WASHINGTON — A former senior Justice Department official is warning that the Trump administration’s sweeping budget cuts to public safety programs will have far-reaching consequences, especially for violence intervention and victim support efforts nationwide.
Amy L. Solomon, who served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, authored a recent USA Today opinion piece entitled, “I worked for the office under the DOJ. Trump’s cuts will make you less safe.” The article was excerpted and circulated by the Felony Murder Elimination Project on Friday.
Solomon begins the piece by recalling the words of a grieving mother she met in Chicago during a 2023 visit to a federally funded violence prevention program: “Do not forget us.” The woman, Solomon writes, was one of many mothers who had lost children to gun violence and were united in their determination to prevent other families from suffering similar tragedies.
According to Solomon, during Trump’s first 100 days back in office, the administration eliminated numerous grants that funded programs aimed at breaking cycles of violence. She said the cuts stemmed from deep reductions to the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, or OJP.
Solomon described the OJP as a key federal agency that supports city police departments, county jails, state prisons and other crime prevention and justice system initiatives. She said the agency had played a major role in helping reduce crime rates since their peak in the early 1990s.
“This isn’t belt-tightening,” Solomon wrote. She said grant termination letters sent to providers claimed their programs no longer aligned with the Trump administration’s priorities of “combating violent crime” and “protecting victims of trafficking and sexual assault.”
Solomon warned the cuts will impact public safety, crisis response efforts and victim services, while undermining efforts to reduce gun violence and support policing in rural communities. Programs aimed at preventing shootings and promoting evidence-based policing will be forced to scale back or shut down, she said. Sexual assault initiatives—such as addressing rape kit backlogs and improving response strategies—could also be on the chopping block.
“There is never an ideal time to reduce funding for public safety,” Solomon wrote. “But these cuts are especially ill-timed.”
Solomon cited recent data from the Council on Criminal Justice showing that, by late 2024, violent crime rates had dropped to pre-pandemic levels—or even lower. Early 2025 figures continue to show a downward trend.
She argued that the budget reductions come at a moment when the country is finally recovering from the spike in violent crime that occurred during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The excerpt shared by the Felony Murder Elimination Project concluded with a quote from Solomon: “With so much at stake, we cannot afford to dismiss the profound costs of promised ‘savings.’ We can and must do better, for the mothers I met in Chicago, and the countless other Americans who have already lost too much.”
