NCJ Number
227725
Date Published
April 2010
Length
52 pages
Annotation
This annual report presents research funded projects by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the areas of law enforcement, corrections, forensics, crime victims, and criminal equipment standards for 2008.
Abstract
In 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Program, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funded a variety of law enforcement research, which included a study to gain insights into the day-to-day lives of new police recruits and projects to adapt new technologies for law enforcement use. NIJ's research projects for 2008, in the field of corrections have helped improve safety in prisons and jails and evaluate ways to make parole systems more effective. This research highlights safe, effective alternatives to incarceration. To ease the burden of the Nation's crime laboratories' backlogs, especially in DNA identification, NIJ sponsored research to improve the accuracy and efficiency of forensic investigations, receiving $56.3 million in funding for 2008, which enabled crime labs to process evidence in more than 30,000 criminal cases. In 2008, NIJ research programs also included efforts to identify and help people harmed by crime including human trafficking, teen dating violence, and sexual assault victims. NIJ funded research in 2008 in support of the development of equipment standards for bomb suits, body armor, and protection against chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear hazards. NIJ supports the law enforcement and corrections communities by developing standards to ensure that critical equipment is safe, reliable, and meets a minimum acceptable level of performance. Appendix