U.S. Senator Mike Crapo wants officials with the U.S. Department of Justice to explain why a highly-effective program dealing with juvenile crime and violence was not funded by the department for Fiscal Year 2007.

The program in question is the National Partnership for Juvenile Services, which uses federal grant dollars to coordinate technical assistance and training for personnel and authorities in the fields of juvenile justice and corrections.

Crapo notes that Justice Department staff rated it second out of over 100 groups applying for grant dollars, yet the program was not funded.

US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) comments

Since 2001 in Idaho alone, the juvenile justice community has used the funding to provide over 23,000 training hours to staff and trainers at its juvenile justice facilities.

Crapo, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and longtime advocate for programs seeking to stop domestic violence and teen dating violence, has written a letter to the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention asking for a response within 30 days.