips. In addition, DOJ grant recipients, such as a state's department of juvenile justice services, may provide grant funds to a subgrantee, like the Boys and Girls Club of America, to carry out various activities, such as mentoring or antigang initiatives, within the overall parameters of the grant program. However, no DOJ grant programs are designed to fund recreational activities exclusively. This letter responds to your request to determine (1) the extent to which DOJ tracks grant funds spent on recreational activities, and how, if at all, DOJ assesses the impact of federally funded recreational activities on crime prevention and reduction; and (2) how much DOJ grant funding has been used to support recreational activities. As discussed with your staff in March 2010, DOJ does not maintain, and is not required to maintain, the information necessary to consistently determine (a) if recreational activities were funded through a DOJ grant program, and the impact of those activities, or (b) specific funding amounts used to support such activities. Such determinations would require a baseline definition of what a recreational activity would encompass, and a requirement and method for grant recipients to document the specific scope, nature, associated costs, and impact of each specific activity carried out under the grant. Absent this information from DOJ, we sought to independently identify and isolate recreational activities that were funded through various DOJ grant programs, but were unable to identify their scope, nature, cost, and impact due to various 'In fiscal year 2009, OJP also awarded an additional 3,883 grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115 totaling more than $2.74 billion to state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community organizations. GAO-10-661R DOJ Funds for Recreational Activities

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