---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 12251"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "12251"
heading: "Authority to make grants"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/12251"
units:
  - "Subtitle I — Comprehensive Acts"
  - "Chapter 121 — Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
  - "Subchapter II — Crime Prevention"
  - "Part G — Family Unity Demonstration Project"
  - "Subpart 1 — grants to states"
---

# §12251. Authority to make grants

- (a) **General authority—** The [Attorney General](/usc/34/10307.md?p=1) may make grants, on a competitive basis, to [States](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) to carry out in accordance with this part family unity demonstration projects that enable eligible offenders to live in community correctional facilities with their children.
- (b) **Preferences—** For the purpose of making grants under [subsection (a)](#a), the [Attorney General](/usc/34/10307.md?p=1) shall give preference to a [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) that includes in the application required by [section 12252 of this title](/usc/34/12252.md) assurances that if the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) receives a grant—
  - (1) both the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) corrections agency and the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) health and human [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) agency will participate substantially in, and cooperate closely in all aspects of, the development and operation of the family unity demonstration project for which such a grant is requested;
  - (2) boards made up of community members, including residents, local businesses, corrections officials, former prisoners, child development professionals, educators, and maternal and child health professionals will be established to advise the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) regarding the operation of such project;
  - (3) the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) has in effect a policy that provides for the placement of all prisoners, whenever possible, in correctional facilities for which they qualify that are located closest to their respective family homes;
  - (4) unless the [Attorney General](/usc/34/10307.md?p=1) determines that a longer timeline is appropriate in a particular case, the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) will implement the project not later than 180 days after receiving a grant under [subsection (a)](#a) and will expend all of the grant during a 1-year period;
  - (5) the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) has the capacity to continue implementing a community correctional facility beyond the funding period to ensure the continuity of the work;
  - (6) unless the [Attorney General](/usc/34/10307.md?p=1) determines that a different process for selecting participants in a project is desirable, the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) will—
    - (A) give written notice to a prisoner, not later than 30 days after the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) first receives a grant under [subsection (a)](#a) or 30 days after the prisoner is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not more than 7 years (whichever is later), of the proposed or current operation of the project;
    - (B) accept at any time at which the project is in operation an application by a prisoner to participate in the project if, at the time of application, the remainder of the prisoner’s sentence exceeds 180 days;
    - (C) review applications by prisoners in the sequence in which the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) receives such applications; and
    - (D) not more than 50 days after reviewing such applications approve or disapprove the application; and
  - (7) for the purposes of selecting eligible offenders to participate in such project, the [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) has authorized [State](/usc/34/11103.md?p=7) [courts](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-7) to sentence an eligible offender directly to a community correctional facility, provided that the court gives assurances that the offender would have otherwise served a term of imprisonment.
- (c) **Selection of grantees—** The [Attorney General](/usc/34/10307.md?p=1) shall make grants under [subsection (a)](#a) on a competitive basis, based on such criteria as the [Attorney General](/usc/34/10307.md?p=1) shall issue by rule and taking into account the preferences described in [subsection (b)](#b).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 103–322, title III, § 31911, Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1894.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 13891 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.