Although recognizing that each grantee under the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA’s) Innovative Prosecution Solutions (IPS) Initiative is unique, this training and technical assistance (TTA) resource shares lessons learned from IPS sites for overcoming challenges common to grantees and for strengthening both the internal capacity of prosecutors’ offices and the partnerships among prosecutors, researchers, crime analysts, other collaborators, and TTA partners.
The IPS initiative supports participating prosecutors’ efforts to counter violent crime and improve public safety. IPS has enabled criminal justice practitioners across the country to use creative strategies to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in addressing violence that ranges from gang and gun violence, violence against women, and opioid-related offenses. This TTA resource first presents an overview of key IPS roles of the prosecutor and implementation team, which includes the research partner, crime analysts, and data collection staff. How a research partner or crime analyst can assist a prosecutor leading an IPS Initiative is explained, as well as how a prosecutor leading an IPS Initiative can assist a research partner or crime analysts. How IPS TTA partners can help the IPS Site Team is explained under the topics of training, research, improving project implementation, providing subject matter expertise, ongoing project support, and evaluation support. A table lists common challenges faced by IPS teams and strategies proven effective in addressing them. The period of performance for each IPS grantee is 2 years. A table presents an estimated timeline for key project milestones.