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NIJ Priorities and Accomplishments 2021 - 2024

During the Biden-Harris administration, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) set forth key priorities for research processes and dissemination mechanisms underscoring the importance of rigorous methodologies that (1) foster inclusive research by including diverse perspectives and areas of expertise; (2) advance racial equity by being mindful of potential disparities and taking action to mitigate them; (3) enhance scientific rigor by embracing mixed methods, implementation evaluation, and interdisciplinary research teams; and (4) promote evidence implementation by ensuring that research findings inform policies and practices that enhance safety and justice. The institute has embraced these priorities by undertaking a robust array of investments, initiatives, and engagement strategies while continuing to build the evidence base across the spectrum of criminal justice and intersecting topics to fill critical gaps in research knowledge. 

Fostering Inclusive Research

NIJ aims to foster inclusive research that engages the people closest to the issue — community members, crime survivors, criminal justice practitioners, people who have experienced incarceration, and other stakeholders — to inform data collection, help interpret findings, and identify implications of research findings for policy and practice.

  • In FY23, NIJ began including language in its solicitation encouraging applicants to solicit the input of people with professional expertise and lived experience as a part of their research methodology and dissemination activities. In FY24, 60% of applicable awards fully met the priority of fostering inclusive research.
  • In support of methodologies that are more inclusive in nature, NIJ issued the Innovations in Measuring Community Perceptions Challenge in 2023, inviting new approaches in capturing community perceptions of police and public safety that are representative, cost effective, accurate across micro-geographies, and capable of being administered frequently. The challenge awarded $102,500 across 12 prize-winning submissions. 
  • In 2024, NIJ issued the Measurement of Community Perceptions solicitation to fund projects that develops and tests innovative methods and awarded approximately $1.5 million between two grants.
  • During both the 2023 and 2024 NIJ National Research Conferences, NIJ hosted multiple sessions on inclusive research, such as the "The Importance of Inclusive Research How Engaging People Closest to the Issue Makes for Better Science and Greater Impact" plenary from the 2023 NIJ National Research Conference.

Advancing Racial Equity

NIJ has prescribed that research on crime and justice issues should be mindful that race and ethnicity often serve as proxies for structural inequality and that any assessment of criminal justice interventions should include an assessment of racially disparate impacts. NIJ has promoted this concept through inserting language in solicitations prioritizing proposals with methodologies that support this racial equity lens, reinstating a solicitation inviting research on ways to mitigate disparities in the justice system, supporting Minority Serving Institutes (MSIs) in seeking externally funded research, and supporting students of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities.

  • Since FY23, NIJ began including language in its solicitation encouraging applicants to align their research proposals with its key priorities. In FY24, out of applicable funded awards from solicitations, 41% of the awards fully met and 5% partially met the priority of applying a racial equity lens. 
  • Since reestablishing the W.E.B. DuBois research solicitation in FY21, NIJ has made eight awards totaling $5,617,171 on topics ranging from disparities in wrongful conviction to those resulting prison classification systems. In FY 22, NIJ also awarded a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system.
  • In FY23, NIJ established two new interagency agreements to support doctoral students and junior faculty: the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ (ACJS’s) Doctoral Student Summit (DSS), and the University of Maryland’s (UMD’s) Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network (RDCJN). 
  • In FY24, NIJ invested $1 million to established a Center for Enhancing Research Capacity in Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to bolster the research infrastructure and capabilities of MSIs within the criminal justice field. 
  • In conjunction with its 2023 and 2024 National Research Conferences, NIJ created the Graduate Student Travel Scholarship Opportunity, providing travel funding to 50 students of which 17 were enrolled in MSIs. 

Enhancing Scientific Rigor

NIJ has promoted a new definition of scientific rigor that employs mixed methods and leverages the expertise and perspectives of multi-disciplinary research teams. This emphasis is particularly important in the evaluative research that NIJ invites and funds, underscoring that experimental designs should be coupled with robust implementation evaluation. 

  • In FY23 NIJ began including language in solicitations stating that evaluation proposals that do not include an implementation fidelity component will not be considered for funding. All evaluation grant awards made in FY23 and FY24 met this criterion.
  • Also, in FY23, NIJ began giving priority consideration to proposals that include multidisciplinary research teams. In FY24, 74% of applicable funded awards from solicitations awards fully met this priority. 
  • In FY24, NIJ issued the Field-Initiated Action Research Partnerships solicitation for proposals that address a high-priority challenge of the agency partner and employ an action research evaluation approach that emphasizes scientific rigor and meaningful stakeholder engagement, awarding over $3 million across 8 projects.

Promoting Evidence Implementation

In the past four years NIJ has enhanced its efforts to promote evidence implementation through stakeholder listening sessions and strategic outreach designed to give policymakers, practitioners, and communities the best available evidence to make decisions and advance practice. These efforts include funding research that leverages implementation science knowledge and promotes evidence-based policy and practices.

  • In FY23 NIJ began giving priority consideration to proposals that dedicated at least 15% of the budget to robust and creative dissemination activities. In FY24, 71% of grants awarded met this criterion.
  • In FY 2022, NIJ reinstituted its collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), providing financial support to the Committee on Law and Justice (CLAJ), and partnered with the committee on several convenings of researchers and practitioners on emerging topics, including strategies to promote implementation science in criminal justice research.
  • NIJ launched the Evidence to Action (E2A) initiative in 2023, informed by more than six months of expert interviews, a multi-disciplinary literature review, and an internal staff briefing.
  • In 2023, NIJ resurrected its national research conference for the first time in 12 years and convened a second conference in 2024. The 2023 conference theme was Evidence to Action, reflecting the Institute’s efforts to ensure that the field learns about research, trusts the findings, and is inspired to make evidence-informed changes to improve policies and practices. A key highlight was the panel, “Progressing from Evidence to Action: Strategies to Promote Science-Based Practice,” which brought together four implementation science experts serving in diverse roles to discuss their successes and challenges in helping to bring science into the field. 
  • NIJ celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Scholars program in 2024 and continues to cultivate the program, adding a new cohort of 15-20 scholars each year. Today the network boasts over 130 LEADS Scholars comprised of sworn law enforcement officers, civilians, and academics. 
  • In FY24, NIJ issued the Evaluating Strategies to Advance the Implementation of Evidence-Based Policies and Practices solicitation, receiving 25 applications and making three awards totaling $2,233,374. The projects cover three topics: a demonstration project to learn about and facilitate the adoption of records relief strategies; a study of implementation of Risk-Needs-Responsivity to inform case management; and a project using innovative methods to implement evidence-based practices for community supervision.
  • From 2022 through 2024, NIJ made several updates to CrimesSolutions, a web-based clearinghouse of programs and practices, with more on the way. These include changing ratings nomenclature, adapting ratings to align with specific outcomes, and increasing the usability and accessibility of the CrimeSolutions to help practitioners and policymakers understand what works.
  • Over the past four years, NIJ staff presented and facilitated dozens of public convenings aimed at practitioner audiences. During this period the NIJ Director presented at over 70 webinars, conferences, and research convenings. 
  • As a part of the collaboration, NIJ organized and sponsored the National Academics of Sciences Committee on Law and Justice Fall 2024 Semi-Annual Public Seminar, “Advancing the Science of Implementation Science for Law and Justice,” which convened 15 implementation science experts, including NIJ Senior Advisor Dr. Tamara Herold to explore the state of implementation science within the justice field. 
  • Recognizing that the first step of evidence implementation is having access to research findings, NIJ developed a draft Public Access Plan aimed at increasing access to publications and data resulting from NIJ-funded research. An intra-agency working group has held various listening sessions in-person and virtually as well as issued a request for comment on the Federal Register. NIJ’s Public Access Plan is expected to be implemented for new awards made in FY 2025.

Building the Evidence Base

NIJ’s reinvigorated public outreach and engagement over the past four years has enhanced our ability to identify research gaps and meet the needs of the Institute’s stakeholders. At the same time, NIJ has continued fulfilling its central and critical mission of expanding the criminal justice evidence base by investing in research spanning the spectrum of criminal justice topics. 

Artificial Intelligence 

Body Armor

  • In November 2023, NIJ revised its ballistic-resistant body armor standards for the first time since 2008, with the latest standards including improvements to the test methods for armor designed for women: NIJ Standard 0101.07, Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor, and NIJ Standard 0123.00, Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats. NIJ celebrated 50 years of body armor standards since the first version was published in 1972.
  • By the end of 2024, NIJ had certified over 650 models of body armor to NIJ Standard 0101.06.
  • NIJ has also developed revisions to its stab-resistant body armor standard used by corrections practitioners, NIJ Standard 0115.00, and its semiautomatic pistol standard used by law enforcement, NIJ Standard 0112.03. 

Courts and Corrections

Equipment and Technology

Forensic Science

Policing and Crime Prevention

School Safety and Youth Justice

Tribal Crime and Justice

Victims and Victim Services

  •  NIJ invested over $7 million in research and evaluation on hate crimes in support of and in coordination with the Department of Justice’s efforts to prevent and combat hate crimes from FY22 to FY24. In 2023, NIJ published an overview of how NIJ-funded research on hate crime has filled in vital details on the causes of hate crimes.
  • NIJ continued to support advances in developing and implementing methodologies for estimating the prevalence of human trafficking. NIJ convened an expert working group meeting in January 2024 on the topic of human trafficking prevalence measurement, which was mentioned in the State Department’s 2024 TIP report. In July 2024, NIJ released a report of promising practices and recommendations to assist law enforcement professionals when interviewing potential trafficking survivors. In FY24, NIJ awarded almost $2.5 million to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking over the Southern border.
  • In 2023, NIJ launched the Longitudinal Interpersonal Violence of Young Adults (Long IVY) study, which seeks to develop a longitudinal survey to better understand the risks for, experiences, with, and consequences of IV among young adults. The project will result in a validated survey instrument and an accompanying implementation guide for survey administration.
Date Published: January 16, 2025