Official title: BJA FY 2026 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program
Most labs can’t apply for this one on their own. The applicant is usually another agency or institution (see Who can apply below), and your lab joins their application as a partner. Talk to them early. The steps after this one are theirs.
Every applicant needs an active registration before submitting. The notice asks you to start by September 21, 2026 and no later than September 30, 2026. That date has passed, so if the registration is missing or lapsed, start today.
Step 1, the , is due November 2, 2026, 11:59 PM ET. It tells BJA an application is coming, and without it the next step is locked.
Step 2 is due November 9, 2026, 8:59 PM ET. This is the narrative, budget and attachments the notice lists.
Bureau of Justice Assistance scores the applications and funds the strongest. Not every good application wins. Funded projects get 36 months to spend the money (the ), starting January 1, 2027.
Money for wrongful conviction review programs to assess claims of innocence after conviction and help find the actual perpetrators. The review program applies, such as a public defender, conviction integrity unit, university or nonprofit, and a lab would take part as its partner.
This is a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the BJA FY 2026 Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Program. This opportunity strengthens the capacity of wrongful conviction review (WCR) entities and their criminal justice and victims’ services partners to more effectively and efficiently identify, assess, and manage post-conviction claims of innocence. Additionally, it aims to enhance public safety by preventing future errors, identifying actual perpetrators of crimes, and delivering justice to victims.
Other Units of Local Government: For the purposes of this NOFO, other units of local government include towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, or other general purpose political subdivisions of a state. States and counties that have in-house post-conviction representation programs that show demonstrable experience and competence in litigating postconviction claims of innocence.
For a forensic agency, this means
Wrongful conviction review entities, including state and local governments, public and private higher education institutions, and nonprofits, are eligible to apply to review post-conviction claims of innocence and identify actual perpetrators. Applicants may partner with prosecutor offices or conviction integrity units and can receive up to $600,000 over 36 months. No cost sharing is required.
Median of 17 past awards that mention forensic work under this program, from USAspending.gov: $500K. Most recipients land well under any published ceiling.
