Compendium of Budget Information for the 2013 General Session
| Executive Offices & Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Line Item: Children's Justice Centers Function The Children's Justice Centers (CJCs) are homelike facilities where physically and sexually abused children can go to be interviewed before appearing in court as witnesses against their abusers. A multi-disciplinary team coordinates the interview process and assesses the needs of the children and their families for support services. The program is designed to foster coordination among agencies and improve communication and services for victims. Staff tracks each child's case through the investigation, hearings, and completion of treatment. The home-like environment makes children feel safe, thereby enabling them to discuss the abuse. Transcripts are provided to assist agencies and prosecutors in building stronger cases. Background Children's Justice Centers are currently operating in the following counties: Cache, Carbon, Davis, Duchesne, Emery, Grand, Iron, Salt Lake, Sanpete, Sevier, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, Washington, and on shared between Weber and Morgan counties. Statutory Authority Statutory Authority governing Children's Justice Centers is found in UCA 67 Chapter 5b. The A.G. must administer the program and staff the Advisory Board on Children's Justice. Statutory goals include minimizing time and duplication of effort in helping abused children, facilitating the investigation of alleged offenses against children, conducting interviews of children and their families, obtaining reliable and admissible information, protecting the interest of the abused child, and others. Intent Language
Performance The top three measures identified for this line item include, 1) Number of interviews conducted at childrens' justice centers, 2) Number of cases at childrens' justice centers, and 3) Number of children and families served by the childrens' justice centers. The Attorney General has provided an explanation for each of these measures below. The "number of interviews conducted" is in part a workload measure, but also indicates the results and value of having the centers available.  The "number of cases" is also in part a workload measure, but also indicates the value of having the centers available. It is also used as part of the formula to allocate funding to each of the centers.  The "number of children and families served" is also a measure of the results and value of having the centers available.  Funding Detail The Children's Justice Centers Line Item has only one program—the Children's Justice Centers Program. The greatest source of funding for this line item is the General Fund. Federal grants and dedicated credits also make up a portion of the program's funding.
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COBI contains unaudited data as presented to the Legislature by state agencies at the time of publication. For audited financial data see the State of Utah's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.