Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Reimbursement Program

The Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Reimbursement Program (Tribal Reimbursement Program) reimburses Tribal governments for expenses incurred in exercising Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction (STCJ) over non-Indians who commit certain "covered crimes" on Tribal lands. The Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 (VAWA 2022) recognized the inherent power of participating tribes to exercise STCJ and establishes a pilot program under which the Attorney General may designate up to five Alaska Tribes per calendar year as participating Tribes to exercise STCJ over all persons present in the Tribe’s village.

Learn more about STCJ

VAWA 2022 authorized this reimbursement program to reimburse participating tribes for expenses incurred in exercising STCJ. After consulting with tribes, OVW issued implementing regulations for the program.

Read the implementing regulations

What Crimes Are Covered By This Program?

VAWA 2022 defines "covered crime" as:

Assault of Tribal justice personnel
Child violence
Dating violence
Domestic violence
Obstruction of justice
Sexual violence
Sex trafficking
Stalking
Violation of a protection order

Who Can Apply For Reimbursement?

Tribal governments can seek reimbursement under this program if they are recognized by and eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs by virtue of their status as Indian Tribes, and exercise STCJ over at least one of the covered crimes during calendar year 2024. Exercise of jurisdiction over all covered crimes is not required.

Tribes that are in the planning phases prior to implementing STCJ are not eligible for reimbursement of planning costs from this program. Participating tribes that are currently exercising STCJ over any covered crime and are in the planning phase to exercise jurisdiction over additional covered crimes are eligible for reimbursement for their STCJ cases, but not for planning costs.

Learn more about OVW's grant funding for STCJ implementation

How Do I Apply For Reimbursement Under This Program?

OVW will post notices of reimbursement opportunity for this program in Grants.gov as well as on the OVW's Open Solicitations webpage. You can also sign up to receive emails as an alert when new solicitations for this and other OVW programs are open.

Applicants not currently receiving Department of Justice funding must complete registrations with multiple systems:

System for Award Management (SAM) (https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration)
Grants.gov (https://www.grants.gov/applicants/applicant-registration)

When applying for these funds, you'll need to follow the instructions in notice of reimbursement opportunity. The application has a two-step process:

Submit by the Grants.gov deadline the required Application for Federal Assistance standard form (SF-424) in Grants.gov. To view the SF-424 prior to completing it in Grants.gov, you can go to the Package tab under the funding opportunity that you're applying for and select "preview." The preview provides a link to the SF-424.
 Submit the full application for reimbursement, including required attachments, in JustGrants by the JustGrants application deadline shown in the solicitation. You can also review the JustGrants website for more information, resources, and training.

Note: The JustGrants registration needs to be completed ONLY after successful submission of Step 1.