PRESS RELEASE

Department of Justice Awards More Than $26 Million to Support Criminal Justice Research and Statistics

WASHINGTON ― The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs today announced grant awards totaling more than $26 million to support criminal justice research and data collection. The awards, from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Institute of Justice, fund a wide range of research, statistical and evaluation activities.

“Connecting science with policy and practice begins with the most accurate, relevant and timely crime and justice data, and the need for that data has never been greater,” says BJS Director Dr. Alexis R. Piquero. “These grants will enable us to collect, compile and disseminate the information our nation’s policymakers and practitioners need to make informed decisions about public safety.”

The awards announced today will support data collections and social science research projects on topics spanning the spectrum of criminal and juvenile justice and victim services. BJS awards will help states collect and analyze justice statistics and will gather data from state courts, tribal law enforcement agencies and coroners and medical examiners. A BJS grant will also collect information from computer-aided dispatch systems to better understand the scope of community-initiated calls for service and officer-initiated activity, a step toward a nationally representative data source that can provide reliable information about police-community interactions.

“Scientific evidence plays an essential role in promoting a fair, equitable and effective justice system and improving public safety for all Americans,” said NIJ Director Dr. Nancy La Vigne. “Research investments from the National Institute of Justice will help build our knowledge base to inform community-led safety initiatives, support practitioners in administering effective programs and mitigate structural inequities that can compromise the integrity of the justice system.”

Grants from NIJ will examine the trajectory of domestic radicalization, evaluate methods for reducing violence against women and explore the impact of restorative justice programs. Grants are also intended to yield a better understanding of gun violence in America.

Below is a list of funded grants. Descriptions of individual awards can be found by clicking on the links.

• BJS awarded $4.4 million under the State Justice Statistics Program for Statistical Analysis Centers, which provides financial and technical assistance to state governments for the operation of Statistical Analysis Centers to collect, analyze and disseminate justice statistics.

• BJS awarded $1.5 million to administer the Census of Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies and Census of Tribal Court Systems.

• BJS awarded $1 million to conduct its Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices, which will provide information on the country’s medicolegal death investigation, a critical component of criminal justice and public safety systems.

• BJS awarded $1 million to conduct its Census of Public Defender Offices, which will obtain information about the operations, workload, staff size, policies and procedures of the approximately 1,000 public defender offices across the nation.

• BJS awarded $585,000 to conduct its Census of State Courts, which is intended to provide a complete census of all state and local courts operating in the United States and to compile important staffing data and information about the case types heard in state municipal, trial and appellate courts.

• BJS awarded $500,000 under its Methodological Research on Measuring Community- and Officer-Initiated Law Enforcement Activity program, which will a ssess the feasibility of aggregating information on such law enforcement activity, as captured in disparate computer-aided dispatch systems.

• NIJ awarded $5 million under its Research and Evaluation on Violence Against Women program, which supports rigorous research and evaluation projects to support the development of objective and independent knowledge and validated tools to reduce violence against women—including violence against elderly women and American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls—promote justice for victims of crime and enhance criminal justice responses.

• NIJ awarded $3.3 million under its Research and Evaluation on Violent Crime and Firearm Violence in the Community program, which seeks to advance our understanding of intentional, interpersonal community-based violence, including firearm violence.

• NIJ awarded $2.4 million under its Research and Evaluation of Services for Victims of Crime program, which supports evaluation of programs that provide services for victims of crime, research on supporting victims of community violence and studies on the financial costs of crime victimization.

• NIJ awarded $2.4 million under its Research and Evaluation on the Administration of Justice: Diversion and Restorative Justice program, which examines the impact of court tools, practices and policies on the administration of justice and public safety in state, local and tribal jurisdictions, focusing on examining the impact of restorative justice programs and the impact of diversion programs that promote alternatives to incarceration among persons who experience mental health issues.

• NIJ awarded $2.4 million under its National Juvenile Justice Data Analysis Program, which produces vital statistical information to the field regarding juvenile risk behaviors, juvenile victimization, juvenile offending and the juvenile justice system’s response to law-violating behavior.

• NIJ awarded $1.3 million under its Research and Evaluation on Domestic Radicalization and Violent Extremism program, which is designed to help develop a better understanding of the domestic radicalization phenomenon and advance evidence-based strategies for effective intervention and prevention.

• NIJ awarded $1.2 million under its Youth Mentoring Research and Evaluation program, which will support rigorous youth mentoring research and evaluation projects to address issues such as programs’ capacity to achieve broad impact, how mentoring can advance change mechanisms promoting positive youth development and long-term effects of program participation.

In addition to the awards announced today, NIJ grants were included in earlier announcements focused on community violence intervention, justice system reform and racial equity, law enforcement support, human trafficking and supporting youth.

The awards announced above are being made as part of the regular end-of-fiscal year cycle. More information about these and other OJP awards can be found on the OJP Grant Awards Page.

###

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, advance racial equity in the administration of justice, assist victims and enhance the rule of law. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

OFFICE: bjs.ojp.gov
CONTACT: OJP Media at [email protected]